Edexcel AS Level History Tutors Online

Edexcel AS Level History is code 8HI0, and its full title is the Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced Subsidiary GCE in History. First teaching was September 2015 and first certification was 2016. This page works from Issue 5, and both papers were first assessed in May and June 2016.

The qualification consists of two examination papers, and students must complete all assessment in May and June in any single year, so both papers are sat in the same summer.

Paper 1 is the Breadth study with interpretations, and its paper codes run from 8HI0/1A to 8HI0/1H. It is externally assessed, available in May and June, and worth 60% of the total qualification. It is a written examination lasting 2 hours 15 minutes with 60 marks available. Students answer three questions, one from Section A, one from Section B and one from Section C.

Paper 2 is the Depth study, and its paper codes run from 8HI0/2A to 8HI0/2H. It is externally assessed, available in May and June, and worth 40% of the total qualification. It is a written examination lasting 1 hour 30 minutes with 40 marks available. Students answer two questions, one from Section A and one from Section B.

The sections are not interchangeable in what they test, and this is the heart of the qualification. On Paper 1, Section A is a choice of two essay questions assessing breadth, Section B is a choice of two essay questions assessing breadth, and Section C is one compulsory question assessing the ability to analyse and evaluate interpretations. On Paper 2, Section A is one compulsory two-part question assessing source analysis and evaluation, and Section B is a choice of three essay questions assessing depth.

The two essay sections on Paper 1 are not identical. Both test breadth and both allow questions to cross the Themes, but Section A questions will normally cover periods of at least 10 years and target causation or consequence, while Section B questions will normally cover periods equivalent to at least a third of the timespan of the Themes and may target any of the assessment objective one concepts, which are causation, consequence, change, continuity, similarity, difference and significance.

The stimulus material is symmetrical, and it is worth knowing the scale of it. On Paper 1, Section C is based on two extracts from historical interpretations totalling approximately 300 words. On Paper 2, Section A is a two-part question opened by two sources, primary or contemporary to the period or both, together totalling approximately 300 words, with one source used in the first part and one in the second. The two parts may relate to the same or different Key topics.

The papers are held together by routes, and this is the rule that catches people out. Papers 1 and 2 are grouped into eight routes, A to H, in which options are linked by a common theme. Each route comprises a mandatory Paper 1 option and a choice of two options for Paper 2, of which students take only one. Centres are not permitted to mix Paper 1 and Paper 2 options from different routes.

So the Paper 1 choice decides the available Paper 2 choices. A student who takes Paper 1 option 1E, Russia 1917 to 91, goes on Route E and may take either 2E.1, Mao's China 1949 to 76, or 2E.2, the German Democratic Republic 1949 to 90, and nothing else. There is no route on which a student picks a Paper 1 option and then a Paper 2 option from a different row of the table.

The routes exist for a reason, and the specification states it plainly. Each route ensures that the country studied in Paper 2 is different from the country studied in Paper 1, at least one of which will be from outside the British Isles. The thematic connection also means that Paper 1 gives context for the Paper 2 depth study, so the breadth paper is not a separate subject sitting beside the depth paper.

The assessment objectives are three, and this qualification is unlike most others in how lopsided they are. AO1, demonstrate, organise and communicate knowledge and understanding to analyse and evaluate the key features related to the periods studied, making substantiated judgements and exploring concepts of cause, consequence, change, continuity, similarity, difference and significance, is 60%. AO2, analyse and evaluate appropriate source material, primary or contemporary to the period, within its historical context, is 20%. AO3, analyse and evaluate, in relation to the historical context, different ways in which aspects of the past have been interpreted, is 20%.

Knowledge and understanding carries 60%, which is the largest share of any single objective on our AS pages. The two evaluation skills are worth 20% each, so the essays are where most of the marks live and the source and interpretation questions are where the qualification is decided at the top end.

The breakdown shows something rarer still. Paper 1 is 40% AO1, nothing for AO2 and 20% AO3, totalling 60%. Paper 2 is 20% AO1, 20% AO2 and nothing for AO3, totalling 40%. The column totals are 60% AO1, 20% AO2 and 20% AO3.

Each evaluation skill is examined on one paper only. AO2, sources, appears on Paper 2 and not on Paper 1. AO3, interpretations, appears on Paper 1 and not on Paper 2. So a student who struggles with sources loses those marks only in Paper 2 Section A, and a student who struggles with interpretations loses those marks only in Paper 1 Section C. Neither weakness can be spread across both papers.

The qualification is graded and certificated on a five grade scale from A to E using the total subject mark, and individual papers are not graded. The first certification opportunity was 2016, and students whose level of achievement is below the minimum judged by Pearson to be of sufficient standard receive an unclassified U result.

On codes: the qualification number is 601/4676/X and the subject code is 8HI0. Paper 1 codes run from 8HI0/1A to 8HI0/1H and Paper 2 codes run from 8HI0/2A to 8HI0/2H, though Appendix 3 prints the paper codes without the subject prefix as 1A to 1H and 2A to 2H. No discount code number is printed in this specification. Appendix 3 states only that discount codes are published by DfE and points to the gov.uk website.