Edexcel IGCSE History Tutors Online

Edexcel IGCSE History is code 4HI1, written for first teaching from September 2017 with the first examination in June 2019. This page works from Issue 5, dated February 2026, and first certification was in 2019.

The first thing to understand about this qualification is that there is no single list of topics that every student studies. The content is a menu, and each school chooses from it. That makes History different from most subjects at this level, because what a student actually learns depends on decisions the school made rather than on the specification alone.

There are two mandatory papers and they are weighted equally at 50% each. Both are written examinations of 1 hour 30 minutes, both carry 60 marks, both are available in June and November, and both can be sat paper-based or onscreen. The qualification is linear, and all papers must be taken at the end of the course of study.

Paper 1 is Depth Studies, code 4HI1/01. It is worth 50% of the qualification, runs for 1 hour 30 minutes and carries 60 marks. Students must study at least two depth studies, and the students answer two questions, one on each of the depth studies they have studied.

There are eight depth studies to choose from. They are the French Revolution from about 1780 to 1799, the development of a nation through the unification of Italy from 1848 to 1870, Germany and the development of dictatorship from 1918 to 1945, colonial rule and the nationalist challenge in India from 1919 to 1947, dictatorship and conflict in the USSR from 1924 to 1953, a world divided with superpower relations from 1943 to 1972, a divided union with civil rights in the USA from 1945 to 1974, and South Africa from union to the end of apartheid from 1948 to 1994.

Paper 2 is Investigation and Breadth Studies, code 4HI1/02. It is worth 50% of the qualification, runs for 1 hour 30 minutes and carries 60 marks. Students must study one historical investigation and one breadth study in change, and they answer two questions, one on their historical investigation and one on their breadth study in change.

There are five investigations. They are the origins and course of the First World War from 1905 to 1918, Russia and the Soviet Union from 1905 to 1924, the USA from 1918 to 1941, the Vietnam Conflict from 1945 to 1975, and East Germany from 1958 to 1990.

There are eight breadth studies in change. They are America from new nation to divided union from 1783 to 1877, changes in medicine from about 1848 to about 1948, Japan in transformation from 1853 to 1945, China from 1900 to 1989, the changing role of international organisations covering the League and the UN from 1919 to about 2011, the changing nature of warfare and international conflict from 1919 to 2011, the Middle East from 1917 to 2012, and diversity, rights and equality in Britain from 1914 to 2010.

Add those up and the menu is twenty one topics across the two papers: eight depth studies, five investigations and eight breadth studies. A student studies four of them, being two depth studies, one investigation and one breadth study. So most of the specification is content that a given student will never be examined on, and the choice of which four makes a real difference to how enjoyable and how tractable the course is.

One breadth study carries a later start date and it is worth knowing. The specification notes that topic B8, diversity, rights and equality in Britain from 1914 to 2010, is available for assessment from June 2023.

The four assessment objectives split into pairs. AO1, demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key features and characteristics of the periods studied, is 34 per cent. AO2, explain, analyse and make judgements about historical events and periods studied using second-order historical concepts, is 36 per cent. AO3, use a range of source material to comprehend, interpret and cross-refer sources, is 15 per cent. AO4, analyse and evaluate historical interpretations in the context of historical events studied, is 15 per cent.

The way those objectives sit across the two papers is not symmetrical, and this is the most useful planning fact on the page. Paper 1 is 18 per cent AO1, 22 per cent AO2, zero for AO3 and 10 per cent AO4. Paper 2 is 16 per cent AO1, 14 per cent AO2, 15 per cent AO3 and 5 per cent AO4.

So all of the source work in this qualification sits in Paper 2. AO3 is 15 per cent of the grade and Paper 1 contributes none of it, which means a student who has not practised using and cross-referring sources has no way to demonstrate that skill in the depth studies paper. Conversely, historical interpretations are weighted twice as heavily in Paper 1 at 10 per cent as in Paper 2 at 5 per cent, so the depth studies paper is where analysing interpretations matters most.

Both papers are built around extended writing. Each carries 60 marks for two questions, so the whole qualification is four essay answers across two sittings, and there are no multiple-choice or short-answer marks to bank.

The qualification is graded and certificated on a nine-grade scale from 9 to 1. Individual components are not graded. Students whose level of achievement is below the minimum judged by Pearson to be of sufficient standard to receive a certificate get an unclassified U result.