History

Course summary

A-Level History provides the opportunity to develop an inquiring mind and excellent literacy skills, as well as study a fascinating subject and develop your historical knowledge. History is a very interesting and practical subject because it involves: • Learning about people – how they interact, the motives and emotions that can tear people apart into rival factions or help them to work together for a common cause to bring about positive change. • Learning about countries, societies and cultures – so many of today's conflicts and alliances have their roots in the past; how can you understand a country, culture or society if you know nothing of its history? • Learning to locate and sift facts – analysing sources to identify truth and recognise myth, propaganda and lies. Also, summarising different interpretations and considering how convincing different ideas. • Researching evidence – you have to find out what happened by looking for different types of evidence and resources and deciding what is useful. • Presenting what you've learned in a way that makes sense to others – communicating your ideas in extended written and oral form and having the confidence to defend your findings with evidence. You will study a broad range of history from across the world and develop a greater understanding of how societies, cultures and governments have developed. The historical skills of analysis, interpretation of sources, understanding a coherent point of view, and problem-solving play a key part throughout the course. An Advanced GCE in History will give you several skills relevant to many types of employment, such as the ability to complete independent research to find information and to analyse evidence and different interpretations. You will be taught how to present information clearly for others to understand in written and oral form.