A Level History Tutoring, for Every Board
A Level History is examined on judgement: every board asks students to analyse sources, evaluate what historians have argued and sustain an essay towards a conclusion, and none rewards narrative for its own sake. The options differ so much between boards and schools that two History students may share no topic at all, which is why preparation starts from the student’s own papers.
Short answer
A Level History is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
- Structure shown for AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, Cambridge International
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How A Level History is assessed, board by board
4 awarding bodies examine this subject, and they do not examine it the same way: different papers, different weightings, different practical arrangements. Find your board — it is printed on your school's timetable and on past papers — and read that block. Nothing on this page describes one board's paper as though it applied to all of them.
AQA
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component 1: Breadth study — One option from eleven, each covering roughly a century | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 80 marks | source evaluation and essay |
| Component 2: Depth study — One option from twenty, each covering a shorter period in depth | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 80 marks | source evaluation and essay |
| Component 3: Historical investigation — A personal study of roughly 3,500 words on a topic spanning at least 100 years | 20% | Assessed in school | 40 marks | independent investigation and coursework |
- The two examined options must not overlap chronologically with each other or with the coursework, and schools choose them. Two AQA History students can therefore share a grade without sharing a single topic.
Checked on 22 September 2026
OCR
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British period study and enquiry (Y101–Y113) — One unit from thirteen | 25% | 1 hour 30 min | 50 marks | source evaluation and essay |
| Non-British period study (Y201–Y224) — One unit from twenty-four | 15% | 1 hour | 30 marks | essay |
| Thematic study and historical interpretations (Y301–Y321) — One unit from twenty-one, covering at least 100 years | 40% | 2 hours 30 min | 80 marks | historical interpretations and essay |
| Topic based essay (Y100) | 20% | Assessed in school | 40 marks | independent investigation and coursework |
- Four components rather than three, and the weightings are uneven: the one-hour non-British paper is worth 15% while the thematic paper is worth 40%. Revision time split evenly across the four is time misallocated.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel International A Level History (YHI01)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1: Depth Study with Interpretations | 25% | 2 hours | 50 marks | historical interpretations and essay |
| Unit 2: Breadth Study with Source Evaluation | 25% | 2 hours | 50 marks | source evaluation and essay |
| Unit 3: Thematic Study with Source Evaluation | 25% | 2 hours | 50 marks | source evaluation and essay |
| Unit 4: International Study with Historical Interpretations | 25% | 2 hours | 50 marks | historical interpretations and essay |
- This is a modular qualification: units are sat in January, June and October, can be taken in stages, and can be re-sat, with the best result counting. That changes how a two-year plan is built — and it is the main reason a Pearson student and a Cambridge student in the same class need different revision schedules.
- No coursework: all four units are examined. Some option combinations are prohibited because they overlap, so the choice of units is constrained rather than free.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Cambridge International
Cambridge International AS & A Level History (9489)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Historical Sources — A prescribed rotation of topics that changes by examination year | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | 40 marks | source evaluation |
| Paper 2: Outline Study | 30% | 1 hour 45 min | 60 marks | essay |
| Paper 3: Historical Interpretations | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | 40 marks | historical interpretations |
| Paper 4: Depth Study | 30% | 1 hour 45 min | 60 marks | essay |
- The Paper 1 source topics rotate by examination year, so past papers from the wrong series test material that this year’s candidates will not be asked about. Checking the year is the first step of any Cambridge History revision plan.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Specifications are revised periodically. Each block links to the specification it was read from and gives the date it was checked; if your school has moved to a newer specification, that document takes precedence.
What A Level History covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Breadth Study
Long-term change and continuity analysis · Thematic comparison and period synthesis · Evaluating different historical interpretations
Depth Study
Primary-source analysis and reliability · Cause and consequence within historical context · Historiography: comparing historians' approaches
NEA Investigation
Formulating a research question · Gathering primary and secondary sources · Building an academic argument with proper referencing
Where A Level History marks are usually lost
Judging a source by its type alone
Students write that a diary is “biased” or a government report “reliable” without reference to its content, purpose or the moment it was produced. Source questions reward an evaluation of provenance and content together, tested against knowledge of the period, and a judgement about how far the source serves the particular enquiry. Generic comments on reliability earn little at any board.
Paraphrasing an interpretation instead of assessing it
Interpretation questions — AQA’s extracts, OCR’s thematic paper, Pearson Edexcel’s interpretation units, Cambridge’s unattributed historian’s extract — ask what a historian argues and how convincing it is. Many students paraphrase the extract line by line. Cambridge, for example, asks candidates to consider the interpretation as a whole and the approach behind it; the marks go to the overall argument, tested against knowledge, not to its fragments.
Revising from the wrong past papers
Options rotate and specifications change. The topic of Cambridge’s Historical Sources paper changes with the examination year, and its syllabus was revised for first examination in 2027, with some topics removed and others added, including a Depth Study topic on the end of minority rule in South Africa and Zimbabwe. A student who drills papers from the wrong year or option revises material that will not be asked.
A Level History coursework
AQA and OCR include coursework. AQA’s historical investigation is a personal study on a question of the student’s choice, set in a context of around a century and not overlapping the examined options; OCR’s topic-based essay is an independently researched essay on a title that OCR must approve, weighing different perspectives with primary and secondary material. Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge International have no coursework. A tutor can help the student frame a workable question, find and evaluate sources, and understand how historians have disagreed, without drafting, editing or correcting the essay.
A tutor can explain the criteria, question a draft and point to what is weak. The research, the writing and every decision in it stay the student’s own, as the awarding body’s rules require.
How we teach A Level History
A tutor starts by listing exactly which options, papers and periods the student will sit, because a Cambridge student on the international option and an AQA student on Tudor England need different courses. Content is taught through the questions and issues each specification sets out, so that every fact is learned as evidence for an argument. Each week combines a source or interpretation exercise with a planned essay: a thesis first, paragraphs that each advance a judgement, and a conclusion that answers the question set. Answers are marked against the board’s mark scheme and then rewritten. For students writing in a second language, the tutor also works on the precise vocabulary of causation, significance and change that examiners look for.
Your starting point is reviewed before the study plan is finalised. The exact method depends on the programme and is agreed on the intro call — for some students that means a timed section, for others it means reading a recent score report or a piece of marked work. We will tell you which applies to you before you book anything, rather than describing a process here that may not be the one you get.
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