Assessment overview
Students must complete one component from each of the three component groups to be awarded the OCR GCSE (9-1) in History B (Schools History Project).
Content overview
There are five elements organised in three component groups. Students take three components, one from each group.
Component group 1: British history
There are two elements:
- Thematic study
- British depth study
The thematic study requires students to understand change and continuity across a long sweep of history, from c. 1250 to the present. Students study one of the following options:
- The people's health, c. 1250 to present
- Crime and punishment, c. 1250 to present
- Migrants to Britain, c. 1250 to present.
Each option begins in the late middle ages and encourages students to think about the relationship between past and present by following the theme through to the present day.
The depth study focuses on a particular period in British history during which the country faced severe pressure due to possible or actual invasion. Students study one of the following:
- The Norman Conquest, 1065—1087
- The Elizabethans, 1580—1603
- Britain in peace and war, 1900—1918.
The British depth study encourages students to engage with the range of ways in which history is constructed and interpreted, and the interplay of political, military, religious, economic, social and cultural forces.
Component group 2: History around us
Students study the history of a selected local site. They discover how physical features and other sources inform an understanding of historical events both locally and in a wider historical context. Studying the history around them provides a valuable approach to studying history, and helps students find a connection with the lives of people from the past. Centres must choose their own site and all sites must be checked by OCR. Centres must use the site proposal form to submit their chosen site, along with the centre’s choice of component groups 1 and 3 topics, to OCR for approval. Please remember that your chosen site must not be directly linked to other topics studied.
Component group 3: World history
There are two elements:
- Period study
- World depth study
The period study offers learners the opportunity to study the unfolding narrative of a wider world society during a particularly interesting period in its history. Students look at the relationships between different cultures at times of great upheaval, and consider the experiences and perspectives of different individuals and groups of people in the past.
Students study one of the following:
- Viking expansion, c. 750 — c. 1050
- The Mughal Empire, 1526—1707
- The making of America, 1789—1900.
The world depth study enables learners to develop an understanding of a traumatic short period in world history when different cultures or ideologies were in conflict. They study one of the following:
- The First Crusade, c. 1070 — 1100
- Aztecs and the Spanish conquest, 1519—1535
- Living under Nazi rule, 1933—1945.
The richness of contemporary sources for each of these periods encourages students to engage with the nature of evidence and the ways in which history is constructed.