1. Welcome to the HA GCSE specification Comparison Tool
This short guidance is designed to help you compare the 9-1 GCSE specifications. The first examinations of these new linear GCSEs will be in the summer of 2018.

2. This guidance is divided into the following sections:
Some things you need to consider when considering which specification to choose or swap to.
Some things that will impact upon your decision about which specification to choose.
A comparison of the different parts of the draft specifications that are on offer.

3. Some things to consider…
If you are a new subject leader or you are making a change to your GCSE provision for other reasons, here are some questions to consider.
Do you want to stick with what you know, or consider something new? That is, do you want to continue to teach the topic areas you are familiar with, or do you want a complete change.*
This decision will depend on the time you have for planning, the skills of staff who will be teaching, the resources you have available.
You need to have conversations among your team of History GCSE teachers and with your SLT.
What will your students learn in history in their whole school career? That is, what do they learn in History in the other key stages?
You need to put together a programme of study that is coherent, relevant and engaging for students across all the key stages.
Do you want your students to sit 2 or 3 exam papers?
In their specifications AQA and Eduqas are proposing 2 papers and the others 3 papers.

4. Some more things to consider…
What sort of historic environment topic do you want and how much choice do you want on the topic?
The historic environment aspect of the specification has been interpreted differently by the exam boards. There is: a separate exam paper (OCR B), the topic tied to the thematic study (Edexcel and Eduqas), tied to the British depth study (AQA), tied to the thematic and British depth study (OCR A). Only OCR B is offering the centre a completely free choice of site.
What plan does your department need to put in place now to make sure everyone is ready and able to teach a different specifications?
In what order are you going to teach the specification you choose?

5. Things that will impact upon your decisions:
Support of your SLT.
Interests and aptitudes of the students you teach.
Resources available.
Length of KS4 in your school.
Corporate decisions between academy chains, networks etc.
Previous experience of exam boards and the support they offer.

6. What follows looks quite complex!
However, what it tries to do is to compare the different elements of the various specifications:
Thematic studies
Period studies
British depth studies
Wider world depth studies
Historic environment

7. Comparison of thematic studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Edexcel
Eduqas
The People’s Health c present
Crime and Punishment c present
Migrants to Britain c present
Part of paper 1 20%
Britain: health and the people c.1000-present
Britain: power and the people c.1170-present
Britain and the world: migration, empires and the people c.790- present
Half of paper 2 – 25% of whole GCSE
War and British Society c.790 to c.2010
Power: monarchy and democracy
Migration
All of paper 2 25%
Medicine in Britain, c1000– present
Crime and punishment in Britain, c1000– present
Warfare and British Society, c1250–present
Paper 1 – linked to a specific historic environment also, totalling 30% of whole GCSE
Changes to Crime and Punishment c.500-present
The Development of Warfare in Britain c.500-present
Changes in Entertainment and Leisure c.500- present
Part of paper 2 (50%)worth c.30% of total

8. Comparison of period studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR B (SHP)
Edexcel
OCR A (EMW)
Eduqas
USA : expansion and consolidation
Germany : democracy and dictatorship
Russia : Tsardom and communism
America : opportunity and inequality
Part of paper 1 which total 50%. All elements equally weighted so worth 25%
International Relations
Part of paper 1 25%
Viking Expansion c
Mughal Empire
Making of America
Part of paper 3 20%
Spain and the ‘New World’, c1490– c1555
British America, 1713–83: empire and revolution
The American West, c1835–c1895
Superpower Relations and the Cold War, 1941–91
Conflict in the Middle East, c1945– 95
Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE
The Development of the USA
The Development of Germany
The Development of the USSR
The Development of the United Kingdom
Part of paper 2 (50%) worth c.18-20% of total

9. Comparison of British depth studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Edexcel
Eduqas
Norman England
Medieval England – the reign of Edward I
Elizabethan England (note the different starting point)
Restoration England
Half of paper 2 worth 25% of the 50% total for paper 2 and includes the historic environment nested.
Impact of empire on Britain c
The English Reformation
Personal Rule to Restoration
Must match thematic study - part of paper 3 worth 25%
The Norman Conquest
The Elizabethans
Britain in Peace and War
Part of paper 1 20%
Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, c1060– 88
The reigns of King Richard I and King John, 1189–1216
Henry VIII and his ministers, 1509–40
Early Elizabethan England, 1558– 88
Paper 2 – half of paper - 20% of GCSE
Conflict and Upheaval: Britain
The Elizabethan Age
Empire, War and Reform
Austerity, Affluence and Discontent
Part of paper 1 (50%) worth 25% of total

10. Comparison of wider-world depth studies that can be chosen:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Edexcel
Eduqas
Conflict and tension:
Conflict and tension:
Conflict and tension between east and west:
Conflict and tension in Asia:
Conflict and tension:
Half of paper 1 worth 50% so worth 25% of total
The First Crusade c
The Aztec Empire and the Spanish Conquest
Living under Nazi Rule
Part of paper 3 – choice must be from different era than British depth study. 20%
Russia and the Soviet Union, 1924–41
Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–39
Mao’s China, 1945–76
The USA, 1954–75: conflict at home and abroad
Paper 3 – 30% of GCSE
China
Germany
Poland
Russia
South Africa
The USA
The USA
Part of paper 1 (50%) worth 25% of total
The Crusades
The Voyages of Discovery and Conquest of the Americas
Germany in transition
America in contrast
Part of paper 1 (50%) worth 25% of total

11. Comparison of the historic environment element:
AQA
OCR A (EMW)
OCR B (SHP)
Edexcel
Eduqas
Incorporated into the British depth studies as a part of Paper 2.
Different sites announced each year and you choose the site to go with your chosen depth study.
A separate section of paper 3 worth 10%, but linked to the themes and British depth studies.
For Migration = Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration
For both Power, Monarchy and democracy and War & British Society = Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750
Two sites will be studied, one chosen by the board and the other by the centre.
The board’s sites will change each year.
Paper 2 is entirely devoted to the historic environment and is 20% of the GCSE.
Centres choose their own topic – subject to the criteria given as guidance.
Part of the British thematic study:
Medicine = The British sector of the Western Front, 1914–18: surgery and treatment
Crime and punishment = Whitechapel c.1870–c1900: crime and policing
Warfare = London and the Second World War, 1939–45
Part of paper 1 nested in Thematic study. Paper 1 totals 30%
Part of the thematic study and sites nominated change every 2 years.
Crime and Punishment = London’s East End in the 19th century for 2018/19 and Botany bay for 2020/21
Health and Medicine = The village of Eyam in the Great Plague for 2018/19 and the British sector of the Western Front for 2020/21
Warfare = London in World War II for 2018/19 and Kenilworth Castle for 2020/21
Part of paper 2 (50%)