Edexcel History - A Level History essay writing technique

General essay writing technique for Edexcel History A Level - applies to essays in Papers 1, 2 and 3.

Introduction 00:00
Basic essay structure 00:33
Introductions 01:15
Exemplar A* introduction: 05:10
First paragraph: 07:01
Exemplar A* first paragraph: 09:35
Second and third paragraphs: 12:31
Conclusions: 13:24
Exemplar A* conclusion: 14:27
Model essay plan: 15:12
Top tips for exam success: 15:41

Here is the playlist with all my History A Level exam technique videos;

Any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments below.

#history #alevel #essay #revision

[sicklelkcis]

Sitting my first history a level tomorrow (Paper 3) and i just wanted to say your videos, especially this one, has been a huge help

[Fleetstreetbestone]

Wow thank you for giving a concise explanation, this is the only way I’ve grasped the question because of the vagueness at college.

[mia-gvfm]

just wanna say u are saving my history alevel

[omo]

I'm officially done with A level history. Have fun future History A level students! See ya ➡️🚪🥳

[ellianimates]

This video is so helpful! Thank you so much!

[jamesbrown]

Thank you very much, one thing im failing to understand is the differences between the first paragraph and the second and third ones, if you could clarify it would be greatly appreciated

[deakoshutova]

Does it matter where you put your most significant factor I.e. does it need to be first, last?

[hh-bbzw]

Hi Mr Gunn, I was wondering if you have any advice on doing essays which require you to compare two factors. Would you structure your essay thematically? For example, if the question is asking which factor was a greater threat to the King's throne, you would assess things like leadership, nature of support etc and see which of these was more threatening?

[felixoneill]

Hey man,

Super helpful video, I'm just curious about the criteria breakdown for other question focuses. Obviously for the example given the question is a "to what extent" where you can evaluate the suggested factor of "lack of money" as well as other factors such as "religion" or the "personality of the king". I understand how a "how significant" question focus could fit a similar criteria breakdown.

But for a "how far do you agree" question what would your criteria be? Say the question reads "How far do you agree that women had made significant gains in their fight for equality by 1980?" (America paper 1) would your criteria be something like "yes" and "no" ?


Thank you and keep up the great vids !!

[SarahLayton-hujm]

This video (and others) have been very useful to me.

However, I feel very frustrated as I have followed this exact methodology when writing my essays and I have checked the mark scheme and met all the criteria, yet when my teacher marks such essays, she often scores it a 18/20.

This is the lowest of the top band so I honestly don’t understand what I’m missing out and what I need to do to improve it. My teacher is off on maternity leave now so I can’t ask her.

I understand that it would be tricky for you to respond accurately as you can’t see my work - although I’m not sure how I could show you - but what do you think is causing her to mark me lower; what would cause a 18 vs a 20/20?

[Nats.L]

For the judgement bit, would u need to put your criteria in? I’ve been doing this since the start because I always think that I could extra marks or something, the judgement has to be longer.. right ?

[steven.]

Should i include a counter in my content paragraphs? or set the third as a counter itself?

[moab_gaming]

Sir, for the link to other factors would this be useful to do in the russia paper? and how would you go about doing it ?

[divoraabay]

hello sir, i watch a ton of your videos and find them extremely useful! But quick question my school extremely
encourage us to do 4 paragraphs so i wanted to know if you could get capped if you only do three like you did in the video

[landonmurdoch]

When you link back to the criteria do you do that per piece of evidence or after all evidence ?

[JKN-gzjl]

Can I use this structure for OCR history or is it exclusively Edexcel?

[hepsyschorah]

is it true that for section A its always a choice between topic one or two then section B is a choice between topic three or four?

[DanicaStorm-cffy]

Will this help me with AS level 9489 cie

[moodygal]

Quick question: do we not have to refer to the counter argument?