This module is about turning what you know into what an examiner can credit. It covers four skills: planning around the real question, choosing precise evidence, explaining what a quotation shows, and repairing a claim that has nothing behind it.
They sit inside Cambridge IGCSE History 0470, but the content you write about depends on your own core option and depth study. Check your route on the Cambridge syllabus page.
Why does writing need its own module?
History marks reward reasoning, not recall alone. Two students can hold the same facts and write very different answers, because one of them sorts the facts into a response to the question.
The module follows on from causation and supported explanation and evidence and source interpretation. Those modules teach you to think. This one teaches you to put the thinking on paper.
What should you already be able to do?
You should be able to place events in order, name a cause and say why it mattered, and read a source for what it says. If that feels shaky, revisit the earlier modules first. Writing skills cannot rescue content you cannot yet explain.
An orienting example
All examples in this module use the same invented event, the Port Marlow dock dispute of 1926. It did not happen, so you cannot look it up and you cannot copy it into an exam. The facts used throughout:
- The shipping firms announced a 10% pay cut on 1 March 1926.
- The dockers’ strike began on 3 May.
- The firms brought in outside workers from 17 May, and unloading ran at about half the normal speed.
- The union strike fund was empty by 12 June.
- The town council proposed talks on 8 June. An agreement on 19 June cut the pay reduction to 5% and ended the strike.
The question: Why did the strike end on 19 June 1926?
A weak answer: “The strike ended because both sides were tired and wanted peace. The union and the firms agreed.” That is an assertion with no evidence.
A stronger answer: “The strike ended mainly because the union could no longer pay its members. The strike fund was empty by 12 June, a week before the agreement. The firms were also under pressure, since outside workers unloaded at only half the normal speed, which is why the 5% compromise suited both sides.”
The second answer names a cause, supports it with exact facts and links to the end of the strike. It also keeps fact (the fund was empty) separate from interpretation (this was the main reason).
In what order should you study the lessons?
- Plan a response around the actual question: start here, because every later skill depends on knowing what the question asks.
- Use precise evidence rather than a list of names: once you have a plan, learn what counts as support.
- Explain the relevance of a quotation: this applies the evidence skill to a source extract.
- Revise an unsupported assertion in an original answer: finish by repairing a draft, which is the editing habit that raises a paragraph.
Then test everything with the integrated practice set.
What are the common traps?
- Answering a nearby question, such as why a strike began when the question asks why it ended.
- Naming people and groups without saying what they did.
- Quoting a source and moving on without saying what it shows.
- Writing a confident claim and assuming the reader will fill in the proof.
- Treating a source’s claim as fact. A source gives a viewpoint, and you check it against other evidence.
How should you use the practice set?
Attempt each question in writing before opening the answer. Compare your version with the model, then use the routing section at the end to find the lesson that matches your errors.
For the written assessment itself, read assessment route and independent work with your school’s guidance. If you want an experienced teacher to work through your own answers with you, see online one-to-one History tuition.