For our IGCSE History we selected Dictatorship and Conflict in the USSR and A World Divided, Superpower relations as our two topics for Paper 1. For both of these topics I ended up buying my daughter the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Books as well as the Hodder Education Paper 1 book and we are using them together. This post is just going to be focusing on the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Book A World Divided: Superpower Relations 1943 – 1972.

This book contains all the information that your kiddo needs to know for the Superpower History Topic. Everything is in here. Now this is IGCSE level so there is quite a bit of information and there is no getting around the fact that some of the pages are going to just be a bit text heavy (It is History and at this level you have to accept that there is quite a bit to learn). However I still think they manage to format the pages of text nicely and break it into smaller chunks (I always think tackling a topic in smaller chunks is much easier).

Scattered throughout the chapters they do include quick exam style questions, these are really useful as they are written in the same style as the exam questions so the kids get to practice as they are learning the new facts. We always attempt these questions and I must admit that I feel by the time you have completed the book you have attempted quite a number of these exam-style questions so the kids do start feeling more confidant with how to answer them.

At the end of each chapter they include a summary page which contain 3 blocks – The Recall Quiz Questions, Checkpoint Questions (longer questions) and a quick bullet point summary of key facts. I find this end of the chapter page really useful, we always try the questions on here.

And finally each chapter contains an exam style question but this time they go into detail on how to answer the question in a step-by step manner and they include two sample answers for the kids to read.

We like this book because it contains all the information that we need in one place and we like the fact that they have so many questions for us to practice.

Really if you choose the Cold War as a topic then you can not go wrong with this book.

For those interest here is the Amazon link for this book – A World Divided: Superpower Relations 1943 – 1972

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