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Edexcel IGCSE History question and answer cards

Posted on February 14, 2025 by ofamily

I have made quite a few sets of Question and Answer cards for Edexcel International GCSE History topics. So I thought it might be a good idea to put links for all the different cards that I have made into one post. (and when I finish making my new set on the Middle East I will add that link as well).

I started making these cards when my daughter was revising her History topics and we wanted to find a way that she could test herself on the important facts. I searched and could not find anything suitable so I started making her these cards. The idea is very simple – print the pages, cut out the strips and fold them over so you have a question on one side and then you flip it over and you can see the answer. This means the kids can test themselves and can test themselves over and over if they need too. My daughter actually used her cards before both her mocks and her final exams and she said she found them really useful. In fact after I made her the first set she insisted that I keep on making her more sets for the other topics.

So here are the topics which I have made cards for (some are on the TES website)

Paper 1

Dictatorship and Conflict in the USSR – these are on the TES website

Germany development of a dictatorship – these are on the TES website

Superpower Relations 1943-72

Paper 2

Russia and the Soviet Union 1905-24

China Conflict, crisis and change 1900-1989 – these are on the TES website

The Middle East:conflict, crisis and change 1917 – 2012 – I am currently finishing these and will add a link in once they are up.

Very short and too the point but I thought it would be a good idea to write up a post with the links for all the different cards.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged Edexcel IGCSE History, educational resources, home education, homeschooling, KS4 | Leave a comment

Edexcel IGCSE Biology question and answer cards

Posted on February 5, 2025 by ofamily

I thought I had already written about the Edexcel IGCSE Biology cards that my daughter used but when I searched for the post I realized I had totally forgotten. And because I thought these cards were incredibly useful I felt like I really should share about them so here it is.

When she did her IGCSE Biology (she has already written her exam) we used a student book, a workbook, the 10 minute question book and these question and answer cards. When I was buying her the different resources I was wondering if we getting too much but actually when she was revising for her mock exams and her final exams we used these cards a LOT and they ended up being worth the money that I paid for them.

The cards are clearly split into the different topics (at the top right side of the cards it always stats which topic the cards belongs to e.g – Reproduction and Inheritance). I found that incredibly useful as the cards did get mixed up and it was always easy to quickly find the cards which we were wanting.

The cards are split into 2 sections – first the quick questions and then the longer questions. And yes the answers for ALL the questions are on the other side of the card.

We found this format incredibly user-friendly and perfect for revision. My daughter would sit in her bed, curled up under her duvet and test herself. It was perfect and actually it inspired me to make her, her own set of History cards after I saw how much she used them and how much they helped her with her revision.

The other small and vital thing that these cards had was the very clear indication of which questions where applicable for paper 2 only. When you are revising for your exams this is a BIG help as you don’t want to keep double checking what exactly is only in Paper 2 so it helped a lot that they clearly indicted on the cards (when she wrote her exams the paper 2 was a month after the Paper 1 so the month before Paper 1 we really did just focus on Paper 1 content).

The pack contains 95 cards but remember that does NOT mean there are only 95 questions in the pack of cards because every card has between 4 and 7 questions on it. So you really are getting a lot of questions, which is why I thought it ended up being such good value for money.

We thought these cards were very useful and we really did end up using them a lot before both her mock and final Biology exams. If I had to do it all over again I would definitely buy these cards as a revision resource.

For those of you interested here is an Amazon link for the cards we used – Edexcel International GCSE Biology question and answer cards

Admin – I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and recommend.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged home education, homeschooling, IGCSE Biology, KS4 | Leave a comment

Edexcel IGCSE History what did we use

Posted on February 3, 2025 by ofamily

I have written a few posts about the different books that we used as part of our Edexcel IGCSE History but after getting our results (she got an 8) and getting a few questions I thought I would try and summarize what we used, what we did not like and really what worked for us. (I will include links for the more detailed posts about each book – this is just going to be a summary).

You have to select 4 topics for the exam. There is a wide choice to select from and we choose ours based on what my daughter wanted to study and what I thought I could find sufficient resources on. So she gave me a short list of what she liked, I then went and searched for resources and we then sat down and discussed which ones would be the best options for us. Having said that I still did find that there are not as many resources for History IGCSE as there are for the Science subjects which is why I ended up making her question and answer sets (links for these later on it the post).

For each topic that we selected we used a Pearson Edexcel student book (eg. Russia 1905-1925, Superpower relations, USSR 1924-53 and China). This was the “main” resource and honestly the resource that I could not have survived without. We would read sections in the book, answer the questions and watch youtube clips that linked into what we had read. We did all of the end of the chapter questions and practiced answering the “exam type” questions right from the very beginning. Really want to state these were my must have books.

After hearing some people recommend the SchoolHistory website I did buy a subscription. But honestly it did not suit us. I tried to use it for our first topic and we just were not that impressed. I thought the notes in the books that we bought were better and although they did include questions under the topics I thought the questions in the books were better. So we actually ended up ignoring our subscription.

As we progressed and after I realized that the SchoolHistory website was not for us I did search for a second resource (and I do recommend not just sticking to one resource for each topic) we got the Hodder books (Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Depth Studies and Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Investigation and Breadth Studies). I have to admit that if I had to do History IGCSE over again I would still stick with my idea of a second resource for each topic. I think having more than one resource is a MUST.

While we were revising for my daughters mocks I started feeling like she needed a way of testing if she could remember the key facts (because lets be honest there is quite a bit to remember) and I searched and could not find anything suitable so I ended up making her some question and answer cards for each topic. These are the cards I made for her (Russia 1905- 1925, Superpower relations, USSR 1924-53 and China)

Okay and lastly when we were revising I did start panicking a bit and I ended up buying my daughter this book – Pearson International GCSE History revision notes. It is a brilliant book and I loved it but I am not sure if we really needed it or if it was just me panicking. If you are looking for a third book than I would say this is excellent however I want to stress I do NOT think this could take the place of the more detailed student books (the ones that I mention at the start of the post).

Now YouTube. We did watch lots of clips as we studied the different sections. We really did watch quite a bit. But I do want to mention one channel – All You Need Notes. They have some really useful clips on how to structure your answers. We thought her suggestions were the best (we also really liked her videos on Superpowers).

Okay so those were our key items for our IGCSE History.

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged Edexcel IGCSE History, home education, homeschooling, IGCSE, KS4 | Leave a comment

Edexcel IGCSE History Investigation and Breadth Studies book

Posted on January 30, 2025 by ofamily

For Edexcel IGCSE History Paper 2 you have to select one Investigation and one Breadth Study, we selected Russia and the Soviet Union 1905-24 as our Investigation study and China: conflict, crisis and change 1900-89 as our Breadth study. Now as we did with our paper 1 topics I bought my daughter the Pearson student book for each topic (Russia and China) but I wanted a second resource and because we had bought and liked the Hodder Paper 1 book I chose to buy her the Hodder paper 2 book as her second resource.

First of all for paper 2 you do have a large choice of topics that you can choose from and a book like this is never going to include all those topics, so to be crystal clear on what is in this book here are the 2 Investigation studies that they included and the 3 Breadth Studies (this book was a good option for us because both of our paper 2 topics were included).

Okay so this book is set out differently to the student books that we used (when I say student books I mean these ones – Russia and China). This book does not include exam practice questions in the chapters however at the end of the book they do have a section where they discuss the types of questions that you will get asked, they give examples of how to answer them and then give a few questions for you to practice. For us one of the reasons why we liked using both of these books together was because we wanted to get as much advise on how best to tackle the exam questions, we wanted as much exam guidance and good examples of how to structure the answers. So the final chapter on exam guidance is one that you really should NOT miss. (If I had to compare the exam guidance in this book to the student books that we bought there is more exam guidance in the student books).

Content wise – I liked this book. I think they covered both of the topics that we choose well. With IGCSE History it is going to be content heavy so there are lots of paragraphs which you need to read and points you need to remember. If I had to compare the content in this to the student books I would say that is is a bit more summarized. However we did find that although there is content overlap there was also quite a bit that was different (ie included in one that was not included in the other and also content explained or set out differently).

They did also include a lot of source material which I liked. And they had focus tasks throughout which were a great activity to get the kids thinking (but no there are no suggested answers for the focus tasks).

Lastly they included small chapter summaries, which are always useful.

If you are looking for a second resource and if the topics that you choose are included in this book then I would definitely say this is a good choice. I am glad we bought it and I think it was worth the money. Personally I liked having 2 resources for each topic, I think it helped and is one of the reasons why my daughter ended up getting her 8 for History.

For those interested here is an Amazon link – Pearson Edexcel International GCSE History Paper 2 Book

Posted in Homeschooling | Tagged Edexcel IGCSE History, educational resources, History, home education, homeschooling, IGCSE, KS4 | Leave a comment

Edexcel IGCSE History Russia and the Soviet Union Student Book

Posted on January 27, 2025 by ofamily

I was writing up a summary post about our IGCSE History resources and I suddenly realized I never wrote about our Russia and the Soviet Union student book that we used so here it the review.

As with all our History topics I bought my daughter the Pearson student book as our main resource for the Russia and the Soviet Union 1905-24 topic. These student books are the Edexcel IGCSE History resource that I really could not have survived without (sorry if the book looks a bit worn in the pictures, it really has been well used).

We like these books for a number of reasons.

They include all the facts that you need and they have done so in a nice format. Yes there are paragraphs of information that you need to read (History is just a content heavy subjects) but they have included spider diagrams (well similar to spider diagrams) where possible and kept the paragraphs sharp and too the point.

Throughout the chapters they have also included small practice questions (which are examples of the type of exam questions you can expect) and are perfect for the kids to practice on.

Then at the end of the chapter there is a great recap question / summary page. We always read this and answered all the questions. Really it is a great way to make sure you have covered all the important points.

And then the other must do, at the end of the chapter they also do 2 or 3 pages on exam guidance (this must NOT be ignored). They give you an exam question, then give you hints on how to answer it and finally show you some sample answers pointing out why a certain answer would be poor and another would be better. We used this guidance a LOT.

Okay so this is the student book that we used for our Russia and the Soviet Union topic. We used it for our exams and highly recommend it.

One other thing I will mention if you are doing Russia and the Soviet Union as one of your topics I did make my daughter some revision question and answer cards which are free to download here – Russia and the Soviet Union question and answer cards.

Admin – This is NOT a sponsored post, I bought this book for my daughter to use. I do include Affiliate links. If you follow an affiliate link and go on to purchase that product, I will be paid a very small commission, however your cost will remain the same. I only include affiliate links for products that we use and recommend.