Paper 2
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes Weighting: 25%
This examination paper assesses objectives 1-4.
All assessment objectives for the paper are tracked through to the markband.
Students must study two topics from either route 1, or route 2. Each syllabus consists of five topics.
Route 2: 20th century world history
• Topic 1: Causes, practices and effects of wars
• Topic 2: Democratic states—challenges and responses
• Topic 3: Origins and development of authoritarian and single-party states
• Topic 4: Nationalist and independence movements in Africa and Asia and post-1945 Central and Eastern European states
• Topic 5: The Cold War
For route 2 topics, when the word “region” is used in a question, it refers to one of the four regional options defined by the world map in the introduction to 20th century world history topics. Some comparative questions require that examples
be drawn from more than one region.
The paper consists of five sections, each covering one topic. There are six extended-response questions on each topic. The structure of each section is:
• three questions on named people, themes, topics or events that are listed in the syllabus • two open-ended questions
• at least one question addressing social, economic or gender issues (in some topics in route 1 the majority of questions may fall into this
category). Of these:
• at least one question will be set that demands material from two regions in route 2. This will be indicated either by
named examples or by demanding two unnamed examples
• any one of the questions may be a comparative question, or based on a quotation.
When questions of a more general and open-ended nature are also set, students are free to use any relevant material to illustrate and support their arguments.
Students must answer two questions, each selected from a different topic. The maximum mark for this paper is 40. The
paper is marked using generic markbands and a paper-specific analytic markscheme.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes Weighting: 25%
This examination paper assesses objectives 1-4.
All assessment objectives for the paper are tracked through to the markband.
Students must study two topics from either route 1, or route 2. Each syllabus consists of five topics.
Route 2: 20th century world history
• Topic 1: Causes, practices and effects of wars
• Topic 2: Democratic states—challenges and responses
• Topic 3: Origins and development of authoritarian and single-party states
• Topic 4: Nationalist and independence movements in Africa and Asia and post-1945 Central and Eastern European states
• Topic 5: The Cold War
For route 2 topics, when the word “region” is used in a question, it refers to one of the four regional options defined by the world map in the introduction to 20th century world history topics. Some comparative questions require that examples
be drawn from more than one region.
The paper consists of five sections, each covering one topic. There are six extended-response questions on each topic. The structure of each section is:
• three questions on named people, themes, topics or events that are listed in the syllabus • two open-ended questions
• at least one question addressing social, economic or gender issues (in some topics in route 1 the majority of questions may fall into this
category). Of these:
• at least one question will be set that demands material from two regions in route 2. This will be indicated either by
named examples or by demanding two unnamed examples
• any one of the questions may be a comparative question, or based on a quotation.
When questions of a more general and open-ended nature are also set, students are free to use any relevant material to illustrate and support their arguments.
Students must answer two questions, each selected from a different topic. The maximum mark for this paper is 40. The
paper is marked using generic markbands and a paper-specific analytic markscheme.