A-Level History tutoring.
History is an essay subject where technique matters as much as knowledge. One to one, online, building arguments that answer the question asked rather than the one revised for.
Knowing more is not what moves a History grade.
Students stuck in the middle bands usually know plenty. What is missing is an argument held from the first line to the last, and evidence chosen to serve it rather than to demonstrate revision.
Argument from the opening line
Open with a clear, assertive position and sustain it, rather than drifting into narrative and arriving at a judgement in the final paragraph. This is the most reliable change to a History mark.
Source evaluation, systematically
Origin, purpose, content and limitations, applied consistently under timed conditions rather than remembered in the calm of a revision session.
Historiography
Using and evaluating historians’ interpretations is what separates A and A* responses, and it is the part most schools have least time for.
Selective evidence
Marks come from evidence deployed to support a claim, not from the quantity recalled. Knowing what to leave out is a skill in itself.
Breadth, depth, sources and the coursework.
History specifications vary enormously between schools, so sessions are built around the units you are actually studying rather than a fixed topic list.
Essay technique
Applies to every unit
- Thesis and argument construction
- Paragraph structure and signposting
- Deploying evidence selectively
- Sustained judgement
- Timing and planning under pressure
Sources and interpretations
Where technique is most testable
- Origin, purpose and audience
- Content and limitations
- Comparing sources
- Evaluating historians
- Historiographical debate
Your units
Whichever your school teaches
- Breadth studies
- Depth studies
- NEA and coursework support
- Exam board specific content
- Past paper technique
AQA, Edexcel and OCR.
History differs from the sciences in that two schools on the same board may study entirely different periods. We work from your specification and your units, which we establish in the first lesson.
Four stages, starting with a free hour.
The same process every ILE student goes through. How we teach
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1
Diagnostic
A free 60-minute lesson. Bring a marked essay and we read it against the level descriptors to find where the argument is actually losing the marks.
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2
A plan with a target
Technique first where essays are the problem, content first where a unit is genuinely thin, and usually both at once.
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3
Weekly sessions
Planning, writing and marking essays against the real descriptors, with source work built in rather than treated separately.
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4
Into the exams
Timed essays under exam conditions, which is a different skill from writing one well with the books open.
Most students arrive at one of these points.
- Essays that narrate rather than argue. The most common reason a well-read student is stuck in the middle bands.
- Running out of time in the exam. Planning and timing are separable from knowledge and quicker to fix.
- Struggling with sources. A distinct skill that rewards a repeatable method.
- Coursework and NEA. Often the least supported part of the course, and worth a significant share of the grade.
- Applying for History or Law. Where written argument is the point of the subject.
- Chasing an A*. At the top end it is historiography and sustained judgement.
Students taking History usually take these too.
A-Level History, answered.
AQA, Edexcel and OCR. History varies more than most subjects because two schools on the same board can study different periods, so we work from your specification and units.
Yes, for technique, which is most of what moves a History grade. Where a session needs the content itself we match you to a tutor who has studied that period.
Yes. It is frequently the least supported part of the course and carries real weight in the final grade.
Usually argument rather than knowledge: a clear position held throughout, with evidence chosen to serve it. Description caps out below the top bands however thorough it is.
A full 60-minute lesson with your matched tutor, with no card details and no commitment. It is a real session rather than a sales call.
Yes, on Google Meet, anywhere in the UK.
The first History hour is free.
A full 60-minute lesson on a marked essay, free and with no card details. Bring one that came back lower than you expected.