OCR GCSE History B History Around Us: a complete guide to the site study and Paper 2
A complete overview of OCR's GCSE History B (SHP) History Around Us site study, the whole of Paper 2. Covers what the study is, reading physical features as evidence, judging significance and interpretations, the question types and mark tariffs, and how to earn the 10 SPaG marks.
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What this option demands
History Around Us is OCR's distinctive site study and the whole of Paper 2. Because OCR does not set a national site, your school chooses a real historic place to study in depth, so the exam tests skills that work for any site: reading physical features as evidence, judging significance, and weighing interpretations. This overview ties the dot-point pages together and shows how to apply the skills to your own studied site.
What the study is
Instead of a fixed topic, your centre chooses a historic site (a castle, abbey, country house, mill, factory or battlefield) that you can usually visit. You study the physical remains themselves as historical evidence, alongside written and visual sources, learning how to "read" a place to understand the past. The content differs between schools, so you always answer on the specific site you studied.
Reading the site as evidence
The core skill is reading physical features: the layout shows function (defence, worship, living, industry); the materials show the wealth and date of the builders; the design and decoration show purpose and priorities (defence versus display); and change over time (extensions, blocked doors, ruin, restoration) shows how the site's use and fortunes shifted. Physical remains are valuable direct evidence but are often incomplete and can be read in more than one way, so the best understanding combines them with written and visual sources.
Significance and interpretations
The higher-order skills are judging significance and weighing interpretations. Significance is judged at the time, over time and today, and you should always link the site's features to wider themes (defence, religion, wealth, industry, society). Interpretations of a site differ because historians use different evidence, write for different purposes, and face gaps and ambiguity; you evaluate them by weighing the evidence each rests on and judging which is better supported.
Answering Paper 2
Paper 2 (1 hour, 40 marks plus 10 SPaG) asks a sequence of questions on your site: a describe question (around 4 marks, two precise features), explain questions (around 8 marks, developed reasons), a source question (around 8 marks, content plus provenance), and an extended "How far do you agree" judgement (16 marks), which carries the 10 SPaG marks. Match your answer length to the marks, always link features to purpose and significance, and write the extended answer with correct specialist terminology.
Check your knowledge
A mix of recall questions about the study and its skills. Attempt them, then check the solutions.
- Who chooses the site for History Around Us? (1 mark)
- How long is Paper 2, and what is it worth (including SPaG)? (2 marks)
- Name two things a site's physical features can reveal. (2 marks)
- Give two limits of physical evidence. (2 marks)
- In which three time frames can you judge a site's significance? (3 marks)
- Give one reason interpretations of a site can differ. (1 mark)
- What is the tariff of the extended Paper 2 question, and what is attached to it? (2 marks)
- Name two specialist terms you might use for a castle site. (2 marks)