Junior Cycle History aims to help students understand how people in the past lived and the impact they had on the world. By learning history, students can gain insights into the human condition and how it connects to their lives today. History provides a unique perspective on the world and its development over time, showing how the past continues to influence the present. Here is what you can expect from the curriculum:
Guide
Everything you need to study Junior Cycle History
- 2 minute read
Junior Cycle History is not just about memorizing dates, you also explore stories of peoples' lives and analyse them. The course can seem quite daunting at first but don't let this put you off though because Studyclix has lots of resources to help you excel in your history exam.
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What's involved?
The nature of history
- A historian's work
- Archaeology and its contribution to historical enquiry
- Archives and museums
Irish history
- 1960s Ireland
- Christianity in Ireland
- Impact of sporting, cultural or social movements on Irish life
- Nationalism and unionism in Ireland (1911-1923)
- Pre-20th century revolutions/Irish rebellions
- Settlement and plantations/the influence on identity in Ireland
- The Great Famine: causes, courses and consequences
- The parliamentary tradition
- The Troubles in Northern Ireland
- Women in 20th century Ireland
- World War I and II: causes, courses and the long-term impact on the Irish people
European and wider world history
- 1960s: rest of the world
- An ancient or medieval civilisation
- The contribution of technological development and innovation
- Genocide: causes, courses and the consequences of the Holocaust
- Impact of conquest and colonisation
- Life in a communist country in the 20th century
- Life in a fascist country in the 20th century
- Medieval times: life and death
- Movement/organisation in promoting international co-operation
- Patterns of change
- Pre-20th century revolutions: causes, courses and consequences
- Reformation: the historical importance of religion
- Renaissance: the changes in the fields of arts and science
- The Cold War and its importance in international relations
- World War I and II: causes, courses and the long-term impact on the rest of the world
- A historian's work
- Archaeology and its contribution to historical enquiry
- Archives and museums
Exam structure
The assessment for Junior Cycle History can be split up into three parts:
The written exam: is worth 90% of the total grade, is assessed at common level and lasts for 2 hours. There are 8 questions on the paper and students must answer all 8.
CBAs: students must complete 2 Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs):
- CBA 1 (the past in my place) requires students to complete a project related to the history of their locality and may include personal/family history where appropriate.
- CBA 2 (a life in time) asks students to research the life of a person of historical interest.
The Assessment Task: is worth 10% of the overall grade and is based on CBA 2. Students must engage with a short stimulus (visual/written/audio) to prepare for a written task. This written task may test the student on their ability to evaluate new knowledge, their capacity to reflect on the research process and their ability to apply historical thinking to research.
Top tip for history
Students often wonder how much they should write in their answers (it's a good idea to use the mark allocations as a guide). A good rule of thumb is to divide the number of marks by two and this represents the number of points you should make in your answer, i.e. a 10-mark question should have 5 points in it.
How Studyclix can help you study history
CBA guides
Are you struggling to know where to start with your history CBAs? You're certainly not alone as many students find the CBA process intimidating. That's why we've created our history CBA guide to help you along every step of the way. Laura, an experienced teacher, has created this simple step-by-step guide to help you through both the CBAs. You can find it here.
Distinction guide
Junior Cycle History can seem quite daunting at first as there is a lot of information to learn and this can be challenging. This guide gives some general tips from an experienced examiner, Laura, on how to avoid some common mistakes.
History quizzes
An effective way to study for history is by going through our quizzes. These have been created based on past exam paper questions and include lots of content that will be useful for your history exam.
To find out more about quizzes, check out this blog post. Otherwise, you can start taking quizzes by clicking on the quiz button on your history homepage.
Top tip
Stuck on a question? Not sure about a topic? Looking for some more notes? Try asking our community page for some tips and advice. There are plenty of students and teachers there who are more than willing to help you out.
Have some ideas for more resources?
We are always looking for new ways to improve our site so we would love to hear your feedback. Get in touch by emailing info@studyclix.ie 😊