Explaining Significance in History Exams

What is Significance?

English, to many, can seem as though it is a very simple language. However, it is an old language that has benefitted from the many migrant communities that have moved to Britain over the past centuries. This has created interesting synonyms in our language> However, important and significant in terms of a GCSE History exam are very different.

I start teaching Significant events in History by asking the class to define the word ‘significant’.  The whole class often tells me it means ‘important.’ But why they not just use the word important in the exam questions? It must be different!

Significance is more than simply important. For instance, it is important to eat lunch to give you energy. But it would be significant to have lunch with the king.  Therefore, significant events are key moments that would be remembered. This is the same when studying History.

GCSE Exam skills

OCR, AQA and Edexcel breadth exams are including Significant questions more and more. AQA Britain Breadth Paper Question Two is always a ‘significance’ question! To answer these remember to consider the following about a person or an event:

Lists in Action

Point: One way Hippocrates and Galen were significant is that their idea of the 4 humours had a long-term impact of health in Britain. Evidence. For example, the Christian Church of medieval Britain liked the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen and taught them in their universities. Explain. This led to a long-term use of their ideas as Barber Surgeons and doctors, taught in universities like Padua, learnt to bleed their patients to ‘balance their humours.’ These treatments were bring used into the 1600swith Charles Scarborough bleeding Charles II to try to cure him before his death.     

Point- John Snow is significant in the development of surgery as Queen Victoria was his patient and she helped to end opposition to chloroform. Evidence. For example, during the birth of Leopold and Beatrice John Snow gave Victoria some chloroform to manage the birth pains. Explain This means Snow is significant as Victoria announced afterwards that the ‘blessed chloroform’ had been a great help. This helped to make chloroform a widely used anaesthetic in surgery as opposition from the Christian Church and other groups ended.