OCR runs two separate GCSE History exams under one name — structured, weighted and marked completely differently.
Book a Free ConsultationOCR runs two GCSE History specifications, not one: History A (J410) and History B (J411, Schools History Project). OCR's complete GCSE subject list, checked 7 September 2026, names exactly these two qualifications and no others under History. History A weights its three papers 50%, 25% and 25% and splits its ten SPaG marks five-and-five across Papers 1 and 3; History B weights 40%, 20% and 40%, with all ten SPaG marks in one paper.
This page sets out each specification's own paper structure, marks and procedural detail — the ground the wider GCSE History comparison and OCR's own qualification pages do not cover for either board.
Not sure which OCR GCSE History specification your child is sitting? Our expert OCR History tutors work with both History A and History B students, and build every session around the paper your child is actually taking.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppFor the cross-board comparison of exam papers, total marks and timing across all five current GCSE History specifications, see our GCSE History guide; from here on, this page covers only what is inside OCR's own two specifications, paper by paper.
OCR GCSE History A (Explaining the Modern World, specification code J410, qualification number 601/8091/2) and OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project, code J411, qualification number 601/8408/5) are two live, structurally different GCSE qualifications running under the same board name. OCR's complete GCSE subject list contains exactly these two History entries and no others, checked directly on 7 September 2026. A parent, tutor or school searching “OCR GCSE History” has no way to know which one is meant from the name alone — this is not a legacy-versus-current split or a tiered exam, but two full, independently structured qualifications sitting side by side. The rest of this page covers each specification's own paper structure, marks and procedural detail in turn.
OCR's History A specification-at-a-glance page sets out three components, each forming one exam paper. Paper 1 (the period study with a non-British depth study) is worth 105 marks, lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and counts for 50% of the GCSE. Paper 2 (the thematic study) is worth 50 marks, lasts 1 hour and counts for 25%. Paper 3 (the British depth study with a study of the historic environment) is worth 55 marks, lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and counts for the remaining 25%.
| Paper | Content | Marks | Duration | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | Period study + non-British depth study | 105 | 1 hour 45 minutes | 50% |
| Paper 2 | Thematic study | 50 | 1 hour | 25% |
| Paper 3 | British depth study + historic environment | 55 | 1 hour 15 minutes | 25% |
Source: OCR History A specification-at-a-glance, retrieved 7 September 2026.
Ten of those marks are for spelling, punctuation, grammar and the use of specialist terminology (SPaG), and OCR splits them evenly rather than concentrating them in one paper: five marks sit in Question 4 of Paper 1's period study, and five more in Question 2 of Paper 3's British depth study. OCR's own full History A specification states plainly that these SPaG marks “are in addition to the total 200 marks for the assessment of GCSE (9-1) History A” — so the 105, 50 and 55 marks in the table above are the content marks a student answers questions to earn, with SPaG credited separately on top of two of the three papers, not folded invisibly into a single total.
History B (Schools History Project) is built differently. OCR's History B specification-at-a-glance page groups its three components as Component group 1 (British History: a thematic study combined with a British depth study), Component group 2 (History Around Us) and Component group 3 (World History: a period study combined with a world depth study). Component group 1 is worth 80 marks, lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and counts for 40% of the GCSE. Component group 2, History Around Us, is worth 40 content marks plus all ten of the qualification's SPaG marks, lasts 1 hour and counts for 20%. Component group 3 is worth 80 marks, lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and counts for the remaining 40%.
| Component group | Content | Marks | Duration | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Component group 1 | British History: thematic study + British depth study | 80 | 1 hour 45 minutes | 40% |
| Component group 2 | History Around Us | 40 + all 10 SPaG marks | 1 hour | 20% |
| Component group 3 | World History: period study + world depth study | 80 | 1 hour 45 minutes | 40% |
Source: OCR History B specification-at-a-glance, retrieved 7 September 2026. Component groups are used here rather than OCR's own paper numbers because OCR's full specification names two different components “Paper 2” in two different sections — World History in its assessment overview, History Around Us in its SPaG section — and this page will not assert a single numbering OCR's own document does not use consistently.
Unlike History A's even five-and-five split, History B puts every one of its ten SPaG marks into a single paper. OCR's full History B specification states there will be “10 marks available for SPaG in Paper 2: History Around Us” — OCR's own label for that specific paper in that specific section. A student who writes carelessly in that one extended response risks marks that a History A student never has concentrated in one place.
Whichever OCR History specification your child's school has entered them for, our tutors build the term around that specification's own papers, marks and weighting — not a generic GCSE History syllabus.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppHistory Around Us is the single most distinctive part of either OCR History specification, because the site studied is not fixed by OCR at all — it is chosen by the school. OCR's full History B specification states the chosen site “could be… from any period of prehistory or history; on any scale, ranging from a small medieval church to an entire eighteenth century town; an iconic site such as the Tower of London or Stonehenge, or a relatively unknown site such as a local Iron Age hill fort or an abandoned Second World War airbase; located within walking distance of the centre or at a distance from the centre (including abroad).” Two schools on the same specification, in other words, can be studying two entirely different buildings, and no national revision guide can be written for either of them without knowing which one.
Schools do not choose freely and then simply start teaching, however. OCR requires every centre to submit its choice using the History Around Us Site Proposal Form for OCR's approval, and its full specification states that the “History Around Us Site Proposal Form is submitted to OCR before 31 January in the year of entry.” The form only needs to be submitted once: OCR uses that submission for the lifetime of the specification unless the school later tells it the site has changed. For a family whose child has just started the course, the practical question worth asking the school directly is not what topic History Around Us covers generally — it is which site the school has registered, and whether that registration has actually been approved.
Studying for a History Around Us paper built around your child's own school site? Our OCR History tutors work from the actual site your child's school has registered, not a generic revision guide that cannot cover it.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppHistory A's own historic environment study works the opposite way round: OCR fixes the site, not the school, and combines it with whichever thematic and depth study combination a school has chosen. OCR's specification (Version 1.9, January 2026, checked 7 September 2026) names two: Urban Environments: Patterns of Migration, combined with the Migration to Britain and Impact of Empire options, and Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750, combined with the other option combinations. OCR's specification puts a precise figure on how much this element is worth: 10% of the overall GCSE and around 12 guided learning hours of teaching time — a fixed, quantifiable slice of the course rather than an open-ended local project.
OCR does not treat that fixed site as permanent, either. Its full History A specification states the set site “will be reviewed after three years and may be subject to change”, that “each OCR set site will remain on the specification for a minimum of three years, unless the review process identifies a necessary change”, and that if a site is replaced, “centres will be notified in the September two years prior to the examination.” A school teaching History A today is not guaranteed to be teaching the same historic environment site in three years' time, and the review clock runs on OCR's schedule, not the school's.
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Both specifications are revised in place at the same web address, so a PDF saved to a school shared drive or a cached search result can silently go out of date. The versions checked directly for this page on 7 September 2026 were History A (J410) Version 1.9, dated January 2026, and History B (J411) Version 2.0, dated June 2026 — both still marked “for first assessment in 2021” (History A) and “for first assessment in 2018” (History B), so neither the first-teaching cohort nor the assessment window has changed; only the document itself has been reissued.
Both documents also carry OCR's own rebrand notice: “As of September 2025, our name is Cambridge OCR. Students who sat an exam in summer 2025 will receive a Cambridge OCR branded exam certificate.” A certificate issued under either name for either specification is valid; the rebrand does not reset which specification version a school is teaching from, or which exam series a student is entered for.
The two specifications reward genuinely different skills in genuinely different places. A tutor drilling exam technique for History A's fixed period-study-and-depth-study combination does little for a History B student whose next assessed piece of writing is about a site their own school chose, one OCR itself has never examined before. Equally, a tutor treating every OCR paper's SPaG marks the same way misses that History A spreads the risk across two separate extended responses while History B concentrates the entire ten marks into one — a single scrappy paragraph in History Around Us costs a History B student marks that a History A student never risks losing in one place.
Getting this right starts with one question before any revision plan is written: which specification code is on the exam entry, J410 or J411 — and, for a History B student, which site the school has actually registered with OCR.
Ready to start tutoring built around your child's actual OCR History paper, not a generic GCSE History syllabus?
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppWe start every OCR History tutoring relationship by confirming the specification code on the exam entry rather than assuming from the board name, because J410 and J411 are marked on different components, different weightings and, for History B, a site unique to the student's own school. For a History A student, that means building revision around whichever period study, thematic study, British depth study and historic environment combination the school has entered, and treating the split SPaG marks in Papers 1 and 3 as a genuine, low-cost opportunity for extra marks. For a History B student, the first practical step is finding out exactly which site the school registered on its Site Proposal Form, since no national revision guide can cover a site chosen locally.
Our tutors are specialist History tutors who teach the board and paper in front of them, several with Oxbridge History degrees, and we cover OCR alongside AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas and WJEC across GCSE and A-level. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades, and we are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews. For the cross-board comparison of every GCSE History specification, see our GCSE History guide; students progressing to sixth form can see how OCR's own approach continues in our OCR A-Level History guide, and our History tutor service covers GCSE and A-level together.
Whichever OCR GCSE History specification your child's school has entered them for, our tutors build the term around its actual papers, marks and, for History B, its own registered site.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppNo. They are two separate, fully independent GCSE (9-1) qualifications that happen to share an exam board. History A (Explaining the Modern World, J410, qualification number 601/8091/2) and History B (Schools History Project, J411, qualification number 601/8408/5) are OCR's only two GCSE History entries, checked against OCR's complete GCSE subject list on 7 September 2026. They have different papers, different weightings and different non-exam requirements, and a school is entered for one or the other, never both.
Paper 1 (period study with a non-British depth study) is worth 105 marks, 1 hour 45 minutes and 50% of the GCSE. Paper 2 (thematic study) is worth 50 marks, 1 hour and 25%. Paper 3 (British depth study with a study of the historic environment) is worth 55 marks, 1 hour 15 minutes and the remaining 25%, according to OCR's specification-at-a-glance page for History A.
OCR splits them evenly rather than concentrating them in one place: five marks sit in Question 4 of Paper 1's period study, and five more in Question 2 of Paper 3's British depth study. OCR states these ten marks are in addition to the total 200 marks for the assessment of GCSE (9-1) History A.
The school does, not OCR. OCR's specification allows a site from any period of prehistory or history, on any scale, an iconic site such as the Tower of London or Stonehenge or a relatively unknown site such as a local Iron Age hill fort or an abandoned Second World War airbase, located anywhere including abroad, and it must be submitted using the History Around Us Site Proposal Form for OCR's approval.
Yes. OCR states that the History Around Us Site Proposal Form must be submitted to OCR before 31 January in the year of entry, though the submission itself only has to be made once and covers the site for the lifetime of the specification unless the school later changes it.
Yes, on a published cycle. OCR states the set site will be reviewed after three years and may be subject to change, that each site remains on the specification for a minimum of three years, and that if a site is replaced, centres are notified in the September two years before the examination.
As checked on 7 September 2026, History A (J410) is on Version 1.9, dated January 2026, and History B (J411) is on Version 2.0, dated June 2026. Both documents carry OCR's September 2025 rebrand notice: students who sat an exam in summer 2025 onward receive a Cambridge OCR branded certificate.
Checked 7 September 2026: specification codes, paper structure, marks, weightings and procedural detail were verified directly against OCR's own specification-at-a-glance pages and full specification PDFs for History A and History B. Last updated 7 September 2026.
History A or History B, each with its own papers and marks. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews. Start with the GCSE History guide or the GCSE tutoring hub.
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