OCR A Level History A Popular Culture 2025 Question Paper

Download the official OCR A-Level History A Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries question paper for the June 2025 examination series (Y312/01). This advanced OCR History paper explores witchcraft beliefs, religious change, popular culture, witch hunts, urban and rural society, and the role of authorities during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries within the OCR A-Level History specification.

The paper contains source-based interpretation analysis and thematic essay questions covering explanations for the Witchcraze in Southern Germany between c.1590 and 1630, the impact of religious change on popular culture, whether witch hunts were more common in towns than the countryside, and the extent to which authorities’ responses to witchcraft changed across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Students are required to evaluate historical interpretations, analyse continuity and change, and construct balanced historical arguments supported by detailed historical evidence.

This official June 2025 paper includes interpretation evaluation tasks, thematic essays, and analytical judgement questions requiring historical reasoning, historiographical analysis, chronological understanding, and sustained evaluation under timed examination conditions. Topics explored include the Thirty Years’ War, the Holy Roman Empire, witch trials, social tensions, superstition, confessional conflict, judicial systems, religious reform, and changing attitudes toward magic and witchcraft.

Perfect for students preparing for the 2025 and 2026 OCR A-Level History examinations, this resource is ideal for timed revision practice, mock examinations, essay-planning exercises, and examiner-style preparation. Pair it with the matching Y312/01 mark scheme on markscheme.net for complete worked answers and official examiner guidance.

This document is designed for A-Level students studying OCR History A Popular Culture and the Witchcraze of the 16th and 17th Centuries, including first-time candidates, resit students, independent learners, and home-schooled students preparing for the 2026 examination series.

It is especially valuable for students revising witchcraft beliefs, the Witchcraze, religious change, popular culture, witch hunts, and the role of authorities in early modern Europe.

The paper is also highly useful for teachers, tutors, schools, and revision centres conducting mock examinations, historiography workshops, essay-planning sessions, and examiner-standard OCR A-Level History revision classes using authentic OCR assessment materials.