AQA GCSE History Paper 1 Section B/a 2025 Mark Scheme

Download the official AQA GCSE History Paper 1 Section B/A mark scheme for the June 2025 exam series (8145/1B/A) — the final v1.0 examiner-approved document used during live GCSE assessment. This downloadable PDF contains authentic examiner guidance, level-of-response descriptors, SPaG criteria, indicative content, source-analysis guidance, and detailed marking structures used by AQA examiners during the 2025 examination series.

The mark scheme covers Conflict and Tension: the First World War, 1894–1918, including questions on the Battle of the Marne, the Gallipoli Campaign, Russia’s withdrawal from the war, Kaiser Wilhelm’s foreign policy, alliances, militarism, and the causes of the First World War. Students can analyse exactly how AQA awards marks for source analysis, source utility evaluation, narrative accounts, causation explanations, and extended 16-mark judgement essays.

The document includes detailed level descriptors for AO1, AO2, and AO3 assessment skills, alongside examiner guidance for constructing sustained judgements, evaluating historical sources, and developing balanced historical arguments. The mark scheme also explains how SPaG marks are awarded in extended GCSE History essays and demonstrates the differences between Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 responses.

Students and teachers can study examiner-approved historical content including Allied propaganda postcards, Gallipoli trench warfare, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive, the Dreadnought naval race, the Triple Alliance, the Triple Entente, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia. Ideal for GCSE History revision, mock exam marking, intervention sessions, examiner-standard self-assessment, and preparation for the 2026 GCSE History exams.

This document is designed for Year 10 and Year 11 students studying GCSE History Conflict and Tension: the First World War, 1894–1918 under the AQA 8145 specification, including students preparing for the 2026 exams, retake candidates, private candidates, and home-schooled learners aiming for grades 7–9.

It is also highly valuable for history teachers, tutors, intervention coordinators, revision centres, and parents who require authentic examiner guidance for source analysis, narrative account questions, causation essays, SPaG assessment, and structured GCSE History feedback using official June 2025 marking criteria.