CIE Exam Booklets Paper 1

Students following CIE are required to sit a two-hour paper worth 60 marks for Paper 1. Students are required to answer two questions from Section A and one question from Section B.

Section A contains eight questions: four questions will be set from the nineteenth century Core Content in Option A, and four questions will be set from the twentieth century Core Content in Option B. Candidates answer any two questions.

Section B contains two questions on each of the seven Depth Studies. Candidates answer one question. All questions are in the form of structured essays, split into three parts: (a), (b) and (c).

This is a compulsory component.

Topics for Paper 1 Core Content Section A are:

• 1 Were the revolutions of 1848 important?
• 2 How was Italy unified?
• 3 How was Germany unified?
• 4 Why was there a civil war in the United States and what were the results?
• 5 Why, and with what effects, did nations gain and expand their overseas empires in the nineteenth century?
• 6 What caused the First World War?

Topics for Paper 1 Core Content Section B are:

• 1 Was the Treaty of Versailles fair?
• 2 To what extent was the League of Nations a success?
• 3 How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939?
• 4 Who was to blame for the Cold War?
• 5 How effectively did the United States contain the spread of Communism?
• 6 How secure was the USSR’s control over Eastern Europe, 1948–c.1989?
• 7 Why did events in the Gulf matter, c.1970–2000? (removed in 2024 syllabus)

Topics for Paper 1 Depth Studies are:

• A The First World War, 1914–18
• B Germany, 1918–45
• C Russia, 1905–41
• D The United States, 1919–41
• E The Second World War in Europe and the Asia–Pacific, 1939–c.1945 (NEW this 2024)
• E China, c.1930–c.1990 (removed in 2024 syllabus)
• F South Africa, c.1940–c.1994 (removed in 2024 syllabus)
• G Israelis and Palestinians since 1945 (removed in 2024 syllabus)