A long and illustrious history
The longest chapter and the biggest share of the test. You cannot learn all of it — learn the dates, the names, and the order.
Why this chapter decides your score
History supplies more test questions than any other area, and nearly all of them come down to a date, a name, or a pairing of the two. Revise it as a timeline, not as prose.
Dates worth memorising
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1066 | Battle of Hastings; William of Normandy conquers England |
| 1086 | The Domesday Book records who owns what |
| 1215 | Magna Carta limits the king's power |
| 1348 | The Black Death reaches Britain |
| 1588 | The Spanish Armada is defeated |
| 1666 | The Great Fire of London |
| 1689 | The Bill of Rights: the monarch must govern with Parliament |
| 1707 | Act of Union joins England and Scotland |
| 1805 | Battle of Trafalgar; Nelson dies in victory |
| 1807 / 1833 | Slave trade abolished; slavery abolished across the Empire |
| 1815 | Battle of Waterloo; Wellington defeats Napoleon |
| 1851 | The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace |
| 1914–1918 | The First World War |
| 1928 | Women gain the vote on equal terms with men, at 21 |
| 1939–1945 | The Second World War; D-Day on 6 June 1944 |
| 1948 | The NHS is founded under Aneurin Bevan |
The monarchs to keep straight
Henry VIII broke with Rome and made himself head of the Church of England. Elizabeth I, his daughter, reigned during the Armada and the flowering of English theatre. The Civil War in the 1640s led to the execution of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell's republic; the monarchy was restored under Charles II. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought William of Orange and, with the 1689 Bill of Rights, the constitutional monarchy the UK still has.
Reformers and inventors
Names come up as often as dates. Isaac Newton on motion and gravity. Sir Christopher Wren, who rebuilt St Paul's after the fire. Florence Nightingale, who founded modern nursing during the Crimean War. William Wilberforce in the abolition campaign. Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes. Alexander Fleming and penicillin in 1928. Later, Frank Whittle's jet engine, Alan Turing's code-breaking and computing, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web.
Empire, war and after
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought industrialisation, empire and the abolition movement. The twentieth brought two world wars, the loss of empire, the founding of the welfare state and the NHS, and post-war migration from the Caribbean, South Asia and elsewhere that reshaped British cities.
How this chapter is tested
Expect "in which year", "who led", and "which of these pairings is correct" formats. The distractors are almost always other real dates and real people from the same period, so approximate knowledge is not enough — precision is.
Test yourself on this chapter
Sample question 1
Which battle in 1066 ended with the defeat of King Harold?
- The Battle of Hastings — correct
- The Battle of Bosworth
- The Battle of Agincourt
- The Battle of Culloden
Why: William, Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold at Hastings in 1066 and became King of England.
Sample question 2
Who founded modern nursing during the Crimean War?
- Florence Nightingale — correct
- Emmeline Pankhurst
- Elizabeth Fry
- Mary Seacole
Why: Nightingale nursed at Scutari during the Crimean War and later established the first school of nursing at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.