First and foremost you need to be interested in learning about the past. There will be extensive debate and discussion in lessons and you will be given plenty to read and think about as the course progresses. This will serve as a springboard into independent research and wider reading. Essay writing and the ability to analyse and interpret a range of sources are key skills that you will learn and develop. Success at IGCSE is an advantage to thrive in this demanding, intellectually rigorous and respected subject. A 7, 8 or 9 grade History IGCSE is needed for success at A Level. History is at once one of the most commonplace and subtle of subjects. Its popularity in books, films and television testifies to its instant appeal, reflecting the enjoyment in a good story, a hunger for knowledge of the past and a desire to enrich oneself mentally by intellectual travel in time and place. The challenge is to come to terms with people and ways of life different from those we know now. Some of the ways people behaved in the past seem quite inexplicable, but the past is so much bound up in the present that the questions historians seek to answer often have contemporary relevance. That does not mean a study of history will enable humankind to solve all their problems. However, the importance of trying to understand why people, for instance, were prepared to burn each other for religion’s sake in the 16th Century, or why the 20th century was a period of such tumult and conflict, is clear if you are at all interested in human behaviour. The study of history will provide not only the opportunity to understand the past but also valuable training in the skills of research, assimilation, comprehension and analysis of a wide range of material; the formulation of reasoned interpretation; and the development of an ability to communicate clear and coherent judgments.