OxfordAQA International GCSE History (9245): Paper 2 Section B, Technology or Medicine and Change — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions – 9245 is first examined in May/June 2028, so no past papers exist yet. The question types and marks follow the OxfordAQA 9245 specification’s own description of Paper 2 Section B (3, 6, 9 and 12 marks). Examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside any specimen materials your school receives from OxfordAQA.

Related: Thematic studies revision notes | Thematic studies study guide

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OxfordAQA International GCSE History 9245 Paper 2 Section B sets four questions on your thematic study, worth 30 marks. Two full sets follow for each option, so that between them they reach all six periods.

Technology and change, c800-present

Set A

1. Give three uses of the astrolabe in the Islamic Golden Age. [3]

2. Explain one way in which the printing press affected the Reformation. [6]

3. Explain two ways in which steam power changed transport. [9]

4. “Individuals were the most important factor in technological change from c1710 to c1950.” How far do you agree? [12]

Worked answers

1. Measuring the height of stars and the sun; telling the time; finding the direction of Mecca for prayer; navigation; surveying. (Any three.)

2. One way was speed of spreading ideas. After Luther published his criticisms of the Church in 1517, printers produced thousands of copies of his pamphlets in German, so his ideas reached ordinary readers across the German states within weeks, before the Church could suppress them.

3. Way 1 – railways: Trevithick’s high-pressure engine (1804) led to steam locomotives, which carried goods and passengers faster and more cheaply, linking cities and markets. Way 2 – shipping: steamships no longer depended on wind, so voyages became regular and quicker, expanding international trade and migration.

4. Individuals: Newcomen, Watt and Trevithick in steam; Morse, Bell and Marconi in communications; Ford in car manufacturing. Other factors: business and profit (demand for coal, faster communication, mass markets); science and earlier inventions (each built on others’ work); war and government (regulation of radio, military uses). Judgement: individuals made the breakthroughs, but economic demand explains why their inventions spread.

Set B

1. Give three ways in which the car changed everyday life in the twentieth century. [3]

2. Explain one way in which Alan Turing contributed to the development of computing. [6]

3. Explain two ways in which the World Wide Web changed the world of work. [9]

4. “The Communications Revolution of 1830-1950 changed people’s lives more than computing and the internet.” How far do you agree? [12]

Worked answers

1. Suburbs grew because people could travel to work; new leisure such as day trips and holidays; jobs in car factories and garages; road building; pollution and accidents. (Any three.)

2. One way was theory. In 1936 Turing described a theoretical “universal” machine that could carry out any calculation given the right instructions, so he set out the idea behind the modern stored-program computer; his wartime codebreaking work also showed what electronic machines could do.

3. Way 1 – communication: email and websites allowed businesses to contact customers and colleagues instantly across the world. Way 2 – where and how people work: online tools allowed remote and flexible working and created new jobs in web design and online retail, while some older jobs disappeared.

4. Communications Revolution: the telegraph and telephone ended the isolation of distance; radio and cinema created mass entertainment; office machines opened jobs to women. Computing and the internet: instant global communication, social media, online work and AI, but also a digital divide. Judgement: both transformed life; one argument is that the earlier revolution was more fundamental because it first separated communication from transport.

Medicine and change, c800-present

Set C

1. Give three features of bimaristans (hospitals) in the medieval Islamic world. [3]

2. Explain one way in which the Black Death changed society. [6]

3. Explain two ways in which Pasteur’s germ theory changed medicine. [9]

4. “Individuals were the most important factor in medical progress in the nineteenth century.” How far do you agree? [12]

Worked answers

1. Free care for patients regardless of wealth; separate wards for different illnesses; trained physicians; teaching of medical students; pharmacies; care for the mentally ill. (Any three.)

2. One way was labour shortages. So many workers died that survivors could demand higher wages, so in parts of Europe peasants gained more freedom and landowners lost power, weakening the old feudal system.

3. Way 1 – understanding disease: germ theory replaced miasma and spontaneous generation, showing that specific microbes caused disease, which led Koch to identify the bacteria behind diseases such as tuberculosis and cholera. Way 2 – surgery and prevention: Lister applied germ theory with carbolic acid (1867), reducing infection; vaccines against diseases such as anthrax and rabies followed from Pasteur’s own work.

4. Individuals: Jenner, Snow, Pasteur, Koch, Lister and Nightingale. Other factors: science and technology (better microscopes); government (public health laws, sanitation); communication (journals spreading ideas); rivalry between France and Germany driving research. Judgement: individuals made key breakthroughs, but government action was needed for them to improve health widely.

Set D

1. Give three ways penicillin was developed between 1928 and 1945. [3]

2. Explain one way in which the World Health Organization has improved global health. [6]

3. Explain two ways in which women contributed to twentieth-century medicine. [9]

4. “War was the most important factor in medical change between c1880 and the present.” How far do you agree? [12]

Worked answers

1. Fleming noticed mould killing bacteria (1928); Florey and Chain purified and tested it (from 1940); American companies mass-produced it with government support; it was used to treat Allied troops by D-Day (1944). (Any three.)

2. One way was vaccination campaigns. The WHO co-ordinated a worldwide smallpox vaccination programme, so smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 – the first human disease to be eliminated.

3. Way 1 – research: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin determined the structure of penicillin and other molecules, helping drug development; Gertrude Elion developed new drugs. Way 2 – clinical practice: Virginia Apgar devised a simple test of newborn babies’ health that is used around the world.

4. War: mobile X-ray units (Marie Curie) in the First World War; blood storage and transfusion; mass production of penicillin; national health systems shaped by war. Other factors: science and technology (DNA research, transplants, keyhole surgery); individuals (Curie, Cushing, Franklin); international co-operation (WHO); industry. Judgement: war speeded change, but science and co-operation explain most long-term progress.

Where marks are usually lost

• Question 1: one long fact instead of three.
• Questions 2 and 3: names without explanation of impact.
• Question 4: only one factor discussed.

Frequently asked questions

Should I learn every person listed? Yes – each named individual can be the focus of a question.

How do I link periods in question 4? Choose examples from at least two periods and show how a factor’s importance changed over time.

Official specification

OxfordAQA International GCSE History (9245) specification, Version 1.1, sections 3.2.2 and 4.4.2 – oxfordaqa.com.