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How do I answer GCSE history source questions?
Judge the source for the enquiry named in the question, never in general. Say what the source shows (content), then who made it, when and why (provenance), and turn each into a point about how useful it is for that specific enquiry, tested against your own knowledge of the period. A biased source is still useful: it tells a historian what its author wanted people to believe. Reach a judgement, then stop.
Last updated 8 September 2026 · Written and fact-checked by the GCSEwiz team
The one rule: useful for what?
Every source question names an enquiry. "How useful is Source A to a historian studying the treatment of prisoners of war" is a different question from "how useful is Source A", and the mark schemes only pay for the first. An answer that discusses the source in general, however cleverly, stalls in the bottom levels. So before writing anything, underline the enquiry and keep every sentence pointed at it: useful for that, limited for that, because of this detail and this fact you know.
The trap is that the question feels like it is about the source, so students write about the source. It is about the historian's job. Which is also why "not useful" is almost never the answer: any source made at the time is useful for something, and the marks are for saying precisely what.
Content, provenance, context: the three moves
Strong answers make the same three moves on every source, in roughly this order. Each one turns into a sentence about usefulness for the enquiry.
- Content without provenance describes; provenance without content evaluates nothing; both without context is the answer that sits one level below where it could be.
| Move | The question to ask | What it earns |
|---|---|---|
| Content | What does the source show or suggest about the enquiry? Quote a detail, then infer from it. | A specific point of usefulness, backed by the source itself |
| Provenance | Who made it, when, for whom and why? (Nature, origin, purpose.) Does that make it more or less useful for this enquiry? | The evaluation marks: the reason the source can or cannot be trusted for this particular purpose |
| Context | What do I know about the period that supports, extends or challenges what the source says? | Own knowledge, which the top levels require and most answers forget |
Why "it is biased" is not an answer
"The source is biased, so it is not useful" is the sentence examiners see most and reward least. Bias is not a flaw in a source; it is information about its purpose, and purpose is often the most useful thing about it. A Nazi propaganda poster is a poor guide to what ordinary Germans actually thought, but it is an excellent source for an enquiry into how the regime wanted to be seen. A soldier's letter home may play down danger to reassure his family, which tells you something real about both the danger and the family. Write the bias as a purpose, then say what that purpose makes the source useful for, and what it makes it unreliable for.
The same applies to "it is only one person's view" and "it does not mention X". Every source is partial. The mark is for explaining what the partiality does to its usefulness for this enquiry, not for noticing that partiality exists.
The question shapes your board sets
Boards phrase their source questions differently and attach different marks, so the shape to rehearse depends on your specification. Interpretation questions ("how convincing", "why do they differ") are a separate skill about historians' later views, and are not covered here.
| Board and paper | Question shape | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| AQA Paper 1, Section B (wider world depth study) | "Source A supports / is critical of ... How do you know?" using the source and your knowledge | 4 |
| AQA Paper 1, Section B | "How useful are Sources B and C to a historian studying ...?" | 12 |
| AQA Paper 2, Section A (thematic study) | "How useful is Source A to a historian studying ...?" | 8 |
| Edexcel Paper 1 (historic environment) | "How useful are Sources A and B for an enquiry into ...?" | 8 |
| Edexcel Paper 1 (historic environment) | "How could you follow up Source B to find out more about ...?" (the question you would ask, and the type of source you would use) | 4 |
| Edexcel Paper 3 (modern depth study) | "Give two things you can infer from Source A about ..." | 4 |
| Edexcel Paper 3 (modern depth study) | "How useful are Sources B and C for an enquiry into ...?" | 8 |
| OCR B (Schools History Project) | Shorter "how useful", "what can you learn" and "how far do the sources support" questions spread across the depth studies and the thematic paper | Varies by paper |
A structure that fits the time
Marks set the clock: roughly a minute a mark, so an 8-mark question gets ten to twelve minutes and a 12-mark one about fifteen. For a two-source usefulness question, one paragraph per source works: a content point with a quoted detail and an inference, a provenance point that says what the origin or purpose does for this enquiry, and one piece of own knowledge that tests the source. Then two sentences of judgement that compare the two, and stop. Nobody scores extra for a third paragraph that repeats the first two.
For the follow-up question on Edexcel, the mark scheme wants four things and nothing else: a detail from the source you would follow up, the question you would ask about it, the type of source you would use, and how that source would help answer the question. It is a form to fill, not an essay.
- Inference questions ("give two things you can infer"): make the inference, then anchor it. "I can infer that X. The source suggests this because it says ..." Two of those, four marks, five minutes.
- Never spend a 4-mark question's time on a 12-mark answer. The timing marks are the ones you lose without noticing.
How to practise source questions
Source skills improve fastest on sources you have not seen, so use the ones in your textbook and past papers rather than re-reading the same two from class. Take any source, write the enquiry it might serve at the top of the page, and run the three moves in five minutes: a content sentence, a provenance sentence, a context sentence, a judgement. Then check against the level descriptors in your board's mark scheme, which say in plain words what the top level needs (typically a developed evaluation using provenance and own knowledge, aimed at the enquiry). Ten of those five-minute drills teach more than three full timed answers, and they fit the gaps in a revision week.
Finally, keep an evidence bank per topic that is small enough to remember: a few dates, names and facts you can attach to a source as context. The context move only works if the knowledge is there when the source is not.