explorehistory.app
Learn what happened, work out why it mattered, then make the case in your own words - with real feedback on how well you argued it.
Key Stage 3 and GCSE. Free to use.
Every topic starts as a story worth hearing, and ends as something you genuinely understand.
How it works
Every topic moves the same way, whether you are in Year 7 or sitting your GCSE next summer. You start with the story and finish by arguing a case about it.
Read it, watch it, put the events in order. Then quick questions to check it has landed, marked the moment you answer.
Given a real situation, pick the strongest piece of reasoning about it - and say why in a sentence.
Write the answer properly. At GCSE it is marked against the real criteria. At Key Stage 3 you get a proper reply instead, with no marks attached.
Everything on the topic opens up, and it comes back weeks later so it stays with you.
The harder tasks stay sealed until the ones before them are solid. You cannot skip to writing the essay before the facts are secure, which is exactly why the essay goes better when you get there.
The bit that matters
Here is a real answer part-way there, and the reply it gets back. Not a score and a shrug.
Write an account of how the United States became increasingly committed to the defence of South Vietnam.
8 marks
The USA got more involved in Vietnam because they were worried about communism spreading. Eisenhower talked about the domino theory, which said that if one country fell then the others would fall too. So they started sending help to South Vietnam. Then Kennedy sent more people over and the commitment grew bigger over time.
You have the shape of the answer right, and the domino theory is the correct starting point. It stays general, though - the account never pins itself to specific moments.
Named dates, people and events to back up the reasoning.
That last box is not a stock phrase. An answer missing evidence goes back to the facts; an answer that only argues one side gets shown the alternatives; an answer with no conclusion gets practice at writing one. What was wrong decides where you go next.
What you get
When an answer falls short you are told what was actually missing - a date, a second reason, a proper conclusion - and sent to the thing that fixes it.
You write what you think about the big questions and get a proper reply: what you spotted, what you missed, what to try next. No grades, no levels, no exam talk.
Once you have finished something it returns weeks later, and the parts you found hard come back sooner - so it is still there months on.
Feedback uses the real AQA level descriptions, so being told this is a Level 3 means what your teacher means by it.
Courses
Full courses, not a handful of sample topics. Every one below is written out in full and ready to work through.
For teachers
Built by a history teacher, for the way departments actually work.
Give a class a code, or import a register from a spreadsheet. Students are set up without needing to make accounts one by one.
What students write is not kept by the company that provides the marking model, and is never used to train it.
A data processing agreement and a completed data protection impact assessment are available on request, before you trial anything.
Questions
No. Everything described on this page is free to use, including the written-answer feedback.
The GCSE courses follow AQA specifications, and the feedback on written answers uses AQA's published level descriptions. The Key Stage 3 courses do not follow any board, because they do not need to.
Years 7 to 11. Key Stage 3 courses avoid exam language entirely; the GCSE courses teach exam technique directly. An A Level course is in preparation.
Not to try it. You need one to keep your progress between sessions, so the app knows what you have covered and what to bring back.
Written answers are sent for marking and are not retained by the marking provider or used to train anything. Your progress is stored against your account so topics can come back at the right time. Full detail is on the privacy page.
Eisenhower, the domino theory, and how the United States talked itself into a war. About ten minutes.
Try it now - no account needed