QCAA Modern History 2025 v1.4 General Senior Syllabus (applies to students completing in 2026 or later; the 2019 syllabus was examined 2020-2025)
Modern History is assessed through internal assessments across Units 3 and 4, marked at your school, plus a QCAA external assessment worth twenty-five per cent of the subject result. Unlike the science subjects it is a single short-response examination rather than a multi-paper set. Students work from a stimulus book of unseen sources alongside a question and response book, and QCAA publishes a marking guide with a sample response for most years. The exam is set on one Unit 4 topic.
Past papers on this subject span more than one syllabus. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the units and topics they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the syllabus it was set under.
2019 syllabus (v1.2/v2.0) — first EA cohort 2020 · 2020–20252025 syllabus (v1.4) — implementation for students completing 2026 or beyond · 2026–present
The units and topics, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the syllabus, what the QCAA exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
Area 1 of 4
Unit 1: Ideas in the Modern World
Unit 1 asks how ideas reshape societies, and your school selects which contexts to study from a set list. The options run from the Australian Frontier Wars between 1788 and the 1930s, through the Age of Enlightenment in the second half of the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution from the 1760s to the 1890s, the American Revolution and the French Revolution, to the Age of Imperialism from 1848 to 1914. Whichever is chosen, the work is the same: identify the ideas circulating in a period, trace how they were spread and contested, and explain the changes they produced. This is also where the discipline's method is introduced, including the difference between primary and secondary sources, how to establish origin and purpose, and how historians reach different conclusions about the same events.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 6 points
- Australian Frontier Wars, 1788–1930s
- Age of Enlightenment, 1750s–1789
- Industrial Revolution, 1760s–1890s
- American Revolution, 1763–1783
- French Revolution, 1789–1799
- Age of Imperialism, 1848–1914
What the exam asks
Unit 1 is assessed within your school in Year 11 and is not examined in the external assessment, which draws on Unit 4. Its value is methodological, because every source-based task later depends on the analysis habits formed here: reading a source for perspective, testing its reliability and usefulness, and supporting a claim with evidence rather than narrative.
Where marks go missing
Treating Year 11 as content to remember rather than method to practise. Students who never rehearse close source analysis in Unit 1 reach the external assessment able to recount events but unable to interrogate an unseen source's origin, motive and limitations under time pressure.
Area 2 of 4
Unit 2: Movements in the Modern World
Unit 2 examines organised movements for change and the resistance they met. The available contexts include the empowerment of First Nations Australians since 1938, the Indian independence movement from 1857 to 1947, the workers' movement since the 1860s, the women's movement since 1893, the May Fourth Movement in China and its aftermath, Algerian independence from 1945 to 1962, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa between 1948 and 1991, and the African-American civil rights movement since 1954. Across whichever contexts your school selects, the analytical questions repeat: what conditions gave rise to the movement, who its leadership and membership were, what methods it used from petitioning and strikes to civil disobedience and armed struggle, how governments and other groups responded, and how far its aims were actually achieved.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 8 points
- Empowerment of First Nations Australians since 1938
- Independence movement in India, 1857–1947
- Workers' movement since the 1860s
- Women's movement since 1893
- May Fourth Movement in China and its aftermath, 1919–1930s
- Independence movement in Algeria, 1945–1962
- Anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, 1948–1991
- African-American civil rights movement since 1954
What the exam asks
Like Unit 1, this unit is assessed internally rather than in the external assessment. The transferable skill is argument about causation and significance, since movement studies force you to weigh long-term structural causes against immediate triggers and to judge outcomes against stated aims, both of which are examined directly in Unit 4 responses.
Where marks go missing
Confusing chronology with causation. Listing a movement's events in order and implying each caused the next produces narrative rather than analysis. Marks come from distinguishing underlying conditions, triggering events and contributing factors, and from saying which mattered most and why.
Area 3 of 4
Unit 3: National Experiences in the Modern World
Unit 3 studies one or more nations in depth during a period of upheaval. The listed options are Australia from 1914 to 1949, France under Napoleon from 1799 to 1815, New Zealand from 1841 to 1934, Germany from 1914 to 1945, the United States from 1917 to 1945, the Soviet Union from the 1920s to 1945, Japan since 1931 and China since 1931. Depth is the point: rather than surveying a theme across many places, you follow one society through political change, economic crisis, war and social transformation, and account for how a regime gained, held or lost power. The unit also foregrounds historical interpretation, since these are the periods where historians disagree most sharply, and you are expected to recognise that debate rather than present one reading as settled fact.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 8 points
- Australia, 1914–1949
- France, 1799–1815
- New Zealand, 1841–1934
- Germany, 1914–1945
- United States of America, 1917–1945
- Soviet Union, 1920s–1945
- Japan since 1931
- China since 1931
What the exam asks
Unit 3 carries internal assessment during Year 12 rather than the external examination, which is set on Unit 4. The demands overlap closely, though, because both require you to construct an argued response using evidence drawn from sources, sustain a clear line of reasoning, and acknowledge that historians have reached competing conclusions about the same events.
Where marks go missing
Using sources as decoration. Quoting a source and then continuing the argument as if it were not there earns little. The response has to do something with it, such as explain what its origin reveals, weigh it against another source, or use it to qualify a claim already made.
Area 4 of 4
Unit 4: International Experiences in the Modern World
Unit 4 looks at how nations interact, and it is the unit the external assessment is set on. The available contexts are broad, covering Australian engagement with Asia since 1945, the search for collective peace and security since 1815, trade and commerce between nations since 1833, mass migrations since 1848, the Information Age since 1936, genocides and ethnic cleansings since the 1930s, the Nuclear Age since 1945, the Cold War from 1945 to 1991, the struggle for peace in the Middle East since 1948, cultural globalisation since 1956, space exploration since 1957, rights and recognition of First Peoples since 1982, and terrorism and counter-terrorism since 1984. Schools typically study two of these: one becomes the basis of the Unit 4 internal assessment, and the other is the topic examined externally.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 13 points
- Australian engagement with Asia since 1945
- Search for collective peace and security since 1815
- Trade and commerce between nations since 1833
- Mass migrations since 1848
- Information Age since 1936
- Genocides and ethnic cleansings since the 1930s
- Nuclear Age since 1945
- Cold War, 1945–1991
- Struggle for peace in the Middle East since 1948
- Cultural globalisation since 1956
- Space exploration since 1957
- Rights and recognition of First Peoples since 1982
- Terrorism, anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism since 1984
What the exam asks
The external assessment is a short-response examination drawing on the Unit 4 topic your school did not use for the internal assessment. You work from a stimulus book of unseen sources and write into a question and response book, with items asking you to identify, explain, analyse and evaluate. Strong responses integrate the sources with your own contextual knowledge.
Where marks go missing
Revising only the Unit 4 topic used for the internal assessment. The examination is set on the other topic, so the depth built for the assignment counts for nothing in the exam room, and students who realise this late arrive with the wrong body of contextual knowledge.
Common questions
Which topic does the QCE Modern History external assessment examine?
It is set on a Unit 4 topic, specifically the one your school did not use for the Unit 4 internal assessment. Schools generally teach two Unit 4 contexts for this reason. Confirm with your teacher early which of the two is your examined topic, because that determines what you actually revise.
What is the stimulus book in the Modern History exam?
It is a separate booklet of unseen sources, such as written extracts, images, statistics or cartoons, issued with the question and response book. You are not expected to have seen them before. The questions require you to interpret and evaluate those sources and combine them with the contextual knowledge you bring.
How much is the Modern History external assessment worth?
Twenty-five per cent of the overall subject result, with the remainder coming from internal assessments completed across Units 3 and 4 and marked at your school. That balance means the assignment work done through Year 12 carries most of the weight, but the examination is still the single largest individual task.
Has the QCE Modern History syllabus changed recently?
Yes. The 2019 syllabus applied to cohorts examined from 2020 through 2025, and a 2025 version 1.4 edition applies to students completing the course in 2026 or later. All published external assessment papers were written under the earlier edition, so check current topic wording, but the source-based exam approach is consistent.