This Edexcel GCSE History (9–1) Medicine Through Time Starter and Retrieval Booklet is designed to support retrieval practice, exam preparation and lesson starters throughout the Medicine Through Time topic.

At the beginning of each lesson, students complete a 9-question retrieval grid. The questions revisit previous Medicine Through Time learning, while some questions also retrieve knowledge from Weimar and Nazi Germany, which is taught prior to Medicine. This helps students continually revisit earlier GCSE content rather than forgetting it as they move onto a new topic.

Each lesson also includes either an ‘Explain one way in which… was similar’ or ‘Explain one way in which… was different’ 4-mark exam question, usually linked to previous learning. This gives students regular opportunities to practise the first exam question and build a bank of completed comparison questions for revision.

Sentence starters are included to support students with structuring their answers and developing clear comparisons.

The booklet also includes:

• A clear ‘How to Answer’ guide for the 4-mark similarity and difference question.
• Sentence starters to help students structure strong exam responses.
• A Medicine Through Time timeline for students to complete and annotate throughout the topic, supporting chronological understanding.
• A Key People section for students to fill in as they encounter important individuals such as Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius, Harvey, Pasteur, Koch, Lister, Nightingale and Bevan.
• An exam-question guide to support students with the different question styles they will encounter.

The resource is provided as an editable PowerPoint, so questions and activities can be easily changed to suit your classes, curriculum or the other GCSE topics taught in your school.

This can be used as a starter booklet throughout the Medicine Through Time topic, which is how it is used in lessons, with students completing a section at the beginning of each lesson. Alternatively, it can be used as a standalone revision booklet for Year 11, giving students a structured way to revisit key knowledge, chronology, key people and exam-style questions before their GCSE exams.