Virtual Classroom

Welcome to our Virtual Classroom

In this section of the site you will find a variety of sample exercises and lectures, and information. There is no need to work through all of the exercises and lectures you will find in the Virtual Classroom, and we certainly don't expect this of applicants to Cambridge. The main aim of the Virtual Classroom is to help you develop your interests and skills as a historian, and so you should look at those exercises and lectures you feel will help you most. That said, don't be afraid of something that you haven't studied before; many academics at Cambridge and elsewhere are specialists in something they never dreamed they would be! We have deliberately tried here to give you a flavour of things which are often not on the syllabus at school, as well as of things which are. In addition, don't worry if you find some of the questions difficult in our Source Exercises and Secondary Literature Exercises. They are meant to be challenging, and we would not expect you to know all the answers straight away; we have created the exercises to help you develop your skills. To assist you, we always explain answers on the next page.

• To help develop your skills using primary sources, why not try doing one of our Source Exercises?
• To help you to understand more about how to evaluate historians' opinions why not try our Secondary Literature Exercises?
• To watch or listen to sample lectures by Cambridge lecturers, please visit our Online Lectures page;
• To learn more about how and what to read to develop your knowledge and skills as a historian, please visit the Suggested Reading page;
• Finally, if you would like to visit other sites where you can learn more about History, visit our Other Useful Sites page.