Bagrut History study guide
Bagrut History · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Bagrut in History is the Israeli matriculation examination in history, taken by high-school students working toward a Bagrut certificate and by external candidates completing matriculation requirements. It is a written examination: candidates answer open-ended questions built around primary and secondary sources, and some units include multiple-choice items. The Bagrut History study guide has 6 sections and about 1,830 words.
01Modern Jewish History and Zionism
Modern Jewish History and Zionism traces Jewish life from emancipation to 1948: the Haskalah, religious reform, modern antisemitism, mass migration, and the emergence of political, labor, cultural, and religious Zionisms. The exam asks you to link ideology to institutions and to explain timing and support.
339 words, about 2 min02The Holocaust
The Holocaust domain tests the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews and other victims, 1933–45, and how historians use perpetrator, victim, and bystander sources. You must know the stages of policy, the geography of murder, forms of resistance, and the limits of contemporary knowledge.
302 words, about 2 min03The State of Israel - Establishment and Development
This domain covers the pre-state Yishuv, the 1948 establishment, mass immigration, state institutions, wars and peacemaking, and social and economic development. The exam tests causal explanation and the distinction between declaration, armistice, and recognized borders.
321 words, about 2 min04World History in the Modern Era
World History in the Modern Era covers roughly 1750 to the present: revolutions, industrialization, imperialism, world wars, totalitarianism, the Cold War, decolonization, and globalization. The exam emphasizes causation, comparison, and change over time rather than a list of dates.
293 words, about 1 min05Nationalism and the Nation-State in the 19th–20th Centuries
This domain examines how nations were imagined, mobilized, and institutionalized, and what nation-states did to minorities and empires. You must define terms precisely and compare civic, ethnic, liberal, and authoritarian nationalism.
277 words, about 1 min06Historical Thinking Skills and Source Analysis
Historical Thinking Skills and Source Analysis tests how you read evidence, evaluate claims, and construct arguments. You must identify a source’s author, date, audience, purpose, and genre; distinguish reliability from usefulness; corroborate; explain cause and consequence; and analyze continuity and change.
298 words, about 1 min