How effective was Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful co-existence in reducing Cold War tensions in the years 1955 to 1961?

This is a very typical A-Level History question you might be expected to answer in the exam. When preparing to answering a 25 mark question such as this you should begin by analysing the question itself; highlighting key words/terms and identifying the time period. In this case I would focus on 'Peaceful co-existence', 'reducing...tensions' and '1955-61'.The next stage is to prepare a plan, planning is crucial when answering a long essay questions and you should always dedicate at least 5 minutes at the start of the exam to planning as it will help you to organise your thoughts into a coherent argument as well as manage your time.Now a quick brainstorm brings to mind several key events relating to peaceful coexistence during the period 1955-61: The Austria State Treaty, the Geneva Summit, Camp David talks, U2 incident, continuation of the nuclear arms race/space race and the Polish and Hungarian Uprisings.A top level answer NEEDS to be analytical (this means avoid narrating or reciting events and instead explain the relevance of your factors/events to the question, in this case reducing Cold War tensions) it also NEEDS to be balanced (for example when exploring the Hungarian Rising you could argue that Khrushchev's harsh response demonstrated that he was not worried about the repercussions this might have on tensions with the US. HOWEVER the lack of a significant response from Western Powers could also be seen as a demonstration that peaceful coexistence was working as they themselves didn't want to risk increasing tensions by too harsh a retaliation).NEED to remember that Khrushchev's aim with regards to peaceful coexistence was to consolidate and strengthen the USSR's position (NOT necessarily to reduce tensions) therefore with both superpowers' ultimate aim being to strengthen their own positions it is inevitable that tensions would continue throughout the period.