A-Level History Exam Preparation: Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources, Study notes of History

Download A-Level History Exam Preparation: Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources and more Study notes History in PDF only on Docsity! Written by experienced teachers and examiners HOW TO REVISE FOR YOUR A-LEVELS History My Revision Notes Target exam success with My Revision Notes. Our popular approach combines key content with practical tips and skills- building activities to create guides you can rely on to build knowledge and confidence. Browse My Revision Notes Click here Student Guides Transfer knowledge into exam success with a Student Guide. Reinforce understanding through clear topic summaries and improve exam technique with annotated exam-style questions and answers. Browse Student Guides Click here Student Workbooks Maximise your chance of coursework success. These A-level History Workbooks break the non-examined assessment down into manageable steps, building the required skills and tracking students’ progress at every stage. Browse Student Workbooks Click here Aiming for an A Master the skills you need to set yourself apart and hit the highest grades. Develop the higher-order thinking skills that top-achieving students possess with step-by-step guidance, examples and tips. Browse Aiming for an A Click here Browse all our A-level History revision Click here Support throughout your A-levels Build the knowledge, skills and confidence you need for success. Choose from our range of guides focusing on revision, skills support and question practice. Did you know that some of our study and revision guides are available as eBooks? Visit our website to see what’s available for your subject and specification. • This process should be repeated for each source and an overall judgement as to which view is the strongest can be reached. • In order to score well you need to evaluate each source or interpretation using detailed contextual knowledge and reach a supported judgement as to which view is most convincing. Types of secondary source/interpretation questions Exam Board/Level AQA AS With reference to these extracts and your understanding of the historical context, which of these two extracts provides the more convincing interpretation of…? AQA A-level Using your understanding of the historical context, assess how convincing the arguments in these three extracts are in relation to… Edexcel AS Historians have different views about X. Analyse and evaluate the extracts and use your own knowledge of the issues to explain your answer to the following question… Edexcel A-level In light of differing interpretations, how convincing do you find the view that… OCR AS Evaluate the strengths and limitations of this interpretation, making reference to other interpretations that you have studied. OCR A-level Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of… Essay writing There are a number of types of essays that you may have to write in the exam. Each essay requires slightly different skills and emphasis, so it is important that you know which types of essays appear on which examination papers. General essay advice • Spend five minutes planning long or thematic essays. • The plan should be an indication of your line of argument and issues that will be discussed in the essay – this will help to keep the response focused on the question. • Avoid the plan being a list of events or dates. If the plan is like that, then there is a good chance that is how the essay will turn out – a narrative or chronological run-through of what happened. It will therefore be a descriptive response, which does not score well. • Ensure your answer has a consistent line of argument. • If there is a named factor or issue in the question, ensure that you write a good length paragraph on it before considering other factors or issues. • If the question asks about the success or failure of a leader or policy, establish some criteria against which to judge the success or failure and link your material back to them. Long essay • Each paragraph should deal with a different issue which focuses on the demands of the question. • Discuss both sides of the argument for the issue and then reach a judgement about the issue. 5 Revising A-level History • Ensure the argument is supported by relevant and accurate facts. • Ensure that the material is relevant to the focus of the question, not just the topic. • The opening sentence of each paragraph should put forward a view about the issue to be discussed. An examiner should be able to read the opening sentence for each of your paragraphs and see the line of argument you are taking. • The opening sentence should relate directly to the focus of the question. • The last sentence of each paragraph should be your judgement about the issue discussed. • Ensure your judgement is supported, otherwise it is just an assertion and will not score highly. • The conclusion should follow from the judgements you have made about each issue, and it should focus on the overall line of argument. • In order to score well, you should analyse a range of issues and reach a judgement about each before reaching an overall, supported judgement. Types of long essays Assess the reasons… (OCR) Weigh up the relative importance of a range of factors To what extent was X responsible for Y (OCR, AQA) Weigh up the relative importance of the named factor and compare its importance with other factors ‘Quote’ How far do you agree? (OCR, Edexcel) Weigh up the relative importance of a range of factors, comparing the named factor with other issues How important was X in bringing about Y? (OCR) Consider a range of factors and weigh up X against other factors in bringing about Y How accurate is it to say… (Edexcel) Consider the arguments for and against the statement How far do you agree with this opinion? (AQA) Consider the arguments for and against the statement and reach a balanced conclusion ‘Quote’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (AQA) Analyse a range of factors and consider the arguments for and against the view, reaching a balanced judgement How successful…? (OCR, AQA) Establish a set of criteria against which to judge success and consider the evidence for and against each to reach a balanced judgement ‘Quote’ Assess the validity of this view (AQA) Analyse a range of factors and consider the arguments for and against the view, reaching a balanced judgement Thematic essay • The plan should focus on the themes you will discuss. • The opening paragraph should identify the themes and offer a hypothesis or view about the issue in the question. • Cover the whole period in the essay in a balanced way, so that all areas of the period receive reasonable focus. • Ensure that comparisons are made between different periods in every paragraph. This is the important skill of synthesis and is essential if you want to reach the higher levels. You must make links between different parts of the period, explaining similarities and differences across the period. A common mistake is to simply list different examples from across the period in each paragraph. 6 Revising A-level History • Reach judgements on each theme discussed and an overall judgement. • Turning point essays should be tackled in exactly the same way as other thematic essays – by theme, not event. Types of thematic essays (these appear on the OCR Unit 3 Paper) X was the main reason for Y throughout the period… How far do you agree? Consider a number of themes and weigh up their relative importance throughout the period To what extent was there more continuity than change in X during the period…? Consider a range of themes and how far they remained consistent throughout the period, or whether there was change. Reach a judgement for each theme discussed ‘Quote’ How far do you agree with this view of the period…? Identify a range of themes and compare the issues across the period to reach a judgement X was the most important turning point in the development of Y in the period….How far do you agree? Identify a range of themes and compare the named event with other events for each theme and reach a judgement as to the importance of the named event Short-essay (OCR Unit 2) Short essays, which appear on the OCR Unit 2 paper, will be worded as follows: Which of the following was of greater importance in X? (a) A (b) B Explain your answer with reference to (i) and (ii). • Long introductions are not needed, so do not waste time writing a long introduction that describes the events or issues in the question. • Avoid simply describing the events or issues in the question as that will score low marks. • You must deal with both issues and reach a supported judgement as to which is the most important or significant. • The explanation of the events, issues or people must be linked back to the actual issue in the question – focus on the issue, not the topic. • The judgement should be substantiated – supported – otherwise it is an assertion. Nick Fellows was a Head of History for over 20 years. He is a senior examiner and an author of numerous A-level texts. 7 Revising A-level History