Boosting your Grade

A grade A candidate will: Use historical knowledge to answer questions with consistency and accuracy, providing arguments with factual examples and making realistic judgements. Writes developed, reasoned and well substantiated analyses and will probably be able to relate arguments to other topics or even to events across the course. Realises that causes are interrelated with ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of that period. Can evaluate and use sources critically to reach reasoned and substantiated conclusions. Understand and can use interpretations in arguments.

In Essay Questions: o o o o o Look carefully at the question to make sure you are answering exactly to the point. Take account of the mark allocation to decide how many points you have to make, and when to stop. Develop each point adequately to the point, but do not waste time in worthless descriptions. Argue to a consistent quality, covering all relevant aspects evenly. Reason analytically, using factual description to prove points but not on its own.

In Source questions: o o o o Automatically include an assessment of the reliability of evidence in your arguments. Use sources and your knowledge exactly as instructed in the question. Answer questions directly and with balance, rather than slavishly following the order of the sources. Understand and use different interpretations from the sources or your own knowledge around which to construct arguments.

Overall: o o o Be sure to give easy questions their due a mark lost there is worth just as much as elsewhere. Form a careful judgement of exactly what is require, rather than employing the scattergun approach. Be aware that, as you will know a great deal about the course, time planning within the exam becomes even more critical to you. To spend too much time and space on one answer is foolish if it detracts from others.

A grade C candidate will: Use historical knowledge to answer questions. Organises the answer to explain or describe relevantly and can distinguish the key features or events. Evaluate and use sources critically and explain how and why events, people and issues have been interpreted in different ways.

In Essay Questions: o o o o Look carefully at the question and understand what type of question it is. Develop the answer fully, using the mark allocation as a guide to how much to write. Show off all knowledge, but not to the extent that you exclude all other relevant points. Be prepared to use the time available to add to answers. Leave spare lines under each answer if it helps, so that you can add to them later.

In Source questions: o o o o o o o Look carefully at the question and do exactly what you are asked. Evaluate each source in order to answer the question: What are its strengths and weaknesses? Quote directly from each source that you are told to use. Assess how reliable the source is by using your own knowledge or comparing it with other sources as well as from its own internal evidence. Never use a rote-learned answer such as: the source is unreliable because it is secondary this is too general. Relate the authors of sources to their own lives: Who? When? Where? Why? To Whom? Why would they believe this interpretation? Try to use as many sources as you can to answer general questions which ask you to solve a problem.

Overall: o o o Make sure you use your own knowledge: revise intelligently. Write fluently and spell correctly. Keep a close watch on the time make sure you answer your last question fully and have time to do it.