General Thoughts: Ancient History (3 Viewers)

[sheldogge]

Pompeii and Herculaneum: 90% good, I hated the Contributions question though, it was the one topic I was shaky with

Section II Sparta: For the significance of Alcman, I wrote that his 'Maiden Songs' provided an alternate perspective on the Spartan way of life - one that wasn't idealised and war-driven. Pretty decent, the role of the gerousia kinda screwed me up though. The 15 marker was great, I did it in my mid-years.

Section III Xerxes: Both questions were great, they both tied in with one another and were really easy to write about.

And the Section IV Greek World 500-440 essay was fucking perfect, did part a on Themistocles and Leonidas - for the first time ever in Ancient I managed to write more than 5 pages in an essay.

All in all, a pretty damn good test considering how stressful studying for it was.

How did you structure you 15 Sparta?

 

[anguyenh]

I was fortunate enough to be the very last name drawn out of a hat to do an ancient assignment where the whole class had to pick a topic from a list.
Being the last person, the last topic available was a huge assignment on Alcman and Tyrtaeus.

Annnnnnnnnd what do you know, 4 mark question on Tyrtaeus in the 2012 HSC.

You have to ensure you cover EVERYTHING.

Anyway.

Good job everybody, it's all over now!

I've never heard of Alcman until 2AM this morning

So worth sacrificing the sleep omg :'(

also I saw that 2012 question and I thought "What are the chances?"

but since of the trend of some HSC questions in the past I thought better safe than sorry

phew for the both of us

 

[RenegadeMx]

What questions for hannibal and rome264-133 bc this year out of curiosity?

 

[Tharja]

Alcman was more or less a poet who wrote songs used for various spartan festivals, as well as some hymns and love songs that described a different side of Spartan society such as the gods, women and nature- not everything was about war and courage! He is important because all the poems that he wrote that were recovered actually reflect the archeological evidence very nicely.

Moving on, can people tell me what the Julius Caesar and Fall of the Roman Republic questions were?

The Caesar 10 marker was to 'Describe Julius Caesar's Reforms', the 15 Marker was to 'Assess the usefulness of the quotation [Was some quote from Suetonius about Caesar accepting honors and titles he shouldn't have, blah, blah] in assessing the legacy of Julius Caesar' SOMETHING like that. The Fall of the Republic questions were either 'Explain the significance of the Mithridatic and Parthian wars" and "To what extent were the activities of the First Triumvirate and Second Triumvirate similar".

I gambled badly with my study focus for these questions, lol.

 

[acidsushi]

How did you structure you 15 Sparta?

Well my thesis was based on how Spartan women maintained a respected and appreciated status within their society due to their main roles as mothers. Spent a few pages discussing the importance of them giving birth, in which I incorporated the source as an indicator of the athletic training women underwent in order to remain healthy for when they gave birth. I then contrasted that with helot women, who were expected to do household chores and domestic duties FOR the Spartan women. I also added in that if a helot woman were to have an illegitimate child with a Spartiate male, the child would be dubbed as a 'mothace' and would not have access to a lot of the rights and responsibilities than their legitimate Spartan counterparts. I then concluded on the fact that although there was hardly any gender distinction in Spartan society, there was class distinction within genders.

Kinda wish I'd included more about their restrictions and more aspects of daily life though :/ what about you?

 

[Alias]

Pompeii & Herculaneum - Simple enough if you had gone over the final dot points of the syllabus.
Athenian Society in the time of Pericles - MUCH fairer than the trial paper. Instead of being on tax (I kid you not) today's paper was actually relevant to the topic as a whole
Pericles - General questions used to explore extent of your knowledge. Had the most fun writing this one.
Augustus - offered a chance to construct a unique argument with the question provided.

Much better than the trial.

 

[sheldogge]

Well my thesis was based on how Spartan women maintained a respected and appreciated status within their society due to their main roles as mothers. Spent a few pages discussing the importance of them giving birth, in which I incorporated the source as an indicator of the athletic training women underwent in order to remain healthy for when they gave birth. I then contrasted that with helot women, who were expected to do household chores and domestic duties FOR the Spartan women. I also added in that if a helot woman were to have an illegitimate child with a Spartiate male, the child would be dubbed as a 'mothace' and would not have access to a lot of the rights and responsibilities than their legitimate Spartan counterparts. I then concluded on the fact that although there was hardly any gender distinction in Spartan society, there was class distinction within genders.

Kinda wish I'd included more about their restrictions and more aspects of daily life though :/ what about you?

para 1: status - peplos in source, athletics in accordance with state
para 2: status - wealth
Para 3: role - child bearers
para 4: role in home
para 5: Helots and Pereoici barely a para, mentioned the obvious

No real thesis though :/

 

[Krenkhouse]

Would Bronzework and pottery be a legitimate answer for 2 marker on identifying technologies in Sparta?

 

[Focus is Key]

What were the options for Augustus?

 

[Aziizaa]

Would Bronzework and pottery be a legitimate answer for 2 marker on identifying technologies in Sparta?

Yes they are very valid answers, but I only remembered that after the exam because I went COMPLETELY BLANK FOR THAT QUESTION. So I sat for over 10 minutes and came up with hoplon (which, after checking with friends later, is actually valid as well) and agricultural tools used by helots :/ I'm thinking I got 1/2 for that.

 

[Aziizaa]

Pompeii & Herculaneum: WOOHOO
Sparta: All i knew about Alcman was that he was a poet. So i think 0/4. But the 15 marker was amazing!
Hatshepsut: Loved it
New Kingdom Amenhotep III to Ramesses II: building programs yeahhhh!

Overall, better than trials I think, for the most part.

I spent significant time in the morning familiarising myself with images of temples, buildings and tools and stuff for P&H because in trials, that stuffed me up so much! Turns out I didn't need to :/ But no harm in being able to identify Temple of Jupiter and Temple of Apollo and the rest right

 

[narutofire21]

it was a fair test though the 2 New Kingdom questions would have got anyone that wasn't familiar with past papers. The 15 marker for Sparta is probably one of the trickier ones over the years.

 

[Krenkhouse]

Thanks for the reply. I didnt think there would be anything wrong with my answer until i heard other people discussing much more specific answers. I thought mine may have been too general or applicable to almost all societies haha

 

[narutofire21]

also would iron/lead smelting & smithing and bronze making get me 2 marks?

 

[pakman_au]

also would iron/lead smelting & smithing and bronze making get me 2 marks?

o yeah U shud be rite

 

[sheldogge]

Do you reckon this would get 2 marks? I said there has been bronze breast plate recovered, and also said a male pithian was found with a bronze dagger and shield - thats pretty much all

rambled on about ivory carvering for a bit, in the hope it might also be technology...

 

[miss study]

Weeelll.....
P&H was actually pretty good. Breazed through it so pretty please BOSTES I'm hoping for good marks..
Sparta was perfect.... except making a question on alcman 4 marks!?! I wonder what the criteria for that q. would be? Loved the 15 marker
Hatshepsut a.) I felt happy with but in regards to b.) I'm not sure if it was referring to either her legacy in relation to punt only or a general statement on her legacy :s
Amenhotep III -Rameses II yes! Building projects
howeveeerr... not gonna raise my hopes until the dreaded time of December.... but hey half of my hsc is already done

 

[Bongos]

Does anyone know Ancient multiple choice answers ?

 

[Aziizaa]

Weeelll.....
P&H was actually pretty good. Breazed through it so pretty please BOSTES I'm hoping for good marks..
Sparta was perfect.... except making a question on alcman 4 marks!?! I wonder what the criteria for that q. would be? Loved the 15 marker
Hatshepsut a.) I felt happy with but in regards to b.) I'm not sure if it was referring to either her legacy in relation to punt only or a general statement on her legacy :s
Amenhotep III -Rameses II yes! Building projects
howeveeerr... not gonna raise my hopes until the dreaded time of December.... but hey half of my hsc is already done

Hello Dalia .....

 

[sheldogge]

Does anyone know Ancient multiple choice answers ?

Can't remember exactly but from memory I wrote:
A.) Fresco
B.) Impulvium
C.) Fish Sauce NOT fish stew
D.) Hot food/snacks
E.) Something about the Imperial Cult, events taking place outside of temple?
F.) Chief magistrates had duty for games