Section IV of the exam is ridiculous... (1 Viewer)

[Therewego]

Just a question about the last section of the exam, where you have to choose 1 of the 2 essays for whichever historical period you are doing.

First of all, with New Kingdom for example, there's about 16 or 17 possible essay questions they could ask; how the hell does one go about preparing this? essay plans? knowing the content and winging it on the day? time is short...

Also more importantly, from looking through the past papers I've noticed that each year, of the 2 questions, one comes from each half of the syllabus (in the case of NKE it's divided into the internal and the external developments).
Does this have to be the case? Or can they choose two questions from the same section of the syllabus?
I ask because it would save a lot of time to simply prepare one half, internal for example, and then simply answer whichever question is based on that aspect.

Thanks in Advance

 

[mira.mourad]

Just a question about the last section of the exam, where you have to choose 1 of the 2 essays for whichever historical period you are doing.

First of all, with New Kingdom for example, there's about 16 or 17 possible essay questions they could ask; how the hell does one go about preparing this? essay plans? knowing the content and winging it on the day? time is short...

Also more importantly, from looking through the past papers I've noticed that each year, of the 2 questions, one comes from each half of the syllabus (in the case of NKE it's divided into the internal and the external developments).
Does this have to be the case? Or can they choose two questions from the same section of the syllabus?
I ask because it would save a lot of time to simply prepare one half, internal for example, and then simply answer whichever question is based on that aspect.

Thanks in Advance

Apparently they always take a question from each half of the syllabus, however this depends if they feeling nice this year.... this also applies for the Personality studies. e.g im doing Hatshepsut and for the past five years there have been 2 questions, one from each half of the syllabus.

For NKE its best to know.

• Impact of Hyksos (ie. Art, Weapons. Lifestyle, Battle of Megiddo etc)
• Ahmose and Khamose
• Role/ image of "warrior pharoah"
• the develpoment of a "empire"
• Something about the Queens
• And someting else in detail

And on top of that don't forget to use Archaeolgical eviden and quotes from historians

hope this helps

 

[Thecorey0]

I know with the punic wars topic, 90% of the time one question is military related, and the other is social/economic related.

 

[LordPc]

I know with the punic wars topic, 90% of the time one question is military related, and the other is social/economic related.

ive never heard this.

but yea, there are generally alot of different questions they could ask you. if you really want to go for a top mark, you would sit down and do each one. if you did 1 a day during stuvac or each night or something it wouldnt take much time

but if you dont want to do that much work, identify the major points of your period (in my period there were about 4 overall) and do a solid essay on each. if you do it well, it should be a nice quick way to do a comprehensive revision of the entire historical period

 

[Thecorey0]

ive never heard this.

but yea, there are generally alot of different questions they could ask you. if you really want to go for a top mark, you would sit down and do each one. if you did 1 a day during stuvac or each night or something it wouldnt take much time

but if you dont want to do that much work, identify the major points of your period (in my period there were about 4 overall) and do a solid essay on each. if you do it well, it should be a nice quick way to do a comprehensive revision of the entire historical period

Thanks for the advice. What options did you study last year in ancient? And what was your HSC mark?

 

[ninetypercent]

u guys r scaring me. i regret ancient history. should have picked something like physics or biology instead.

 

[-may-cat-]

No! Don't get freaked out, ancient is mad fun ^^

 

[Allisonius]

No! Don't get freaked out, ancient is mad fun ^^

Agreed ^.^;

 

[chaldoking]

Hey,

If you read the Markers Comments they are certainly noticing that students are not prepared for both sections of the syllabus for the historical period, and specifically stated that they will/can take questions from only one half of the syllabus for that historical period. In essence, don't take the risk. You never know what they will ask and the last thing you want is to lose marks in what can be argued, is the most important section of your exam as the only stand alone essay.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

 

[chaldoking]

agreed ^.^;

me to! I love ancient history!

 

[cem]

For the topic I teach (Rome 133 - 78 BC) I have noticed that they often do a question that relates to one of the big guys (the Gracchi, Marius or Sulla) and that the other question is more a general question that covers the entire period (e.g. role of senate, role of violence). That being said I would never advocate taking a risk and only trying to study part of a unit.

 

[HadiaWantIt]

Apparently they always take a question from each half of the syllabus, however this depends if they feeling nice this year.... this also applies for the Personality studies. e.g im doing Hatshepsut and for the past five years there have been 2 questions, one from each half of the syllabus.

For NKE its best to know.

• Impact of Hyksos (ie. Art, Weapons. Lifestyle, Battle of Megiddo etc)
• Ahmose and Khamose
• Role/ image of "warrior pharoah"
• the develpoment of a "empire"
• Something about the Queens
• And someting else in detail

And on top of that don't forget to use Archaeolgical eviden and quotes from historians

hope this helps

Never forget, Thutmose III. The most important pharaoh at this time period.