Paper 1 - Types of Questions

Question B - Explain

* Always out of 7 marks
* You need to describe or explain 3 to 4 points
* You do not need to argue both sides or make a judgement
* This needs to be more detailed - spend about 10 or 12 minutes on it and write about two-thirds of a side

Example -

"Explain why people travelled west to become homesteaders"

Explain 4 relevant points - in this case, 4 push/pull factors. Write a paragraph for each, for example -
One reason why people moved West was because of overcrowding in the eastern cities. (This is worth 1 mark). Lots of immigrants were arriving from Europe and land was scarce and expensive. (Now you're up to 2 marks) This meant that many poor people lived in squalour. The west, with its open land, seemed like paradise to them. (Clear explanation - 3 marks).

You are more likely to get full marks if you can link your reasons together. For example, you could add to the above paragraph with...
As well as this, people who had already moved west wrote letters back, telling their friends about how good it was on the Plains, and the newly-built railroads produced adverts to make the West look even better, so people would use their service.
Also the government were giving out free land following the Homestead Act of 1862; this was followed by the Timber Culture Act and the Desert land Act. These all made land available to homesteaders very cheaply if they farmed, built a house and planted trees.


Example questions for you to try

Medicine Questions
Explain how the way of life and the beliefs of the Egyptians helped them to make advances in medicine - this just means explain 3 to 4 ways in which the Egyptians improved medicine.

Explain how war has helped progress in medicine - explain the impact of, for example, Pare, Roman army, Florence Nightingale, WW1 and X-rays/transfusions, WW2 and penicillin.

Explain how factors other other than Fleming's work contributed to the development of penicillin - this means explain the impact of Florey and Chain/WW2 - don't write about Fleming!

Explain why it was possible for advances to be made in medicine during the Medical Renaissance

Explain why it was possible to make advances in public health in nineteenth-century Britain

Explain why there was opposition to advances in surgery in the nineteenth century

American West questions
Explain why the American Government passed the Homestead Act of 1862 - you should explain about Manifest Destiny, wanting to spread its influence and settle the Plains, to increased the amount of land under its control, preventing overcrowding in the East, providing more home-grown food for the big eastern cities.

Explain why cattle ranching spread to the Plains

Explain why the Battle of the Little Big Horn took place when it did