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

Paper 1 - Types of questions

Question A - Describe

* Always out of 5 marks
* EASY marks! You just need to describe a couple of points
* Don't spend too long on this
* Aim to write no more than half a side (if you have big writing!)

To get good marks....
Identify 5 relevant points
To get full marks....
Describe/explain 2 relevant points

Example -
"Briefly describe the medical advances of the Ancient Greeks"

Either identify 5 relevant points, for example -
The Greeks made advances in the way patients were treated. They visited Asclepia to pray for healing. Hippocrates developed the Theory of the 4 Humours. He also developed the method of clinical observation. Doctors who trained under Hippocrates had to take the Hippocratic Oath.
(4 marks - 1 for each point)

Or describe/explain 2 relevant points. Develop your examples with explanation, for example -
Hippocrates developed the Theory of the 4 Humours. This theory related illnesses with the seasons and the elements. They believed that the body was made up of 4 liquids called humours. These were blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. An imbalance in these caused illness.
(3 marks - write 2 paragraphs like this for full marks).

An excellent revision aid for American West

Morning keeners,

I've found this very cool revision guide for American West. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "How to revise GCSE History" link. You'll need Flash 8 to make this work.

This will give you some tips on how to organise your revision and what to look at.

I'm working on some exam question stuff today, as well as some more MP3s - this time we're talking to cowboys. Those should be live by the end of the week. Hopefully I will also have figured out RSS feed by then, so you can subscribe and download updates automatically.

I hope your early exams are going well. You're all next door right at this moment!

Best wishes,
Miss Hand

History Revision Podcasts are live

The revision are now available on the Matravers School website. You can download them by clicking here or you can buy them from school on CD for the princely sum of 50p (not available on CD yet as we're in the process of recording more). Stick them on your ipod and listen to them while you're revising for maths!

Best wishes,
Miss Hand

Paper 1 - Structure

Morning, soon-to-be-no-longer-year-11!

Your first History paper is just over 3 weeks away.
It consists of 2 parts - Medicine Through Time, and American West.

Medicine Through Time
Answer TWO questions.

QUESTION 1
This is compulsary!
It consists of several sources, followed by a 3-part question. Each part is worth 5 marks.
You will need to use the sources and your own knowledge to answer these questions.
You should aim the spend about 25 minutes on question 1. Give yourself 5 minutes to read through the sources and questions, 5 minutes to answer each part of the question, and 5 minutes to read through.

Keep checking back for tips on how to answer the questions.

QUESTION 2
You will have to choose 1 out of 3 questions. Each one is worth 20 marks and is split into 3 parts -
a) Description (5 marks)
b) Explanation (7 marks)
c) Evaluation (8 marks)
READ the questions carefully and choose the one you can answer the best.
Answer ALL parts of the question you have chosen.
You should spend about 35 minutes on this question -

• 3 minutes to read and decide which questions to answer
• 5 minutes to answer part (a)
• 10 minutes to answer part (b)
• 12 minutes to answer part (c)
• 5 minutes to check through

Keep checking back for tips on how to answer the questions.

American West
Answer TWO questions.

QUESTION 1

This is the same as the Medicine question 1, but is worth 20 marks instead of 15.

QUESTION 2

This is the same as the Medicine part of the paper, but you only have a choice of 2 questions.

Over the next few days we'll be breaking down the questions and giving you tips on how to answer each one, so come back and read again soon.

Best wishes, Miss Hand

Welcome

Hello!

Here is a place for you to share your questions whilst you are so so busy, spending every waking moment revising for your History GCSE. It will all be worth it when you open your results in August.

If you get stuck with anything or can't find a fact, or you need anything at all, post a comment here and one of us will do our best to help you out.

Best wishes,

Miss Hand