History Extension (1 Viewer)

[avro]

So, just wondering if anyone has made the decision to pick up History Extension? Or, if they're like me and are still undecided on whether or not it would be worthwhile.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Yeah I was all gung ho on doing it, but then there wasn't going to be a class and now there might be...too be honest I wouldn't mind the case study and source historiography part but I honestly have no idea what I'd do the project on. It seems like a heavy workload for one unit, but I think the source stuff would be very helpful. I only do Modern and I got 2nd overall in yr 11, so the history teachers were pretty strong on me doing it.

It'd prob be beneficial for you doing 2 histories, but 5u of history might be overkill. Most people I know do two in yr 11, then drop one and do hist ext so 3 units of history. Though the one person I know that did 5u of history did get 99.7.

 

[avro]

I would love the project, we did something similar in Modern this year where we spent 5 weeks teaching ourselves a modern conflict of our choosing. I did Kosovo and Serbia, and I absolutely loved the independent learning, and studying something of your own choice. The History Coordinator at my school said that, depending on your teacher, it's in many respects like a first year uni course with the level of readings and independence required. It might be beneficial, especially as I am aiming for 95+ like you.

I'm so confused. I think I might just pick it up and trial it at least for this term. Having 5 units of History does not bother me at all, History and English are my best subjects. At least with 13 units I'll have room in to move in case one of my extension or 2 unit courses does not work out.

 

[RealiseNothing]

Some one at my school is doing 7 units of history - Modern, Ancient, Society and Culture, and Extension.

 

[JaciintaM]

I'm definitely doing it! I love history (I'm doing five units of it)
In year 11 I came 4th in the year for both.

 

[D94]

You should do extension history; it has a simple exam, and it's quite easy to get an E4 result.

Some one at my school is doing 7 units of history - Modern, Ancient, Society and Culture, and Extension.

SAC is technically not a "history" subject; only Ancient, Modern and Extension are considered "history" subjects (confirmed by HTA); but generally, they are all considered HSIE subjects (economics, modern, religion etc.).

 

[avro]

Some one at my school is doing 7 units of history - Modern, Ancient, Society and Culture, and Extension.

That will be me too + SOR II.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

Well most of my best ranks in Yr 11 were Englishes (both 1st) and Modern (2nd), so that's prob an indication I should pick up EE2 or/and Hist Ext. Then I would have to pick one subject to drop and have 12 or 13 units.

To D94, when you say the exam is simple, is it because most of the people who do Hist Ext do well in it. And it scales well yes? Better than EE2 I hear?

 

[D94]

To D94, when you say the exam is simple, is it because most of the people who do Hist Ext do well in it. And it scales well yes? Better than EE2 I hear?

I should have elaborated. The exam has two parts; historiography and case study. Both are essays, and the question which is given comes directly from the syllabus, ie. the 5 key questions (+ its components) are essentially the question that you will receive. The Case Study question will always be a debate question, because the Case Study is geared towards debates. So knowing your key debates in your case study will pretty much set you up for a good response.

But even then, the exam is simple because you can practically guess the question, or at least have prepared for the question, because it comes directly from the syllabus. Knowing your historians (Herodotus, Von Ranke, Jenkins etc.) and debates (such as Elton/Carr, Windschuttle/Reynolds etc.) will be enough to answer any question, especially as it comes with a stimulus passage (could be half a page to two pages long).

Scaling-wise, getting around 42/50 raw will get aligned to 45-6/50, and that gets scaled by UAC (for ATAR) to 94 ATAR points (out of 100). Although ATAR points-wise, EE2 does slightly better, the effort in EE2 far outweighs the effort in HX, so I would say its a pretty good subject for a neat E4 result.

 

[Jessa100]

I know everyone says not to worry about scaling, but does it usually count towards your atar/scale well??

 

[LachyLane]

I did History Extension this year. I will say this; it is not an easy course. Much harder than Modern and requires a more detailed analysis of sources and historians!!! Some find it really tedious just analysing historians, others do not. You are guaranteed to have drop outs though! My class only has 5 people now. But tbh I absolutely loved the course though, very interesting but you must do most of the work yourself. It involves reading and that person who said the exams aren't hard, well he's wrong. They are harder than Modern in terms of analysis. Section II is easier than 1, However, Section II is not very hard if you can analyse well because every question is basically historians' differing interpretations, how context shapes debate or how it's changed overtime. And with Section I, it can be similar questions but not always and you have to look through a source, use quite a few historians and bring the debate of postmodernism/historical objectivity.

All this being said, If you love history; do it. Scales well and you learn really interesting things, how to analyse even more effectively than Modern and thought-provoking topics most people would be unaware of. Even if you aren't that good at Modern, it doesn't matter. One girl who failed her Modern trials got 75% in the history ext trial. In History extension (specifically for the case study) you really don't need a lot of knowledge as to what was actually happening, like for Winston Churchill we studied his failure in gallipoli but it's all about Analysis of historians. Their context, how it affected their work etc.