How to approach the trials? (1 Viewer)

[Jawa]

Hey,

I didn't have an Extension History Half Yearly so the test format will be new to me,

Doing a bit of my History Extension study today I was just wondering whether I have the right set out and approaching my study effectively to get a good mark. Now I know the styles of questions are fairly broad, especially for the 'What is History?' component and to combat this I have been making detailed notes on the syllabus dot points for two historians for each era and getting a few quotes for them (E.G Ancient - Herodotus and Thucydides) and then making a concise table of other historians of that era to further enhance my knowledge (Ancient - Xenophon, Polybius, Sallust, Livy, Tacitus).

Is this sufficient?

Now I know the other side of the exam is the case study question. One question, first off I do have is that I can have this 'case study' to be anything I want? I am doing the 'Nature of Western Imperialism in the 19th Century' as the syllabus one, but did the debate surrounding the Atomic bomb use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki for my investigation and am studying the evaluation of Albert Speer in Modern, is it correct that I can also use these as 'case studies' because they fulfil the syllabus requirements?

Second of all, for this section, how should I be studying my respective case studies? I think I will be wrapping my head around the basis of the topics, key historians and debates that are relevant, is this plausible?

Cheers,

 

[ChrisBOS]

Hello there,

For Q1, I'm going to tell you this now so you don't make the mistake I did. Just doing detailed historians is not sufficient. You will want to do some past paper questions to apply that knowledge so you won't get stumped during the exam. For the actual question, you really have to make sure you understand the argument of that individual that's being quoted. Try to look for specific points in each paragraph of the excerpt and basing your paragraphs around those. Your historians should not be the focus, rather, support the arguments you are making about the quote. You should also consider where history is going and where it has been (i.e. the role of the internet/democratisation of the writers of history/the role of memory/non-linearity, etc.). Always address the key questions and purpose. You will also need to include modern authors (i.e. still writing).

For Q2, you only write about your case study you've studied in class. If you do another one, you will get 0. You should be studying this in terms of the key questions and discuss the purpose/context/construction/etc of each significant historian in that case study. You should also be looking at how perceptions of the case study have changed over time and why. Try to prevent recounting, but rather, introducing theories and historians to support these theories in relation to the quote. The quote will often be very generic and you will be able to mould you response around it.

Hope this helps.

 

[krnofdrg]

Hey,

I didn't have an Extension History Half Yearly so the test format will be new to me,

Doing a bit of my History Extension study today I was just wondering whether I have the right set out and approaching my study effectively to get a good mark. Now I know the styles of questions are fairly broad, especially for the 'What is History?' component and to combat this I have been making detailed notes on the syllabus dot points for two historians for each era and getting a few quotes for them (E.G Ancient - Herodotus and Thucydides) and then making a concise table of other historians of that era to further enhance my knowledge (Ancient - Xenophon, Polybius, Sallust, Livy, Tacitus).

Is this sufficient?

Now I know the other side of the exam is the case study question. One question, first off I do have is that I can have this 'case study' to be anything I want? I am doing the 'Nature of Western Imperialism in the 19th Century' as the syllabus one, but did the debate surrounding the Atomic bomb use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki for my investigation and am studying the evaluation of Albert Speer in Modern, is it correct that I can also use these as 'case studies' because they fulfil the syllabus requirements?

Second of all, for this section, how should I be studying my respective case studies? I think I will be wrapping my head around the basis of the topics, key historians and debates that are relevant, is this plausible?

Cheers,

History is very simple, just master your syllabus (All the headings and also Learning about section) write your notes according to them and also find the relevant Historians or Sources that will back up or support your point effectively. I think you have covered them well so practice past papers and some questions to touch it up, so it should be good enough. Also, in order to practice and be familiar with the questions, just list the varying questions you may receive on that day on one large paper and practice them (or write them in dotpoints for a rough structure), research past HSC and Trial papers and draft them out so you know how you may approach them on the day.

Case Studies are simple, it's like a given source material, you just have to keep referring to it.

My source of knowledge comes from scoring 97 in Ancient History last year I hope it helps!

 

[cem]

History is very simple, just master your syllabus (All the headings and also Learning about section) write your notes according to them and also find the relevant Historians or Sources that will back up or support your point effectively. I think you have covered them well so practice past papers and some questions to touch it up, so it should be good enough. Also, in order to practice and be familiar with the questions, just list the varying questions you may receive on that day on one large paper and practice them (or write them in dotpoints for a rough structure), research past HSC and Trial papers and draft them out so you know how you may approach them on the day.

Case Studies are simple, it's like a given source material, you just have to keep referring to it.

My source of knowledge comes from scoring 97 in Ancient History last year I hope it helps!

Ancient and Modern are very different to Extension.

For Extension you do need to know your historians for Part 1 and you can include the historians you use for your Case Study. You also need to know how to tear apart the given source - spend the reading time going through that source and think about the themes and issues that the sources raises. You do need to link historians to the source consistently - I recommend that you focus on using the source as the focus of your response with regular references to your historians at relevant times through your essay. You are aiming at linking the key questions to the issues and themes in the source using your historians.

For Part 2 you MUST do one of the extension Case Studies - in your case imperialism. They are the only ones you can do and if you decide to do something else it will be a zero. Again know your historians AND how those historians relate to the five debates listed in the syllabus. Again link your response to the question, the quote if given one, your case study and your historians.

 

[alyssa21]

The focus of the Extension History exam seems to lie in your ability to respond to the particular quote/question given. So, my teacher recommends we spend a good 10-15 minutes reading and planning Question 1 [and 5-10mins for Q2- and as mentioned before, you have to do the Extension case studies!], choosing the most pertinent syllabus dot points (contexts, purposes, constructions, etc etc) in relation to the quote, and then thinking about where other historians come in.
With Extension, you can never get away with a memorised/pre-prepared essay, it's about how well you can discuss your historians in relation to the given Source. I've found scaffolding a response past HSC questions to be particularly useful- general practice in how to deconstruct and understand the quote is incredibly useful.