Hi, I completed my first assessment task for Ancient History and got 84%, rank 4 out of 22 students, mind you at a public school. How can I improve to achieve in that elusive band 6 mark range?
hey! i js finished ancient with an hsc mark of 96 - assuming u just finished pompeii? the best tips i have for improving marks are:
1. Knowing your sources!
This means making sure you can name which artefacts from which villa: for example on a question for Greek influence you can specifically discuss the mosaic of Alexander the Great from the House of the Faun: this is super impressive to a marker and shows you know whats going on to a band 6 level.
2. Knowing your experts:
This is where the upper marks come in: being able to bring in outside historians and experts to support your evidence. Continuing on the Pompeii examples, you could use Estelle Lazer's study of the bodies revealing the decay of teeth due to a high sugar diet in a discussion of food and dining
3. Bringing in nuance:
If you can discuss the 'other side' of things, such as evidence that contradicts a point, this tends to elevate your point. In a question about conservation vs excavation, you can use examples from both sides such as Wallace-Hadrill vs Fowler in the case of the Villa of the Papyri to provide reasons for and against both perspectives.
4. General rule of thumb: one point = one mark:
If its the low mark questions you struggle with, marks tend to be rewarded as you satisfy the requirements of the question equal to the number of marks. Looking at this most recent HSC paper, the first question was a 3 marker about archaeologists - outline the contribution. An 3/3 would include three points (with more detail than this but still): eg Estelle Lazer's study of skeletons revealed high sugar diet. Further, her analysis of the bodies revealed the gender demographic of the victims. Moreover, her study of the Lady of Oplontis....
If you can hit all of these in a succinct, well-structured and info-packed answer (using the provided source), those marks should be coming in much easier.
Hope this helps!
