Worth choosing?? (1 Viewer)

[lpower3]

Hi there, i am currently doing Pleminery course and I have maintained pretty good marks in all my assesment tasks for modern history this year. (80% 88% and 9.3%). Was contemplating dropping Maths Ext 1 and picking up History Extension. Is it worth doing? Are you happy with the course?
Thanks

 

[ArtemisOrthia]

GIVE IT AGO! It's my best advice!

If you're even thinking of doing it, just give it a try. You can always drop it later, so where's the harm in trying?

It is a really great course, totally loving it! Plus it's good that you do Modern History, it does seem to deter to modern history rather than ancient history (though it does depend on what case study your school does!). The core is basically an analysis of historiography, so about the historians - rather than history itself. Case study varies from school to school, so best to ask a teacher / or a past student.

You do have a major work (on pretty much ANY topic area you want!) and an exam. It isn't that difficult as long as you manage time well and work on your major early!

To your question, YES I am happy with the course. I have a brilliant teacher, and the content is actually very interesting. n_n Check out the Board of Studies Syllabus to see you will like the content, and go from there.

Again, my advice is just to give it a go.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

^Is the exam just about sources?

Also what are examples of what people have done projects on? It can't be from a topic from either syllabus right?

 

[ArtemisOrthia]

Exam has 2 sections. First section is the CORE topic: What is History? This is basically where you get a source and you have to use that source and one/two other historians to answer a question about.
There's key debate areas, including:
- What are the aims and purposes of history?
- How has history been constructed and recorded over time?
- Why have approaches to history changed over time?
- What are the historical debates?

So you'll be analysing Historians and Historiography and answering a question which revolve around one of these key question areas.

Section II is a case study, for example my school does JFK and basically we just look at the different schools of historical thinking regarding the topic. There's key debate areas of the case studies which you use your historians to debate about, such as (for JFK) man vs. myth. Differs from case study to case study, and to get a proper idea best way would be to look at the syllabus and past papers.

In regards to major projects;
I did mine on the contribution of Greek portrayal of women and its contribution to the stereotype of witchcraft in Medieval Europe. You can pretty much do anything, giving that it doesn't overlap significantly with content from the ancient / modern / extension syllabi.

Other majors I know have been on:
- Legends on king Arthur.
- Blood Diamonds.
- Representations of a personality.
- Holocaust debates.

There's just some examples, there's tonnes of things you could do. Talk to your teachers and they'll be able to give you some more ideas, or just browse these forums and you'll see what sort of other topics some other members did over the years.

 

[Mr L]

I heartily recommend History Extension. You can more or less choose any topic you wish, as long as it does not clash with the Yr. 12 Modern History syllabus. For example, I am studying the historiography of the causes of the American civil war. Very interesting business, to be sure. I find history extension compliments Modern History very well, especially in assisting me to discuss the validity, reliability and usefulness of sources. (WWI section)

 

[Dinamo]

Exam has 2 sections. First section is the CORE topic: What is History? This is basically where you get a source and you have to use that source and one/two other historians to answer a question about.

Just curious, but we were told we need 10 historians o0:S
how many do we exactly need?

 

[ArtemisOrthia]

Just curious, but we were told we need 10 historians o0:S
how many do we exactly need?

It's good to know a diverse range of historians that you could utilise in an essay for Section I. I think we did roughly the same, though of course we have our favourites that we always seem to use and refer to more so than others. I think you could risk knowing 5 in-depth, as long as they're from a broad range in terms of methodology / contexts / purposes / debates.

In terms of the HSC, I think the majority of past questions have either asked for reference to one other historian (in conjunction with the source) or two other historians (in conjunction with source). I've can't recall ever seeing a question asking to reference to 3 other historians. n_n

Just double check with your teachers if you're unsure.

 

[anexasaved]

Firstly, History Ext is an EXTREMELY enjoyable and rewarding subject provided you want to learn more about historical methodology and practice rather than history itself haha.
Whilst i personally enjoy it a great deal, i have to say that the HSC exam is one of the hardest i will ever have to sit. 2 cohesive and comprehensive essays that not only answer the question but also integrate your thorough knowledge of MULTIPLE historians and make extensive and relevant use of (a sometimes very sophisticated) source is a fairly challenging ask. That is not to say that high range marks cannot be achieved, it does however require a fair bit of practice...a face evident to me in my trial exam where I only got mid-B range essay marks following literally NO practice essays. My mark placed me at the bottom of my cohort =(
But anyway, it is also important to consider what you want to do in the future and what ATAR you aim to achieve. This subject, honestly speaking, scales HORRIBLY!! A fact that makes me very very sad because to me it is one of the hardest HSC subjects the BOS offers. Maths X1 on the other hand scales fantastically in comparison, so if you are doing well in it i recommend you persevere with it. That is not to say dont pick up Hist Ext, because if you can do well in this subject you will be rewarded immensely as well...you just need to get a lot higher in it to unlock these rewards =/. For example, a HSC mark of 92 in MX1 was scaled by UAC to 89.6 whereas a mark of 94 in Hist Ext was scaled by UAC to 84.6!
It is also important that you have a good idea for your project and keep up to date with your research and logs throughout the year!! This aspect of the subject is EXTREMELY fun and you get to learn about an aspect of historical debate that interest you a lot more =)
Overall, i do encourage you to give the subject a go...it can be a big hit and miss (if you dont like the content or find it too hard or cant formulate an idea for your project) but it can also be excellent if everything falls into stride for you
I know for me, this subject was EXCELLENT till the trials, after which things kinda went downhill =/ but practice makes perfect and that is something that I (and you will) need to do

 

[ALwaysSmiling]

Same here...
I dont know if i should go and do it.
However I'm doing Ancient History and I'd really love it to give it a go..

 

[ArtemisOrthia]

Same here...
I dont know if i should go and do it.
However I'm doing Ancient History and I'd really love it to give it a go..

Just give it a go!!! If you struggle, or don't like it, you can always drop. n_n
No harm in trying.

 

[Cheesecake_a]

Lol same here... Is it true it scales badly?

 

[jblack01]

Ill be honest with you guys. I did it last year and I was doing ancient history only. Regarding whether ancient or modern will help you more, I would say that there is no real distinction. Extension is a totally different course focusing on the history of history. Yes your school might choose to do an ancient or modern topic but I think everyone in the class is on an even playing field as you aren't actually assessed on the information regarding the event/person, but rather analysing the historians that provide different perspectives on the topic. At our school we did Queen Elizabeth so it wasn't an ancient or a modern topic, so everyone truly was on an even playing field.

The personal projet is really fun, as you get to choose your own topic which made me actually want to do it, rather than leave it to the last minute.
Some example topics at my school to help you guys were:
-Analysing the importance/usefulness of the National Museum of Australia
-Whether a specific historian was treated fairly in his view on hitler
-Ned Kelly's Legacy
-The Bore war
-The Holocaust denial
-Something about the illuminati
In some cases doing this project will help you in thefuture. For example I chose to do the Nationaly Museum topic, and I personally went to Canberra to visit the site and interview the curator at the time. Depending on your planened uni course/career pathway, my teacher told me that my project would become a vital asset in showing my skills in writing, analysing etc.

With scalling, I dont think its as bad as you make it out to be. That is, if you do well in the subject. Yes it doesn't scale as good as MX1, but in essence does anything? Besides MX2, nothing scales better then MX1. And I'm fine to argue about that, beause our deputy principal showed us the scaling tables for each subject in HSC, and MX2 was the best followed by MX1 then EngX2.

I highly recommend this subject. I did it not knowing what it was really about and managed to get a 94 for my scaled HSC mark. It's really interesting if you like history and debates. But i wouldn't recommend this for someone who doesn't like to read. All the best!

 

[cem]

I know that some people have said that the project can't overlap significantly with the Modern or Ancient course and that is true but it is actually more than that - the project can't overlap with the examinable syllabus of any HSC course - not just History courses.