History Extension 2016 HSC exam pack (archive)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• planning before commencing answers, allowing for a better understanding and interaction with the source and question
• making a judgement regarding the changing nature of evidence
• using a wide variety of sources, particularly more contemporary sources
• using well selected sources and examples to directly respond to the issues raised in the source and to substantiate judgement
• identifying a range of historiographical issues raised by the source and discussing these effectively to directly respond to the question
• integrating the source throughout the responses
• actively engaging with the question rather than just writing a narrative response.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• staying focused on key historiographical issues rather than listing historians or writing biographies
• addressing the ‘changing nature’ of evidence and how this affects approaches to history rather than focusing only on the issue of evidence
• responding to the question and not using pre-prepared responses
• reading historians rather than only reading descriptions of historians provided by others
• studying more contemporary historiographical issues and forms of historical communication
• showing a more holistic understanding of the source and the points that it is making.

Candidates showed strength in these areas

• responding to the source and the question holistically
• explicitly engaging with the question and the source and displaying an insightful understanding of the issues in the construction of history
• showing perceptive judgements of historiographical debates
• responding appropriately to the examination question by engaging with the directive term
• successfully challenging the source
• demonstrating extensive knowledge of the chosen areas of debate within the case study and showing critical insight into interpretations and perspectives
• integrating knowledge of the areas of debate and historiography in conjunction with the thrust of the source to support the argument
• sustaining reference to the source throughout the response, which revealed an understanding of the ideas and historical concepts behind the source.

Candidates need to improve in these areas

• reflecting on the full import of the source, instead of principally engaging with only one phrase or single words
• engaging with all aspects of the source, including the concept of motive in history and issues of objectivity in history
• developing a clearer response to the specific question which demonstrates reasoned and logical judgements
• moving away from the prepared responses which largely describe changing schools of interpretation or areas of debate within the chosen case study
• attempting to explain causal links between perspectives and interpretations instead of making simplistic statements about the schools of interpretation
• sustaining the necessary integration of the source throughout the response, and not just in the introduction and conclusion
• knowing specific debates and researching a broad range of interpretations through a variety of sources.