History Extension 2018 HSC exam pack (archive)

Students should:

• answer the question provided and refrain from using a pre-prepared response
• structure their response with points of argument rather than examples or schools of thought
• practise responding and adapting to an unseen source
• plan their responses during the exam
• sustain judgement and source integration throughout their responses
• have a thorough understanding of competing perspectives on historiographical issues.

In better responses, students were able to:

• directly respond to the question
• provide clear and critical judgement(s)
• present a cohesive argument with an overall thread, which is sustained throughout
• shape their response around the ideas of the source (Marwick)
• explicitly and critically engage with concepts in the source (Marwick)
• demonstrate a nuanced, precise and accurate understanding of the relevant historiographical ideas in the source (Marwick) with appropriate vocabulary
• challenge and/or agree with a variety of appropriate elements of the source
• use a range of historiographical examples which are relevant for the question
• demonstrate a nuanced, precise, in-depth and accurate understanding of historiographical examples used
• support their response with detailed comparison of historians’ positions on relevant issues and detailed examples of historiography in practice, thus demonstrating logical reasoning.

Areas for students to improve include:

• reading and dissecting the source carefully before beginning their response
• ensuring they have knowledge of a broad spectrum of historiographical examples that can be applied to a range of questions which suit all potential questions
• avoiding forcing less relevant examples to fit the question
• engaging with the overarching ideas, themes and issues in the source rather than selecting picking out and manipulating key words out of context to suit prepared material
• moving beyond simple comparison and contrast of prepared historiographical examples
• developing points of argument more fully
• consistency of argument, source engagement, and provision of detailed supporting examples
• using topic sentences to introduce a point of argument rather than a historiographical example
• moving beyond a simplistic understanding of historiographical examples
• prioritising clarity over the use of florid or complex language.

In better responses, students were able to:

• make explicit and perceptive judgements which demonstrate their engagement with the question and the source
• unpack the source and respond to it holistically
• develop the idea of why approaches changed over time and give examples of not only context but changing methodology and new evidence
• make effective links between their historical knowledge and the construction of history over time
• analyse ideas, concepts and the source to drive the argument in the response
• sustain their perceptive judgements throughout the response
• show a critical understanding of the question by using the source and relevant historiographical ideas or examples effectively which they link to the influences on historians’ perspectives
• demonstrate why these influences have impacted their approaches and how they have changed over time.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding the use of pre-prepared responses
• focusing on the question stated and integrating the source
• sustaining critical judgement throughout the response
• making effective use of the reading time to plan the response and construct the argument
• knowing the historians’ schools of thought as well as the debates
• use relevant sources that are used to illustrate their argument
• ensuring that the question and the source drive the response not the debates
• using the source holistically
• making their judgement explicit throughout the answer
• ensuring clear identification of the debates of the historians.