History Extension 2024 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• read the question carefully to ensure that they do not miss important components of the question
• have a clear understanding of key words in the question and recognise the intent of the question and its requirements
• relate to the question throughout the response rather than just at the beginning
• sustain their judgements throughout the response with a clear connection to the question
• communicate ideas and information using historical terms and concepts appropriately
• present a comprehensive, logical, and sustained response.

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate their own ideas about the role of the historian in changing interpretations and perspectives of history
• show an insightful understanding of the historiographical issues raised by the question and the sources
• provide explicit contrasts of interpretations and/or perspectives to address the question of change
• consistently integrate material from both Sources A and Bto support their thinking
• critique or contrast elements of Sources A and B
• support insightful judgement(s) using at least two other sources to convey their deep knowledge of relevant historiographical issues
• provide convincing argumentation and analysis rather than descriptive narrative.

Areas for students to improve include:

• producing a strong and sustained judgement in direct response to the question
• ensuring that they have detailed knowledge of a range of sources, allowing them to choose and use those most relevant to the question
• starting paragraphs with clear topic sentences that address the question, rather than beginning a paragraph with examples
• offering more than chronological surveys of historians/producers of history over time, even when the question includes the word ‘changing’
• linking sources from non-historians explicitly to judgements about the question in a relevant way, for example, arguing that the historian’s role has been diminished by popular interpretations
• using examples as support for insights into aspects of the question rather than simply describing them.

In better responses, students were able to:

• explicitly identify the relative weight of different contexts of historians, for example, arguing that societal context was more significant than individual context
• construct and sustain a perceptive and nuanced line of argument in response to the question, for example, arguing that new evidence can be as important as context in shaping the recording of history
• unpack specific details from an area of debate to support judgement(s)
• explicitly name the area(s) of debate used in the response
• clearly demonstrate and unpack how the individual context of the historian shapes the recording of history
• demonstrate an in depth and nuanced understanding of their case studies and relevant historiographical debate(s).

Areas for students to improve include:

• knowing each of the syllabus dot points from the Key Questions, for example, the role of the context of historians, methodology, purpose, availability of evidence and forms of communication in shaping interpretations
• engaging with and explicitly identifying aspects of individual context, for example, gender, ethnicity, time and place, social and economic structures, political constraints, status, academic background, non-academic background
• structuring responses by points of argument instead of examples of historian/schools/approaches
• fully developing judgement(s) by analysing issue(s) and explaining how examples demonstrate the validity of their point(s)
• providing argument supported by examples from the case study rather than narrative or description of these examples
• being willing to challenge the question
• linking to the question more frequently throughout the body of the response, not just in the introduction and conclusion.