That time is upon upon us, Modern Historians...the half-yearlies start on Monday. I'm sure you will be spending the weekend preparing for your English exam, but History follows hot on its heels, so you should fit in some revision before doing some last-minute cramming on Monday night...
The exam will be in two sections:
1) World War One - a series of source-based sections, ranging from simple 1/2 mark questions where you select info from a source, to long, 8/10 mark questions which ask you to 'use the sources and your own knowledge' to discuss a feature of the War.
2) Weimar Germany 1918-1933 - a choice of two essays, both dealing with some aspect or aspects of Germany from the birth of Weimar (Nov 1918) to the beginning of Hitler's chancellorship (Jan 1933).
First, some tips based on what I saw from the last assessment:
1) Write more than one page for an essay! Leave plenty of time and try to squeeze out two pages. You are a lot more likely to get a pass mark.
2) ALWAYS mention ALL sources. they are presented to you for a reason - to assess your source analysis skills. Name the source, then briefly mention its PERSPECTIVE, how RELIABLE it is, and whether it is USEFUL.
3) When a question says 'use your own knowledge'...then do it! And plenty of it, too.
4) If in doubt about dates, or figures, then make them a bit more general. If you are not sure whether something happened in 1924, or 19925, then say, 'in the mid 1920s...'
5) If a question asks you to discuss two or more things, then discuss all of them, e.g. 'Describe the main social, political and economic issues...' means discuss all three of them, not just one. Be as obvious as starting each paragraph with something like, 'Germany faced many serious economic issues in the 1920s. The major one was hyperinflation...' etc.
6) Revise by writing a practice essay. The best way to do this is to compose a very general question which covers most of the topic, and then sit down and write it for 30 minutes, without consulting your notes. Afterwards, read through it, and then go to your notes to add or change any details. This way, you will have enough general info in your head to tackle any essay we throw at you - all you need to do is save some more facts in your head to modify your essay so that it fits the question in the exam.
A good general essay on Weimar might be something like:
"Describe the main issues faced by Weimar Germany from 1918 to 1933"
or "Evaluate how successful the Weimar Republic was as a democracy" (this one is harder)
Both essays cover the whole period and you could talk about anything.
A good general essay on WW1 could be:
"Describe the main features of the war on the Western Front"
or "Explain how Germany and Britain responded to the war on the Home Front"
Now, some links to help you:
This essay by Paul Kiem summarises the main events in Weimar until 1929. there are some activities that follow it.
This document by Stephen Tonge describes the period in more detail, and goes right up to 1933.
Finally, some practice essay questions. You can try these and email me them for comments/feedback.
From last year's HSC exam:
Assess the impact of tactics using new weapons in attempts to break the stalemate on the Western Front. (10 marks)
Account for the successes and failures of democracy in Germany in the period 1918– 1933. (25 marks)
From 2007's HSC exam:
To what extent was the failure of Ludendorff’s Offensive responsible for Allied victory and the German collapse? (10 marks)
From 2006's HSC exam:
Assess the importance of nationalism as a cause of the failure of democracy in Germany in the period 1918–1934. (25 marks)
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