History Tsarist Russia AS exam-how did you find it?

What was the Marx Q?

I wrote the same for the second question but the rest of my class wrote about reforms and how Alex 3 changed them, and my teacher said she would have wrote what they wrote. The extracts were horrible and basically the same except one was exaggerated. There's a section in the textbook about the class changes up until 1894 so we should be okay with that even though didn't talk about reforms but I interpreted it as how the social classes had transformed

I think you could do it both ways, however, I think the way we did it is perfectly fine as long as you reference how their policies caused change/caused continuity. There is a question on the 2015 paper which references social change, and the examiner report remarks how "Too many students who attempted this question showed limited understanding of 'socialchange'. Some linked it to Tsarist reform and a number saw it as meaning all the policies ofAlexander III (and sometimes Nicholas II)."
So if this question has a similar mark scheme to that one, we've done it right.

The question only included Alexander II and Alexander III as well, so am I correcting in thinking we shouldn't have mentioned all the cultural developments e.g. women, art and literature etc... As these occurred in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

The interpretations question was difficult IMO. I wrote my introduction about the 1905 revolution to realise thats not even what it was asking, so I had to rewrite my introduction at the end. The wording on the question was just confusing. I'm still not sure if it was asking about the causes of the 1905 revolution specifically, or whether it was just talking about factors around that period and after the 1905 revolution that weakened the authority of the regime.

The essays were easy IMO, I chose the question about Lenin and I'm pretty happy about it



The growing influence of Marxism in the periods 1890-1917 was due to Lenin. Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.

@Helebob

It was something along the lines of

'Which of these two interpretations provide a more convincing interpretation of the weakening of Tsarist authority in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century?'

The sources were mostly describing the 1905 revolution, which is why I found it confusing.

It is a vague date range. I had hoped they would give dates. To my mind that sounds like 1894-1905...but with no Q date range then it could also mean 1906?

I wrote the same for the second question but the rest of my class wrote about reforms and how Alex 3 changed them, and my teacher said she would have wrote what they wrote. The extracts were horrible and basically the same except one was exaggerated. There's a section in the textbook about the class changes up until 1894 so we should be okay with that even though didn't talk about reforms but I interpreted it as how the social classes had transformed

I didn't really like it. On the extract questions I couldn't find anything to disagree on, the essay question on Lenin and Marxism and horrible and so I pretty much had to do the social transformation question. I wrote about changes in the peasantry, working classes, nobles and culture, due to Alexander II and Alexander IIIs policy. I don't think I did very well!

What did people put for the extract question, as I found it really difficult. I said extract A mentions the role of SRs and SDs in weakening Tsarist authority as well as the strikes and demonstrations. For extract B I mentioned the impact industrialization had on the workers and how the Tsar failed to meet the needs of the workers. I really struggled to disagree with the extracts though... what they said was 'convincing'...