Stuart Britain AS exam AQA - how did you find it?

i had my stuart britan exam today
not sure how well the first part went as i felt like i was repeating myself.
for my section B i did the question on Charles's action led to mistrust, which i think went okay
i was wondering how anyone found it and what they predict the grade boundaries will be ?

Reply 1

212121S

I thought it went well! I also answered the question on Charles included the arrest of 5 MP's in Parliament, deliberately delaying negotiations after the 1 civil war and the engagement with the Scots in 1647 to invade England. Wasn't sure on how Charles could be trusted though?!

Reply 2

courtknxx

I think the grade boundaries for this paper will be lower, well at least they should be, purely because it's a brand new spec and there are new skills involved and applied into this exam. However, I think because the exam board were particularly easy with us and gave us some easy questions (particularly with James and Finance in the extract question) that may give them reason to heighten the grade boundaries.

I, personally, found I was repeating myself in the extract question and I answered the question on why Charles couldn't be trusted. I found that while all the decisions he made led to conflict and mistrust, like the imposition of the Laudian Prayer Book which lead to Scottish Rebellion and inevitably, the beginning of a British Civil War, I also found that you could argue against the question and argue that his great belief in the Divine Right of Kings and how he believed that anything he says goes, which directly lead him to refuse any propositions (Like the 19 propositions) and lead him to refuse any settlements that Parliament intended on attempting to agree with Charles on. This stubborn and strong-willingness of Charles definitely played a part in his eventual execution.

How did you find the exam overall? I think it was particularly easy!

Reply 3

15076848

OP

1

Original post by 212121S

I thought it went well! I also answered the question on Charles included the arrest of 5 MP's in Parliament, deliberately delaying negotiations after the 1 civil war and the engagement with the Scots in 1647 to invade England. Wasn't sure on how Charles could be trusted though?!

i said he could be trusted as he showed during personal rule through financial that he is able to be efficient and work well. he also implemented poor laws sufficiently.
also the fact that he allowed the dismantling for personal rule in the long Parliament showed it can be trusted. and the fact people sided with him must mean they could trust him

yeah i said the stuff you said except about the negotiations , How did you find the first section? what did you talk about and how did you compare them

Reply 4

15076848

OP

1

Original post by courtknxx

I think the grade boundaries for this paper will be lower, well at least they should be, purely because it's a brand new spec and there are new skills involved and applied into this exam. However, I think because the exam board were particularly easy with us and gave us some easy questions (particularly with James and Finance in the extract question) that may give them reason to heighten the grade boundaries.

I, personally, found I was repeating myself in the extract question and I answered the question on why Charles couldn't be trusted. I found that while all the decisions he made led to conflict and mistrust, like the imposition of the Laudian Prayer Book which lead to Scottish Rebellion and inevitably, the beginning of a British Civil War, I also found that you could argue against the question and argue that his great belief in the Divine Right of Kings and how he believed that anything he says goes, which directly lead him to refuse any propositions (Like the 19 propositions) and lead him to refuse any settlements that Parliament intended on attempting to agree with Charles on. This stubborn and strong-willingness of Charles definitely played a part in his eventual execution.

How did you find the exam overall? I think it was particularly easy!

i found the second part much more easier and like you, i just keep repeating myself!

how did you link his belief in the divine right of kings would be a counter argument to the fact he could be trusted?

Reply 5

212121S

Those are really good points! I thought the first question went well! I said the first source showed the inherited problems with finance as it mentioned inflation however I also added the war with Spain and corrupt taxation system also made weak finances and reform harder also I put that James did make attempts to reform this not only through the great contract but the sales of royal titles in 1611 and the Cockayne Project 1615 etc
Second source I wrote that it focuses on expenditure and extravagance shown through his favourites and the double supper and the fact that James didn't realise the need to financial reforms as he called England the land of 'milk and honey'

Original post by 15076848

i said he could be trusted as he showed during personal rule through financial that he is able to be efficient and work well. he also implemented poor laws sufficiently.
also the fact that he allowed the dismantling for personal rule in the long Parliament showed it can be trusted. and the fact people sided with him must mean they could trust him

yeah i said the stuff you said except about the negotiations , How did you find the first section? what did you talk about and how did you compare them

Reply 6

15076848

OP

1

Original post by 212121S

Those are really good points! I thought the first question went well! I said the first source showed the inherited problems with finance as it mentioned inflation however I also added the war with Spain and corrupt taxation system also made weak finances and reform harder also I put that James did make attempts to reform this not only through the great contract but the sales of royal titles in 1611 and the Cockayne Project 1615 etc
Second source I wrote that it focuses on expenditure and extravagance shown through his favourites and the double supper and the fact that James didn't realise the need to financial reforms as he called England the land of 'milk and honey'

im not sure how well i did with the first question as i had mind block and just couldnt remember anything. i said that second was trying to blame James for the financial problems but you could say his rex pacificus approach to foreign affairs such as the attempt of the dynastic marriage with spain and treaty of london 1604 were his ways of reducing income of the crown and thus he can be viewed as not to blame for the financial weakness of the crown, i dont know if that is a good point tho

i dont know if i compared it enough in my conclusion aswell. i just got a bit overwhelmed with it being my first exam.

what do you think the mark for an A will be?

Reply 7

SonyToprano

8

I found the paper quite decent, I chose the essay question on 'The early Stuarts had effectively dealt with the religious problems from 1603-29'. Did anyone else choose this question?

Reply 8

adamwall99

3

I though it went quite well.
The source question was friendly but I feel like I rushed it a little. What did you write as counter arguments for the two extracts? I couldn't think of any particularly obvious flaws cos it seemed both Extracts were pretty well argued.
For the essay question I chose the first option which looked much easier than the second one. I don't know how on earth you were meant to write a balanced argument for that one tbh... What evidence is there that Charles could be trusted??? That's why I did the first option, I wrote that initially from 1603 to 1614 the stuarts managed religious issues well with James' response to the Hampton Court Conference, and I argued in later years from 1614 to 1629 the shift towards arminianism, the marriage to henrietta maria and James' pro-Spanish foreign policy created religious problems by breaking the Jacobethan balance rather than solving any issues.
I think the grade boundaries will be low because new spec and the questions weren't "x event led to y, do you agree" but the source question was nice so I reckon 19/25 in each essay might scrape an A

Reply 9

adamwall99

3

Original post by 15076848

rex pacificus approach to foreign affairs such as the attempt of the dynastic marriage with spain and treaty of london 1604 were his ways of reducing income of the crown and thus he can be viewed as not to blame for the financial weakness of the crown

I said this too, I think it's a reasonable counter argument

Reply 10

15076848

OP

1

Original post by adamwall99

I said this too, I think it's a reasonable counter argument

i wasnt sure what else you could write as a counter argument

what do you think the grade boundaries would be?

Reply 11

adamwall99

3

Original post by 15076848

i wasnt sure what else you could write as a counter argument

what do you think the grade boundaries would be?

I think two 19/20 essays will probably scrape you an A

For other counter arguments against the first source I argued that the saying the Great Contract would have prevented the future financial failures makes no sense because it would have just changed the source of income, not the amount, and I said suggesting that the crown having a 'varied' income was a bad thing makes no sense as relying on multiple streams of income is better as if one fails the crowns finances are still sustainable.
For the second one all I said is that it fails to focus on a range of issues and only talks about James' spending, failing to mention the Great Contract. That and the whole Rex Pacificus thing showing he was careful with finances

Reply 12

Jim2034

AQAs new spec for Stuart's (2E) paper is on Wednesday 25th?!?!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 13

15076848

OP

1

Original post by Jim2034

AQAs new spec for Stuart's (2E) paper is on Wednesday 25th?!?!

We did unit 2R Stuart britain

Reply 14

Jim2034

Original post by 15076848

i had my stuart britan exam today
not sure how well the first part went as i felt like i was repeating myself.
for my section B i did the question on Charles's action led to mistrust, which i think went okay
i was wondering how anyone found it and what they predict the grade boundaries will be ?