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Anyone doing AQA history 'The Emergence of a Great Power? Spain 1492-1556' ?

sophiedior7

Just wondered what people were focusing on for the exam, and how they are revising the topics...

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Reply 1

Davidharper

I am! i am focusing on the economy because that's basically the root of everything, taxes, debt just the general failings.
Of course that links to the new world.
also the inquisition, general religion.
the failings of Charles, absences, the two major revolts.
looking a Phillip and the catholic monarchs.

also making sure i know all the Spanish vocab.

what is everyone else focusing on?? :s-smilie:

Reply 2

sophiedior7

how are you going to incorporate historian's opinions? I'm not sure whether to learn quotes or just get the general gist of what they think about the different areas...

Reply 3

Davidharper

I am going to like reference them, or schools of thought.
so like kamen thought this...
i am only learning one historian quote and forcing it in!
i get the impression that historiography is not worth that much!??

Reply 4

sophiedior7

the bit that I'm a bit confused over is the synopticity they keep referring to in the mark scheme... is this just referring to other monarchs like Philip II?!

Reply 5

Davidharper

if you studied the reformation last year, based around Germany, calvinism, lutheranism, erasmus then you can kind of use that but i am not sure how you could bring it in???

what historians are you using??

Reply 6

sophiedior7

Well the books we have been given are by Elliott, Kamen and Woodward with the odd quote from Haliczer from handouts etc.

I think with the synopticity, if one of the questions is just about Ferdiand and Isabella, I think I will just make a brief reference to Charles' reign e.g. the resulting debt of F and I was passed on to Charles...

There is so much more to learn than at AS! How are you revising?? This past week I have been trying to do as many mock questions as possible, but using my notes not memory! I think the time element of this exam is really hard as well as we only get about 45 mins per question and by the time I have digested the question and had a slight panick that leaves 35 mins...

Reply 7

Davidharper

I know!! there is more, but it feels like less! very confusing! :frown:

I am learning the textbook off by heart and doing past paper questions. the time limit is awful! my teacher says concentrate on the intro and conclusion as that is what they remember.

the only quote i am learning of by heart is the kamen one about controlling the aristocracy was an outstanding achievement??
Haliczer???!!! :frown:

Reply 8

sophiedior7

ye my inital aim was to try and learn everything but... due to serious procrastination etc I have decided to just focus on a few key areas and hope that i can answer the two out of three questions! I figured that learning expulsion of jews/moors, inquisition, granada, is vital as they are bound to come up... and then for Charles heresy and protestantism... I am a bit weak on finance so going to go over that again tonight...
ye i know what you mean about it feeling less, i just hope we aren't required to go into detail for everything...
I did 2 timed practice questions and found that if you spend about 5 mins plannning at the start it actually saves you time in the long run. Ye we were also told to focus mostly on intro and to make sure you mention the start and end of the reign or something...
Haliczer is some random historian that popped up on these videos we had to watch, but tbh Kamen and Elliott are a safe bet so I would stick to them!

Reply 9

Davidharper

Am at the serious panic stage now!

the santa hermandad- different from the plain hermandad??? because i thought the hermandad were set up in 1190 (an example of F and I being non innovative) but the text book says 1478 or something??
i think the text book has complicated things so much! its good for the timeline and mock questions but the content is strange!

in the exam one of the questions will always likely be to comment on an aspect of one of the monarchs reign inst is? like religion in F and I or Economy in Charles??

Reply 10

sophiedior7

ye i'm not really too sure on the hermandad either, if i have to mention them i will just say they kept peace and order in the start of their reign, helping to promote authority but other than that i havent really looked at them in much detail. ye im a bit wary about the textbook tbh because when i have used content from it for essays in class, my teacher has told me to go into more detail, but aslong as you have a look in some different historians books then i think it should be okay... anyway i am at the stage where im just trying to get an overview of everything, even if its not in depth!

ye i think two of the questions focus on a specific aspect of either reign, then the third question is more general and spans from F and I and Charles so 1495-1556...
I really want to know what came up in the Jan 2010 paper because may help eliminate certain topics??!! anyway no one seems to have hold of it and it is not on the AQA website. dont suppose you know what was on it?!

Reply 11

Davidharper

you would think the paper would be on the internet somewhere?!
have you been practicing the questions in the book?
you would also think that more than two people are doing this specification??

Reply 12

sophiedior7

hahaha ye i know, we are sadly lacking lacking in spanish unit 3 supporters!
ye i have been doing the questions in the book, but find the supposed 'AQA examiner' tips pretty vague tbh...
also according to some person on student room apparantly there was no unit 3 paper in january 2010??!!
i pretty much have just been using the student room to try and reassure myself about my a levels!

have found this bbc radio 4 broadcast thingy about the inquisition about a bunch of oxford boffs discussing why it was created etc, havent finished listening to it yet but here is the link, if, like me, you cannot bare to look at another history textbook...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p003c1bw

Reply 13

Davidharper

Oh my god that's amazing thank you! :smile:

i feel bad i have no resources for you!
i am taking the whole book as examiners tips as good old paula mcclive is the chief examiner. wish we were just doing Hitler or something that everyone knows of by heart. to be honest the Spanish vocab is a bit of a pain!

last year when people did the As level in January (god knows how they did it in half a year!) didn't everyone fail and there were loads of complaints so maybe that had something to do with the lack of an exam? that pretty unusual though?

Reply 14

sophiedior7

That's okay!
ye i no what you mean with all the convivencia or reconquista or whatever ha.
Well no one in my year took it in January but loads of people did quite bad in the reformation paper (think that was unit 2?) and in unit 1, so people who were predicted A's got Cs and Ds. anyway, our teacher sent off all our papers, and nearly everyone went up atleast 1 grade, some went up 3! so the chief examiner woman rang up our history teacher (she has connections haha) and said she was really sorry about the rubbish marking and that she would personally look over our papers or something. so ye basically im just worried that the same will happen this year accept the obvious difference is it could affect our uni places!!

Reply 15

Davidharper

from the radio show i got the reasons why the inquisition was established-

1) financial as the lands and wealth would go to the courts themselves. however most of the inquisition was almost always bankrupt and the people who went before them were usually poor which devalues that point.

2) honest religious reasons. reconcile souls to god and to protect the Christians from heresy. backed up by the fact F and I were so pious.

3) to prevent suspicion of conversos being used as an excuse by nobles to riot. (they said that near the start and i am a bit unsure about that one?)

4) to unify the state- as in they could strengthen the state by unifying against the conversos which would politically benefit them.

another thing we could throw in is the inquisition was origionally used to target the cathars in france. with a little research that could sound impressive.

how amazing would it be if there was a question solely on the inquisition!

i am going to listen to the siege of munster-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nkqrv
and calvinism-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00qvqpz
as there is a slight chance they could be used as a synoptic link. and i may just be trying to avoid work! :frown:

Reply 16

Davidharper

oh there is one on the cathars!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005488v

Reply 17

Davidharper

oh and this looks like a useful one!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548l1

Reply 18

sophiedior7

Great, thanks!!
Am going to spend the evening mulling over these and making notes! I wish i could get them onto my ipod but o well...
are you doing the english exam tomorrow as well?