GCSE History questions help please?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with my History GCSE?

I am at a loss as to how to properly answer history questions; not writing too little or too much. How not to story tell.

If not, any advice / tips would help.

My awarding body is OCR and I am on this specification:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse-history-b-modern-world-j417-j117-from-2012/

Can anyone help me? Please?

ANY help is much appreciated!

Hi there

I was with this board a couple of years ago so I can try my best to help! Are you struggling with source questions or general writing ones or both?

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OCR is probably the worst board for any subject
I do honestly feel for you.

You know what the best thing to do for history questions? You fluff it up and make it sound bloody awesome.

Hello!

Great! Thanks!

I am struggling slightly with source questions; occasionally, I fail to identify the key, main message of the cartoon.

General writing questions? I do struggle with this, primarily because whilst I certainly have the knowledge in my head, dates, reasons, causes, and so forth; it seems as if I cannot put my ideas onto the exam paper! This is my main problem!

Another thing that bugs me, is that I don't know what to do for certain questions. For example, to achieve good marks on a six mark question, what do I have to write? On a ten mark question? On questions that ask me: '"The actions of Germany were more responsible for the outbreak of war in 1914 than the actions of any other country." How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.' [10]. In this ten mark question, how much do I have to write? I have already formed some thoughts about this statement in my head, how do I get it onto paper? How long do I have to answer this question?

Sorry for the wordy reply.

Many thanks for your prompt response!

x

Source questions are tricky to give advice for in terms of uncovering the message behind it, the best way to improve on this is to practise practise practise annotate the source, look for any little details such as text (if it's an image) that may give you a clue. If you can work out the general context behind the source, you're off to a good start and looking deeper definitely comes with experience. Sources can be a pain sometimes but I promise it gets better the more you analyse

For general questions, make sure you actually answer the question and don't just throw everything you know into it. Make your point, provide your evidence, and then refer back to the question. Use terms such as "this shows that...", "clearly this is significant in the fact that". If the question is worth 4 marks, try and make 4 points, or mention a couple and greatly expand them. Always use the number of marks as an indication as to how much to write and how much detail it requires. Use the same structure every time but adjust it to the amount of marks available

I'm afraid of giving you incorrect information as it was quite long ago, so I'm going to quote in AlphaNick who I'm pretty sure has just finished this course, hopefully he'll be able to answer things that I haven't



I'm hoping he'll be willing to give advice

Sorry I can't be more helpful (A level History is so different so I can't remember much about GCSE, sadly )

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I made a revision sheet which answers these questions. They are based on my school department's teaching. The main message of cartoons thing is just about interpreting logically and most importantly knowing the actual date.