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Edexcel History A2 Unit 6: Nazi Germany

I think it's time to draw a line under Unit 5.. (chill runs down spine at thought of evil paper) ...and concentrate on friday's unit 6. I'm doing Nazi Germany. Has anyone got any tips for it?

What do I need to revise? Are education/youth/economy real topics or not? Because they're not on the syllabus. Plus, with a largely source based exam, is there actually much chance to show off specific own knowledge, or shall I just rely on a general understanding of the concepts/events/individuals invollved?

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Reply 1

rutera

paymaster

Education, youth and economy aren't as important as they were on the AS exams but a general knowledge will help I think: Hitler youth, indoctrination in schools, along those lines. Just bec. it's a source based exam it doesn't mean you can't show off what you know. What you can do is quote less from sources, paraphrase more and add what you know which tends to be a lot more than what is offered on the sources anyway. But I guess compared to units 4 and 5 less specific knowledge. I'm finding it hard to study at the moment coz it is so general... I guees exam technique is more important

Reply 2

slowjamz

I'm doing this too, but having trouble knowing how to revise it :frown:

I desperately need an A on this paper which doesn't help much either! Anybody got any tips?

I've lost my Edexcel statement of entry after the hell of Unit 5 so can you guys tell me if this exam is still 1hr 45mins? And it's definitely Friday AM yeah?! Thanks! :smile:

Reply 3

jossy

http://www.kdhs.org.uk/history/a/as_unit6/

this has everything you need to know for unit 6, there is so much to learn!!!

Reply 4

kingslaw

jossy

http://www.kdhs.org.uk/history/a/as_unit6/

this has everything you need to know for unit 6, there is so much to learn!!!

I'm sorry, but you really really dont need to know all that. I've almost always got A's in the previous mocks we've done, and the actual amount of knowledge you need to know is suprisingly little.

What I'm revising is:

-Why the Nazi's were popular (and the failures of Weimar)
-Consoliation of Power (Gleischaltung)
-The Role of Propaganda (how it was used, how effective it was)
-The Role of Terror and the SS (growth of the SS, how effective were the Gestapo, Night of the Long Knives)
-Why People Opposed The Nazis
-Why Opposition Was Ineffecitve
-How the State was 'Nazified' (Civil Service, education, police, conflict between state and party)
-How powerful/effective a dictator was Hitler
-How and Why Policy was Radicalised after 1935 (intentionalist and functionalist views)
-The role of the lieutenants (Goebbels, Himmler and Goering)

Anybody think I should add anything to that list?

Reply 5

kingslaw

Oh, and the exam board gave all tutors an FAQ on the unit. It said that specific knowledge isnt particuarily important, but you must have an 'awareness' of key developments and dates.

Anyway, every time I do the mock for this exam, I think theres so much analysis to write that I dont have a lot of time for talking about events in specfic detail.

Reply 6

wefi

also fink u shud revise:
-how hitler transformed himself from legal chancellor to legal dictator (gud essay on this on www.courseworkbank.co.uk)
-Did Hitler achieve an economic miracle?
-Cult of personality
-Did Hitler succeed in creating a people's community (volksgemeinschaft)

gud luck everyone sitin the exam 2mora, i no i'll need it!

Reply 7

chats

how can you tell when you leave the exam that you have done well eg 45/60 or if youve done just ok 35/60? its so hard for me to tell

Reply 8

wefi

cross ur fingaz and touch wood!jokn-in history exams i normally check how many valid points ive made, check ive backed it up with evidence from my own knowledge, and in certain cases, with quotes from sources. Chuck in a view from a historiam (so 2mora,i'll prob mention kershaw, bracher, brozat) and if youve dun all those, u shud be on for a gud mark! duznt stop me worryin bout results day tho :eek:

Reply 9

Aylia

paymaster

I've left all my revision of this until today and am not finding it good!
Education/youth/economy are on the syllabus, but the big question won't be on them. We need to know about the role of personalities - eg. Himmler was the focus of one of the previous questions.
My teacher told us our answers must be source led - source first, own knowledge second.

Reply 10

kingslaw

Aylia

I've left all my revision of this until today and am not finding it good!

Same here! Well, I did quite a bit ages ago, but I've forgotten most of that now.

Aylia

Education/youth/economy are on the syllabus, but the big question won't be on them. We need to know about the role of personalities - eg. Himmler was the focus of one of the previous questions.
My teacher told us our answers must be source led - source first, own knowledge second.

We will need to know stuff about education/youth/economy, but I think we'll only need to know it in the context of a much wider question such as was the regime reliant on terror/propaganda, or was Hitler a weak dictator, or was the Nazi party popular, etc. So we wont need to write an essay about any narrow event or aspect (apart from maybe Night of the Long Knives - but that has so many larger implications that its easy to write an essay about it).

As our tutor always said; theres no point in having loads and loads of detailed knowledge about this unit if you dont utilise the sources which allow you exploit the knowledge you have. I think its more important to look/practice at source skills and such (this is a synoptic unit after all!) than it is to know everything.

On a final note, I really hope it isnt about personalities, because I really couldnt write that much on Goering (Goebels and Himmler are OK though). However, as previous exam questions have been on Himmler and Goebels, I have a feeling in may be Goerings turn tomorrow...

Reply 11

Hermit

As our teacher pointed out, the main time frame for this paper is from 1933 - 39. Don't go remembering huge amounts about Weimar and other incidents during the War, as they're not nessecary. Any knowledge in these areas should be basic stuff - some knowledge of why Weimar was unpopular, and how it impacted on Hitler once he was in power is useful (For example, economic reforms put in place under Weimar didn't kick in until Hitler was in power, and so he recieved a boost in support for fixing the economy when much of it wasn't his Party's work). As far as I know, part a) usually focus's on a specific part of Nazi germany, and will include 3 sources, and part b) will use all 5 and is more broad. Our teacher said the best way to do it is to have a fairly detailled knowledge of various influences within Germany at the time - Opposition groups, the Nazi party, Youth Groups, the Church, and The Army being the main ones. Also some knowledge of support and opposition is nessecary.
As for using the sources, the best way is to remember each question is to some extent an argument - Don't write individual paragraphs on each source, as this means the focus is drawn away from the question. Approach it like most questions - An intro, then agreeing with the question, then provide a counter argument. Within the main argument, reference the sources by saying things like "Source A supports this by saying "..."
You can then add some analyis on afterward, something like "We can take this sources information to be reliable becasue this perosn wrote it" or wahtever. You can always put in limitations of the source in the section of the opposing argument, like "Source A disagrees, but it is from Volkischer Beobachter (The Nazi's own newspaper), and so..."
Remember that the sources do need to be used effectively, and analysed. According to this FAQ for unit 6 from Edexcel ( http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/25523.pdf ),
The Unit 6 paper is worth 20% of the overall grade. 12% of that is from Soruces, the othr 8% own knowledge.

Reply 12

slowjamz

kingslaw

Anyway, every time I do the mock for this exam, I think theres so much analysis to write that I dont have a lot of time for talking about events in specfic detail.

Any tips on writing good, high-quality analysis and doing well in this exam Kingslaw? I need an A so badly after the horrors of Unit 5 and I just don't know what I'm doing...

Reply 13

Aylia

kingslaw

*shudders* really hope it's not Goering.. I know he organised the second 4 yr plan but else did he do?
I'm liking the idea I don't need to know much about the economy though, thats aways one of my weak points.
I disagree with Hermit though - the answers are supposed to be source led. If you just include them within the framework of your answer then you're not leading with the sources?

Reply 14

kingslaw

Aylia

The only things I can think about Goering is:
-He was in Hitlers first Cabinet as Minister with Portfolio and Minister-President of Prussia when Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933 - but lost the control of the Prussian police to Himmler after Night of the Long Knives
-Played a key role in the staging of the Reichstag Fire of 23rd Febuary 1933
-Drew up the hit-list for Operation Hummingbird (Night of the Long Knives)
-Secured independence of the Luftwaffe in 1936
-Took over the Four-Year-Plan in October 1936 (I think thats the right date - I've got loads of conflicting dates from different sources)
-Assisted in the purge of dissident Generals von Blomberg (Minister of Defence) and von Fritsch (Commander in Chief) in Febuary 1938 - eventually being rewarded by becoming Field Marshall, but was dissapointed that Hitler took the role of Commander in Chief himself

However, I dont know if there is a lot of an essay in all that really. The only thing I can think is that his constant gains and losses in power demonstrate the polycracy and institutional-Darwinism of the Third Reich.

Reply 15

rutera

wow, kingslaw, you're scaring me, this detailed knowledge of yours of Goering is more than what's even in our history textbooks... looks like i have more revision to do tonight than i thought, i want to cry...

Reply 16

kingslaw

slowjamz

Any tips on writing good, high-quality analysis and doing well in this exam Kingslaw? I need an A so badly after the horrors of Unit 5 and I just don't know what I'm doing...

Pfff...theres no fail-safe way of doing it I think. The only tips I can give (which I have got from my tutors - coz I'm really not very clever) are:

When reading the sources, remember "EVERY SOURCE IS PUTTING FORWARD AN INTERPRETATION OF A HISTORICAL EVENT". So if the question is "Was Hitler a strong dictator?" then every source is either going to say; "yes he was", "no he wasnt", or "a combination" - every source has been carefully selected for a reason. My plan is to write a little note at the end of each source saying whether the source supports the arguement in the question or not.

The fact that every source supports an arguement means that arguements and points should be initiated with the sources, from which point you can bring in your own knowledge to back up (or contradict) what the source says. But dont go over-board with the own knowledge. Its more important to get many points down than to go into too much depth on a single point. As long as every arguement is backed up by at least some evidence of own knowledge, then you should be OK.

Whatever you do, don't write an essay almost entirely from your own knowledge (including all arguements being initiated from own knowledge), whilst just bringing in quotes from sources every now and then, as my tutor says this just looks weak and doesnt demonstrate the candidates source-skills. A dialogue with the sources, using the sources to back each other up, or contradict one another is the key to a good mark.

Finally, whilst your writing the question, always remember what your arguement is. Dont go off the track and completely forget what your point actually is. Explicitly include the general arguement your trying to prove at the end of every paragraph.

Reply 17

slowjamz

Kingslaw, thank you so so so much for all your help :smile:

It really helped me focus what I was doing and was probably the best advice I'd received over the duration of my History course! Have tried to give you rep but apparently have to spread it around first :tongue:

Remind me if I forget though because I really appreciated you writing that out.

Anyway guys... how did you find the exam?! I thought it was actually okay! Questions weren't too narrow so I just focused completely on the sources and backed everything up with cross-referencing them or with other knowledges. I hope it'll be enough ...

Reply 18

Aylia

slowjamz

Kingslaw, thank you so so so much for all your help :smile:

I thought the questions were good - I was very relieved actually, I managed to revise those things! I don't think I planned my answer to question b very well, but it's too late now.. How did you put the first two sources into part b?
They didn't seem that relevant?

Reply 19

slowjamz

Aylia

*tries to remember* Hmm, I think for Source 2 I took their point that people viewed the Nazi regime as transitional and contradicted it by saying how those who were trying to mastermind the 'second revolution' (eg. Rohm and Strasser) had been removed in the night of the long knives, along with other dissidents, basically emphasising a point that Hitler did indeed have control. I found Source 1 even harder to incorporate so I think I only made a brief reference and now can't remember what! :tongue:

Something about people's acceptance of policies... argh I can't remember, it was my last exam so think the elation has drained me of knowledge....
Ah well, it could have been so much worse! :smile:

What did you put?