[Sweet Pea]

The exam is on Thursday and I'm revising as best as I can. My problem is I always hit C grade with my essays but I can never seem to further on that. When I ask my teacher she tells me I need to have a sustained arguement, but never explains to me how I can go about doing that.

I also need help with integrating own knowledge and sources together. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys & girls!

And if anybody is wondering about my username, Sweet Pea.. it's the alias of the great Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker. The 4 weight world Boxing champion.

[kelqua]

I'm struggling with this a bit too, problem is I have only really revised for Unit 4 on Monday and have definitely not done enough on Unit 6 (or my other subjects!). Within integrating the sources with own knowledge, I just tend to pick out a bit from the source which says something about the question, write a small bit about that and then back up the point with my own knowledge. Not sure if that helps??

[Sweet Pea]

Originally Posted by kelqua

I'm struggling with this a bit too, problem is I have only really revised for Unit 4 on Monday and have definitely not done enough on Unit 6 (or my other subjects!). Within integrating the sources with own knowledge, I just tend to pick out a bit from the source which says something about the question, write a small bit about that and then back up the point with my own knowledge. Not sure if that helps??

Tell me about it! I've done so much revision on Unit 4 but not much on Unit 5 and Unit 6. It's not as if I don't want to, I just can't seem to get into revising those topics.

Thanks for the help, I'm going to write some essays after the Unit 4 exam and see if it works.

[stayboundless]

I'm struggling with this too! haha. my teacher said, for b, for each paragraph to do this:
- start by making a main point that directly relates to the question (e.g. Hitler was not a strong dictator)
- then use info from one of the sources to back it up.
- then use your own knowledge after to back that up.

your own info to source ratio should be about 60:40, or so i've been told! hope that helps?

[Mr_Steve_Stifler]

same situation as you guys. its a tit.
Unit 4 is easy compared to 6 so get unit 4 out the way as quickly as possible. unit 4 is basically a sustained analysis with evaluation throughout and evidence supporting your judgements.

unit 6 is hard because the sources have to kinda be integrated into your argument as evidence but i don't know what the hell they should do other than that. i suggest you find the mark schemes and gear your revision towards what it says you need to do in an essay.

[Mr_Steve_Stifler]

Originally Posted by stayboundless

I'm struggling with this too! haha. my teacher said, for b, for each paragraph to do this:
- start by making a main point that directly relates to the question (e.g. Hitler was not a strong dictator)
- then use info from one of the sources to back it up.
- then use your own knowledge after to back that up.

your own info to source ratio should be about 60:40, or so i've been told! hope that helps?

Sounds about right.

[DCalfine]

This should get you a few extra marks in your paper...

[Flo[ProActiv]]

Originally Posted by stayboundless

I'm struggling with this too! haha. my teacher said, for b, for each paragraph to do this:
- start by making a main point that directly relates to the question (e.g. Hitler was not a strong dictator)
- then use info from one of the sources to back it up.
- then use your own knowledge after to back that up.

your own info to source ratio should be about 60:40, or so i've been told! hope that helps?

You mean sources:knowledge should be 60:40?
Cause that's what I've been taught....

[stayboundless]

Originally Posted by Flo[ProActiv]

You mean sources:knowledge should be 60:40?
Cause that's what I've been taught....

oh, no, we were taught knowledge:sources 60:40 but i guess it doesn't matter that much, it's just a matter of opinion, there's no set rules... i'll probably go for about 50:50.

[Flo[ProActiv]]

Oh dear.
I'll have to go see my history teacher.

[Sweet Pea]

Originally Posted by Flo[ProActiv]

You mean sources:knowledge should be 60:40?
Cause that's what I've been taught....

This is what I've been taught. Use all of the sources but just use your own knowledge to back up any statement you make.

I've also been taught how to break down sources: You have to ATTACK each source, which means looking at the author, tone, context, date and then adding your own knowledge to a question.

So I have a source. I look at the author (Albert Speer) and then I look at the date (whether it was pre or post Nuremberg) and then I look at the context of the source and the tone. If I see that it's post-Nuremberg then I know that Speer is trying to pass the blame for what happened in the Nazi regime and I know that his words aren't to be trusted because of it. I can add my own knowledge to that and that'll help you up your grade. Hope that helps.

[Sorry...Alright...Well...]

Originally Posted by stayboundless

oh, no, we were taught knowledge:sources 60:40 but i guess it doesn't matter that much, it's just a matter of opinion, there's no set rules... i'll probably go for about 50:50.

No way! The specification states: '...this unit carries 20% of the overall credit for their A-level History course. Within this, the weighting runs at 4.5% for AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and 15.5% for AO2 (use of sources in context).

So, it should be source-led with own knowledge backing up/refuting what the sources say. I'd go for 2/3 sources and 1/3 own knowledge.

By the way, I'm studying the Soviet Union after Lenin 1924-41.

[stayboundless]

Oh well, I'm not too bothered because I pretty much know nothing anyway. So I can just use the sources more now. Haha.

[-=|Jay|=-]

Originally Posted by stayboundless

I'm struggling with this too! haha. my teacher said, for b, for each paragraph to do this:
- start by making a main point that directly relates to the question (e.g. Hitler was not a strong dictator)
- then use info from one of the sources to back it up.
- then use your own knowledge after to back that up.

your own info to source ratio should be about 60:40, or so i've been told! hope that helps?

I was told that 60% of the marks are for source work (i.e. 24 for b) and 40% for your own knowledge (16 for b).

Been getting As in mocks.

[stayboundless]

Thanks for letting me know guys otherwise I would probably have got not so good.

[sophie2610]

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=929834

hope this helps - it's helped me loads