How did everyone find the AQA Tsarist Russia Exam?

14th May: I'm not going to lie. Those questions were a shock! Despite not revising in detail about Rasputin, I managed alright. However, the Zemstva and Revolution questions really threw me off.
Was it just me?

Reply 1

peaaceandl0ve

17

Original post by MaryKingcott

14th May: I'm not going to lie. Those questions were a shock! Despite not revising in detail about Rasputin, I managed alright. However, the Zemstva and Revolution questions really threw me off.
Was it just me?

It was iffy :frown:

The only thing we learnt about Rasputin, I swear, was the size of his dick....

Reply 2

MaryKingcott

OP

Original post by peaaceandl0ve

It was iffy :frown:

The only thing we learnt about Rasputin, I swear, was the size of his dick....

It's funny because I was contemplating whether I should put that in during the exam :L

Reply 3

subjunctivehistorian

16

the rasputin question was like.. what ;L and the one after that - what did people put??

Reply 4

Rrobba

6

Original post by ZeniB

the rasputin question was like.. what ;L and the one after that - what did people put??

I agree it was a limited question compared to some in the past but it was worth doing for the 24 marker IMO. I basically waffled on about how he had a reputation for being a womanising drunken etc. and how he was given corrupt influence in power whilst the Tsar was focused on wartime efforts which was damaging the regime's political credibility and the rumoured links with Germany - so he had to be removed. Not sure any of that is worth much, and I definitely couldn't come up with '3+ factors' that are usually required for level 4. Hopefully the 24 mark essay that followed will make up for it.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 5

username877577

19

For Rasputin I mentioned his rumours about him and Tsarina,
His failure to lead,
Tsarinas links with Germany

Reply 6

Qtj987

1

some people across the world are still taking their exams

or yet to

Original post by Olympiad

For Rasputin I mentioned his rumours about him and Tsarina,
His failure to lead,
Tsarinas links with Germany

thats a relief, I kind of put the same as other people :smile:

its just none of it felt like actual points, I kinda felt like I was just waffling :confused:

Reply 9

MaryKingcott

OP

I mentioned how the influence he had in political circles frustrated ministers andhis rumoured affair with the Tsarina which led to accusations of sabotaging the war effort.

Reply 10

subjunctivehistorian

16

what did people put for why he created a zemstva??

Reply 11

username877577

19

Original post by ZeniB

thats a relief, I kind of put the same as other people :smile:

its just none of it felt like actual points, I kinda felt like I was just waffling :confused:

I waffled too!

Think grade boundaries will be low this year.

Last year 49/72 was an A, probably 45ish this year

Reply 12

Sabzi97

Original post by ZeniB

what did people put for why he created a zemstva??

I said that he had to in order to keep some control over the freed serfs, Alexander was influenced by westernisers around him and that the zemstva's were introduced to compensate for the loss of social power of the nobility... I couldn't even think of supporting factual detail for this stupid question :s-smilie:

Reply 13

Rrobba

6

Original post by Sabzi97

I said that he had to in order to keep some control over the freed serfs, Alexander was influenced by westernisers around him and that the zemstva's were introduced to compensate for the loss of social power of the nobility... I couldn't even think of supporting factual detail for this stupid question :s-smilie:

I mentioned similar things, but also couldn't bring much factual detail into it.

And to the others, yeah I did a hell of a lot of waffling too in the 12 markers. 24 markers went quite well for me although the structure of my first essay was a little messy.

Reply 14

Sabzi97

Original post by Rrobba

I mentioned similar things, but also couldn't bring much factual detail into it.

And to the others, yeah I did a hell of a lot of waffling too in the 12 markers. 24 markers went quite well for me although the structure of my first essay was a little messy.

Same here, after leaving the exam hall I realised the 1st 24 mark was a stability/ how successfully did Alexander overcome opposition question in disguise... Guess there was no point in memorising all those "likely" 24-mark essays

Reply 15

username877577

19

Original post by Sabzi97

Same here, after leaving the exam hall I realised the 1st 24 mark was a stability/ how successfully did Alexander overcome opposition question in disguise... Guess there was no point in memorising all those "likely" 24-mark essays

What points did you make? I flopped it

Reply 16

b_96

The Rasputin 12 marker was awful!!!! What did everyone get for the 24 marker about the 1917 revolution?

Reply 17

Sabzi97

Original post by Olympiad

What points did you make? I flopped it

First Paragraph : Reforms and concessions distanced moderates and liberals from revolutionary politics, helping him consolidate autocracy and maintaining his control
Second Paragraph: Reaction period and use of repression crushed revolutionary threat and ethnic minorities
Third Paragraph: Initial reforms created more opposition that hadn't been there before, struggled to control them and ended up reacting
Fourth Paragraph: Repression just pushed more people to radicalism and Alexander was assassinated by revolutionaries= hadn't been successful

Conclusion: He only seemed to have maintained control on the surface when in reality he was increasing opposition to himself and struggled to deal effectively with different groups.

Reply 18

Sabzi97

Original post by b_96

The Rasputin 12 marker was awful!!!! What did everyone get for the 24 marker about the 1917 revolution?

For the 1st 2 paragraphs I talked about his weaknesses:
-incompetent and tutored by Pobedonostev= too conservative and didn't address social grievances of peasants and working class= resulted in revolution
-Easily influenced by everyone and made poor decisions= Tsarina in charge, worsened social unrest= explosion of unrest

But I argued the most important factor was the War and it's impacts:
- Mutinies and loss of army because of conscription + high death rates
- economic strains= revolts and strikes- Putilov Strike
Meant Nicholas unable to control strikes (Petrograd Garrison joined protesters)

I was upset there was no Stolypin, so just to make myself feel better I mentioned Stolypin in the conclusion (no particular reason, really)

Reply 19

Gareth-james-C

That exam was as bad, possibly worse than I was expecting. It's like they tried to pick topics that were as obscure and vague as possible. Which when you think about how big the subject is and how much we have to learn is really not cool.

What's more annoying is we are always told not to just do narrative! How can they set a question about why Rasputin was killed and expect us not to write in a narrative style? What figures were we supposed to include, how big his wanger was? How much beer he drunk a night?

How did everyone find the AQA Tsarist Russia Exam?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you