AS History Advice

So, my AS History Mocks are in May and I'm incredibly anxious about them. My other two subjects are English Lang and Lit and I achieve A's in them, So I struggle to understand why I achieve D grades in History.

After doing multiple mock papers and revision (1890-1945 America) I have realised my main issues are my writing structure as well as interpreting the questions demands. I can regurgitate facts and learn information effectively, but I struggle to put pen to paper when it comes to the actual exam questions.

In summary: I am making this post to ask anyone who has sat AQA AS HISTORY Exams if they can offer any advice on answer structure and how to dissect a question.

I'm doing A2 history atm and I can try and help. At AS we were doing the Reformation in Europe and Struggle for Supremacy. Do you have 12 mark and 24 mark questions?

Yes! We do 12 Mark questions as well as 24 mark questions! Normally we are encouraged to do the two 24 mark questions before we start the 12 mark questions, but I'm just unsure on how to answer them. It's not an issue of content but rather the presentation and structure. You can probably understand how frustrating this must be since all my subjects are based on essay writing skills and yet I can't answer my History Questions effectively. I'm sure there must be a general structure to answering AS History Questions but I can't suss it out ;-;

I did the same exam last year . I too panicked and struggled to fix together essays, however my main revision was that of my essays I had written. I did better in this exam than I did in the other half of the AS course because I found it easier to use a set structure for these exams.
The way I used was to do the simple point, evidence and explanation and link in each paragraph. In the point try and link back to the question for example "The most important reason why the USA entered the first world war was because of the zimmerman telegraph". Your evidence can be your simple regurgitating facts but in sentences and in your evidence you explain how it actually contributed as a factor. Sticking with the entry to the world war example, this could be because it was against the monroe doctrine and so would be viewed as a direct attack against the US.
In your link, I always used it to link each factor. The easiest way is the first paragraph being the most important factor, the second, the middle and the third paragraph the least important. (for 12 marker, for 24s you can use the same structure with an intro and conclusion).

So in summary, the structure for a 12 marker would be...
Paragraph 1:
The most important reason why...was...
(brief outline of what its about/facts)
This was an important factor becasuse...
It was the most important factor because...

Paragraph 2:
Another reason why... was...
(brief outline of what its about/facts)
This was an important factor because...
However, it is not as important as [first reason] because...

Paragraph 3:
The least important reason why... was...
(brief outline of what its about/facts)
This was a factor because...
It was not as important as [second and first reasons] because...

And a 24 marker would be the same with an introduction and conclusion and maybe a fourth factor if you have one to write about.

Also if you're struggling with factors for the questions you might want to check out Derick Murphy's book if you haven't already because he puts it simply and you can use his opinions of the most important factors as historiography in the 24 markers too.

Hope this helps and good luck

P.S. try not to worry, I worried too much, got stressed and got a D in my mocks, calmed down and only spent a few weeks revising before the real exam and came out with an A. The hardest thing once you get the structure and 3 facts for each topic in your head is the timing which will come.

Your response has been hugely helpful, thank you!!!
I spend the majority of my time stressing over this subject, and this has been incredibly reassuring. So, thanks again! And congratulations on your A! :3