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Edexcel A2 History - Germany 1900-45 - Monday 8th June 2015 [Exam Discussion Thread]

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Quick question guys, if I reference a historian in a Part A answer, will I get any marks for it? I figure even if it isn't mentioned in the mark scheme, it can be constituted as my own knowledge and evidence supporting my overall conclusion?

Btw, I'm just planning a Part A answer about whether Germany was a parliamentary democracy in years 1900-1914 and wondered if I'd get any marks for mentioning John Rohl who argued that the Kaiser developed a system of autocratic personal rule.

Will upload for you all tonight or tomorrow hopefully. :biggrin:


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Original post by farawayfromnowhere
Quick question guys, if I reference a historian in a Part A answer, will I get any marks for it? I figure even if it isn't mentioned in the mark scheme, it can be constituted as my own knowledge and evidence supporting my overall conclusion?

Btw, I'm just planning a Part A answer about whether Germany was a parliamentary democracy in years 1900-1914 and wondered if I'd get any marks for mentioning John Rohl who argued that the Kaiser developed a system of autocratic personal rule.

Will upload for you all tonight or tomorrow hopefully. :biggrin:


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Yeah you will probably get marks, but my teacher has said when he used to mark for the board, they tended to favour using own knowledge in terms of fact rather than opinions of historians, as this means you take the facts in and evaluate them as part of an argument which tends to get more marks over the whole essay than simply reeling off historians views.

In short, yes that's perfectly fine but make sure not to do it too often :biggrin:


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Original post by CD223
True. That's a good section. Reckon Weimar/war economy is worth revising so much given it appeared last year?



I'll re-upload it when I can. Had a lot on recently lol.



Aww haha. Don't say that! What's brought this on?!


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Weimar is still worth revising as it's such a big area, imo not worth bothering revising war economy
Original post by farawayfromnowhere
Quick question guys, if I reference a historian in a Part A answer, will I get any marks for it? I figure even if it isn't mentioned in the mark scheme, it can be constituted as my own knowledge and evidence supporting my overall conclusion?

Btw, I'm just planning a Part A answer about whether Germany was a parliamentary democracy in years 1900-1914 and wondered if I'd get any marks for mentioning John Rohl who argued that the Kaiser developed a system of autocratic personal rule.

Will upload for you all tonight or tomorrow hopefully. :biggrin:


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No.

The specification doesn't ask you to reference historians and it doesn't really make sense to do it anyway - it would be more sensible to use historians in part B - part A is factual content driven / part B is sources driven (hence historians are useful).

So in short, don't bother using historians because you'll get no marks for it and it doesn't help your essay look better anyway.
Original post by CD223
Yeah you will probably get marks, but my teacher has said when he used to mark for the board, they tended to favour using own knowledge in terms of fact rather than opinions of historians, as this means you take the facts in and evaluate them as part of an argument which tends to get more marks over the whole essay than simply reeling off historians views.

In short, yes that's perfectly fine but make sure not to do it too often :biggrin:


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Specification doesn't say anything about historians though? It makes more sense to use it in part B but part A isn't really useful in any way.
Original post by Tow
No.

The specification doesn't ask you to reference historians and it doesn't really make sense to do it anyway - it would be more sensible to use historians in part B - part A is factual content driven / part B is sources driven (hence historians are useful).

So in short, don't bother using historians because you'll get no marks for it and it doesn't help your essay look better anyway.


I'm aware why Part B would be more suitable to use historians and I agree with you on that however my point was that it could strengthen my argument in Part A by referencing a historian when analysing the question as part of my own knowledge. It would show in dept knowledge & outside reading around the topic and isn't that what examiners are looking for? Especially in A2 where it's expected for students to read outside of the textbook.


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Original post by CD223
Yeah you will probably get marks, but my teacher has said when he used to mark for the board, they tended to favour using own knowledge in terms of fact rather than opinions of historians, as this means you take the facts in and evaluate them as part of an argument which tends to get more marks over the whole essay than simply reeling off historians views.

In short, yes that's perfectly fine but make sure not to do it too often :biggrin:


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Yeah! I just asked my tutor and he said the exact same thing. But I'm not really focusing on historians specifically anyway. If I know of one that is relevant for Part A, I'll only mention it if I can actively analyse & incorporate it in to my essay as part of my argument! :smile:


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Original post by Tow
No.

The specification doesn't ask you to reference historians and it doesn't really make sense to do it anyway - it would be more sensible to use historians in part B - part A is factual content driven / part B is sources driven (hence historians are useful).

So in short, don't bother using historians because you'll get no marks for it and it doesn't help your essay look better anyway.


You will get marks for it. It does count as own knowledge depending on how well you explain it. It's just not advisable to do it over quoting historical facts.


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Original post by farawayfromnowhere
Yeah! I just asked my tutor and he said the exact same thing. But I'm not really focusing on historians specifically anyway. If I know of one that is relevant for Part A, I'll only mention it if I can actively analyse & incorporate it in to my essay as part of my argument! :smile:


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Glad that your tutor and my tutor agree. That's perfectly sensible. How's your revision going?


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Original post by jchap9776
Weimar is still worth revising as it's such a big area, imo not worth bothering revising war economy


True man - Weimar is really big - I'd love an "early challenges" question over a question in the later years personally.


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Original post by CD223
Glad that your tutor and my tutor agree. That's perfectly sensible. How's your revision going?


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It's going quite slowly! I only did about an hour & a half today :/ hoping to do at least 2 and a half hours of revision daily until the exam but it's quite hard with other subjects to study for & a part time job! Not enough hours in the day really hahah. What about you? :smile:



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Original post by farawayfromnowhere
It's going quite slowly! I only did about an hour & a half today :/ hoping to do at least 2 and a half hours of revision daily until the exam but it's quite hard with other subjects to study for & a part time job! Not enough hours in the day really hahah. What about you? :smile:
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I totally agree. 4 A2s and a part time job is basically impossible haha. I did no revision today because I was at work :frown: gonna try and make the next week productive though!

2 hours is quite a lot but I can see why - I hope I can somehow try to emulate that!


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Original post by CD223
You will get marks for it. It does count as own knowledge depending on how well you explain it. It's just not advisable to do it over quoting historical facts.


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Yeah it's own knowledge but quoting historians defeats the whole purpose of part A...
Original post by CD223
True. That's a good section. Reckon Weimar/war economy is worth revising so much given it appeared last year?



I'll re-upload it when I can. Had a lot on recently lol.



Aww haha. Don't say that! What's brought this on?!


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I just feel like a failure, i can't think of what to write when i look at a question :frown:
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Original post by Tow
Yeah it's own knowledge but quoting historians defeats the whole purpose of part A...


Sure it does, I was just answering the question of whether it will actually get a mark. If the whole essay is just historians' interpretations then sure, it won't do very well aha. :smile:


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Original post by Bunny2014
I just feel like a failure, i can't think of what to write when i look at a question :frown:


That will come with revision - just keep at it and I'm sure you'll be fine :smile:


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Original post by CD223
I totally agree. 4 A2s and a part time job is basically impossible haha. I did no revision today because I was at work :frown: gonna try and make the next week productive though!

2 hours is quite a lot but I can see why - I hope I can somehow try to emulate that!


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I'm completely the same! Never get any revision done on days I'm at work so I kind of just do what I can i.e. Read through my notes before bed or before I chill out and that's it. So I make up for them lost hours on days I'm off work haha. But yeah, I've got a brief revision timetable sorted out now so hopefully I can stick to it.
I'm sure you'll be fine, you seem to have a sound concept of all the content! :biggrin:

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Original post by CD223
Sure it does, I was just answering the question of whether it will actually get a mark. If the whole essay is just historians' interpretations then sure, it won't do very well aha. :smile:


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Aha xD

I guess you would get marks for showing own knowledge but it wouldn't show that the candidate knows exactly what is expected of them xD
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Original post by CD223
True man - Weimar is really big - I'd love an "early challenges" question over a question in the later years personally.


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Agreed
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Original post by farawayfromnowhere
I'm completely the same! Never get any revision done on days I'm at work so I kind of just do what I can i.e. Read through my notes before bed or before I chill out and that's it. So I make up for them lost hours on days I'm off work haha. But yeah, I've got a brief revision timetable sorted out now so hopefully I can stick to it.
I'm sure you'll be fine, you seem to have a sound concept of all the content! :biggrin:


Same. As much as I promise myself I'll get something done, I never do on work days. Hoping today is productive :smile:

Ah, I may give that impression but I genuinely don't :wink:

Original post by Tow
kAha xD
I guess you would get marks for showing own knowledge but it wouldn't show that the candidate knows exactly what is expected of them xD


Yeah true - what is your general structure for part B?

Original post by jchap9776
Agreed


I'm also never sure how much to revise for part B as most of it is source analysis -.-



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