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How should I prepare for the History Aptitude Test?

Hi,

I've been investigating into the History Aptitude Test which I'll be taking this November, but I'm not quite sure what the best strategy is to prepare for it. Should I be doing past papers, revising my Russia and Tudors units from AS Level History, or reading particular books to help?

Additionally, this year's test looks like it will vary slightly from those of previous years, according to http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/prospective/undergraduate/applying/the-history-aptitude-test.html, so I'm unsure about the extent to which this reduces the usefulness of past papers.

So, how should I prepare for the HAT?

Thanks for any replies, I really appreciate it.
Original post by Glamdring5
Hi,

I've been investigating into the History Aptitude Test which I'll be taking this November, but I'm not quite sure what the best strategy is to prepare for it. Should I be doing past papers, revising my Russia and Tudors units from AS Level History, or reading particular books to help?

Additionally, this year's test looks like it will vary slightly from those of previous years, according to http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/prospective/undergraduate/applying/the-history-aptitude-test.html, so I'm unsure about the extent to which this reduces the usefulness of past papers.

So, how should I prepare for the HAT?

Thanks for any replies, I really appreciate it.


I believe that the paper change largely applies to History and Econ applicants as they have to answer a specific question instead of 2 like other history plus joint schools applicants.

Yep-I revised my AS British history and Nazi Germany units for the HAT so that I could have a choice of which topic would best allow me to answer and engage with question 2. In terms of reading particular books, I personally did not.

In terms of preparing for it I just looked through and did some of the past papers and had a history tutor mark my papers and give me feedback on them. The marking by school tutors, despite a mark scheme being available, can be quite subjective so the most important thing to take from these past papers is the feedback and whether you're struggling with a certain question, why and how you can improve as each question tests a certain group of skills.

Hope this helps!
Yeah I think the past papers are really helpful, and you can definitely get more comfortable with the three questions you get, all of which test different things. I remember some people on here more or less saying 'either you've got it or you haven't', and that you can't prepare, and that's total *******s.

Main advice I would give is for the essay question. Think about your AS stuff in a bit more depth and try and get some nuance into your answers. I think the mark schemes give a pretty good indication of what I mean.
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MHI
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You can prepare

Revise 3 or 4 periods of history briefly, I did the 2 a level units and 2 gcse units.

Do some of the past paper questions without timing, with plans for the two essay questions and get a teacher to mark them

Try to have a rough structure in mind, e.g. 4 body paragraphs, into and conclusion for the 40 mark.

Then do the rest of them under timed conditions

That's all I did but I got a 70 so not great tbh

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