I don&#x27;t know how to write a history essay

Is this for GCSE's? I didn't study theses topics at GCSE history but I'll try my very best to help you out (even though it looks like we were on different exam boards as well?) Firstly, don't compare yourself to others, if you practise you'll get better - a grade 9 is above the old A* !! So while it's a brilliant grades realistically not everyone in the country will get it!! Personally I was better at history essays than English it essays. Would you mind giving me some examples of the styles of questions you'd get on your exam board (e.g for AQA, our 4 mark question would always be: Source A shows something...How do you know it supports something.) I'll try my very best to help you out of you can tell me what your question types are like?

Reply 2

--Student

Write it all in the past tense.

Reply 3

OP

Original post by TheHistoryNerd_

Is this for GCSE's? I didn't study theses topics at GCSE history but I'll try my very best to help you out (even though it looks like we were on different exam boards as well?) Firstly, don't compare yourself to others, if you practise you'll get better - a grade 9 is above the old A* !! So while it's a brilliant grades realistically not everyone in the country will get it!! Personally I was better at history essays than English it essays. Would you mind giving me some examples of the styles of questions you'd get on your exam board (e.g for AQA, our 4 mark question would always be: Source A shows something...How do you know it supports something.) I'll try my very best to help you out of you can tell me what your question types are like?

yeah it is for gcse, my exam board is Edexcel and one mock question we got was "How important was the contribution of Gustav Stresemann to the recovery of the Weimar Republic" but apparently we have to talk about other things too? It's for paper 2 and it's worth 40 marks (like basically just writing an essay) but apparently getting 20 out of 40 is already quite good so that's probably what I'm aiming towards. Thanks so much though

Reply 4

OP

Original post by --Student

Write it all in the past tense.

That's very funny and all but I actually know some people who would benefit from that

Reply 5

Original post by j5n

yeah it is for gcse, my exam board is Edexcel and one mock question we got was "How important was the contribution of Gustav Stresemann to the recovery of the Weimar Republic" but apparently we have to talk about other things too? It's for paper 2 and it's worth 40 marks (like basically just writing an essay) but apparently getting 20 out of 40 is already quite good so that's probably what I'm aiming towards. Thanks so much though

Hello there, can't say I had any such thing as a 40 marker, that's seems huge to me! On AQA the largest question is a 16 mark one with 4 marks for SPaG. I did have question similar in wording to this one though so I'll try and give you some advice. So, in this case important means SIGNIFICANT. Feel free to ask me to explain it in different terms if you have no clue what I'm on about but I'll do it as if it's a WW1 question (kind of general history which I think everyone kind of knows?). So let me change the question to 'How important was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in causing WW1." If this was the question, firstly I'd start with the topic in the question, so I'd do a paragraph on Franz Ferdinands importance (remember it's really SIGNIFICANCE!!). I'd strongly suggest opening with a VERY clear statement e.g: I believe the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the most/ the least important cause of WW1. Then use PEE (Point, Evidence, Explain) to structure your paragraph. Remeber to use this meant that and this led to A LOT. In AQA you can only get to the top band by clearly showing the SIGNIFICANCE of an event (so an event is more significant if it led to another event e.g: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand led to the July Crisis). Then you want to do a second paragraph on A DIFFERENT factor e.g: I'd do one now on the Moroccan Crises to argue that World War 1 was inevitably going to happen as tensions had been rising for a while and Franz Ferdinand was simply the spark. If you disagree with the factor in the question then your second paragraph should be on what you think the main factor was. Again use PEE and for the top band, if possible, relate this factor to the factor in the question (I would relate these 2 events by arguing that tensions had been rising for a while and therefore the assassination was not the sole cause of WW1). Also rember the this led to and this meant that!! Then I'd do a few more paragraphs on different factors and finish off with a conclusion which summarises all my thoughts. A key tip is to weave your opinion throughout your answer, for example, at the start of a paragraph I might say: "Although I firmly believe that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the main reason for the start of WW1, the formation of the alliances did also contribute to the outbreak of war". Then I'd continue with a paragraph on the alliances. Hope this helped? This is how I'd answer a 16 marker on AQA so hopefully it's similar to what Edexcel is looking for from you? Feel free to just ask if you have any more questions! :smile:

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 6

OP

Original post by TheHistoryNerd_

Hello there, Can't say I had any such thing as a 40 marker, that's seems huge to me! On AQA the largest question is a 16 mark one SPaG. I did have question similar in wording to this one though so I'll try and give you some advice. So, in this case important means SIGNIFICANT. Feel free to ask me to explain it in different terms if you have no clue what I'm on about but I'll do it as if it's a WW1 question (kind of general history which I think everyone kind of knows?)

Ahhh I get it so it's like asking you how significance his input was and you have to like compare that to the input of others and like talk about the impacts and the results, ok I get it but would appreciate if person who made the exam could just write "significant" instead of important cuz that's a rather broad term :frown:

Reply 7

Original post by j5n

Ahhh I get it so it's like asking you how significance his input was and you have to like compare that to the input of others and like talk about the impacts and the results, ok I get it but would appreciate if person who made the exam could just write "significant" instead of important cuz that's a rather broad term :frown:

Sorry I published my answer without finishing it haha! if you read it again I've finished it off in more detail! Also, I know right, it's so annoying that the examiners don't put significance in the question! They're just trying to catch people out I guess. Forgot to put this in my answer but you'll need to use the word important instead of significant in your answer, as it's always important to use the wording of the question in your answer. With AQA, in the GCSE exams, every year, they slightly change the wording of the question to catch people out - didn't sit my gcses but that must have been really annoying!

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 8

aashan21

Original post by j5n

I have an exam in less than a week and I can't write a 40 marker to save my life, nor can I write a 4, 6, 10. I am more used to writing English lit essays and my History teacher always gets so angry when I structure a Weimar Germany essay in the same way I structure a comparative poetry essay, someone send help this man is going to kill me none of his students have ever gotten under a 9/A* in GCSE's for five years running next year I'm going to be that exception

Look at past mark schemes and look at how the example points are structured, or try find some grade 9 essays online.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by TheHistoryNerd_

Sorry I published my answer without finishing it haha! if you read it again I've finished it off in more detail! Also, I know right, it's so annoying that the examiners don't put significance in the question! They're just trying to catch people out I guess. Forgot to put this in my answer but you'll need to use the word important instead of significant in your answer, as it's always important to use the wording of the question in your answer. With AQA, in the GCSE exams, every year, they slightly change the wording of the question to catch people out - didn't sit my gcses but that must have been really annoying!

Thank you so much your answer genuinely helped me a lot!

Reply 10

username3083136

12

Original post by j5n

I have an exam in less than a week and I can't write a 40 marker to save my life, nor can I write a 4, 6, 10. I am more used to writing English lit essays and my History teacher always gets so angry when I structure a Weimar Germany essay in the same way I structure a comparative poetry essay, someone send help this man is going to kill me none of his students have ever gotten under a 9/A* in GCSE's for five years running next year I'm going to be that exception

I was panicking so much, my teacher thought I was going to get a 3, I got an 8, a few marks off a 9 actually, honestly half my paper was blank, so I don't know what happened, but if that helps, or gives you any reassurance, then yeah. Otherwise, I'd honestly remain calm, and write everything I remember.

Reply 11

Original post by j5n

Thank you so much your answer genuinely helped me a lot!

No worries, best of luck with your exams next year, I'm sure you'll smash them! :smile:

Reply 12

TSR Monster

11

In order to write about past events, one must write in past tense. Just start with something like "In the year". Hope this helps, good luck!

Reply 13

OP