The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Reply 2


hmm how might i obtain one?
Reply 3
Arrive in Cambridge :wink:
Reply 4
Mop
Arrive in Cambridge :wink:


lol oh well that is my burning curiosity put paid to until i arrive in Tabland in a week or so...not that i deserve to be there in the first place hehe.
Reply 5
I did Papers 18 and 9 (post-1890 European and 1450-1750 British socio-economic). I covered

Fin-de-siecle culture
Wilhelmine Germany and the German Revolution
WW1 and its origins
Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler
Italy and Fascism
Nazism and the Third Reich
Spanish Civil War
Antisemitism

Paper 18 is split into part A, which is cultural or economic, and part B, which is the interesting stuff. You have to answer 3 questions in total, and at least one from each part.

Paper 9 was really interesting in parts, and rather dull in others. I covered

The social order
London
Agriculture and Agrarian Society (yep, that's the dull bit)
Population history
Poverty and Poor Relief
Popular Religion
Literacy and Education

I only did 7 topics as I did this paper in Easter Term of my first year and Easter is only a 7 week term.

Topics vary depending on your interests and your supervisors interests. Can you access any of the reading lists or exam papers on www.hist.cam.ac.uk? If not, you'll be able to once you come up. Not long now!
Reply 6
Ticki
I did Papers 18 and 9 (post-1890 European and 1450-1750 British socio-economic). I covered

Fin-de-siecle culture
Wilhelmine Germany and the German Revolution
WW1 and its origins
Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler
Italy and Fascism
Nazism and the Third Reich
Spanish Civil War
Antisemitism

Paper 18 is split into part A, which is cultural or economic, and part B, which is the interesting stuff. You have to answer 3 questions in total, and at least one from each part.

Paper 9 was really interesting in parts, and rather dull in others. I covered

The social order
London
Agriculture and Agrarian Society (yep, that's the dull bit)
Population history
Poverty and Poor Relief
Popular Religion
Literacy and Education

I only did 7 topics as I did this paper in Easter Term of my first year and Easter is only a 7 week term.

Topics vary depending on your interests and your supervisors interests. Can you access any of the reading lists or exam papers on www.hist.cam.ac.uk? If not, you'll be able to once you come up. Not long now!


Wow the topics you covered in your first column seem damn interesting...how did you find the spanish civil war out of interest (it is something in which I am interested, as I did spanish A level). If you don't mind my asking, what A level subjects did you do? (I ask because I was wondering if you did a language and are thinking of doing one of the language papers, or maybe economics and that 'history by numbers' thingy?) Cheers. Did you find paper 9 dull in general or stimulating but with boring parts? Thanks again.
Reply 7
Niccolo
Wow the topics you covered in your first column seem damn interesting...how did you find the spanish civil war out of interest (it is something in which I am interested, as I did spanish A level). If you don't mind my asking, what A level subjects did you do? (I ask because I was wondering if you did a language and are thinking of doing one of the language papers, or maybe economics and that 'history by numbers' thingy?) Cheers. Did you find paper 9 dull in general or stimulating but with boring parts? Thanks again.

9 and 18 were actually my favourite papers, along with 4. I didn't enjoy 5 or 16 as much. Paper 9 includes some very dull lectures on agriculture, but the agricultural revolution is fairly easy to get to grips with. It was actually the most straight-forward paper I took, in that none of the theories were very difficult and the books I read were well-written. Social order, popular history and literacy were my favourite topics, but population and London were interesting too. I don't think I really clicked with povery and poor relief, but the only one I really objected to was agriculture, even though it was really easy. The main problem is probably the lecturers - when it came to reading and writing the essays I did enjoy the paper.

The Spanish Civil War was a real nightmare for the weekly essay (it's an immense and fascinating subject so I read too much and wasn't concise enough), but I had an excellent revision supervision on it and really really loved revising it. When it came up in my exam I actually had to supress a squeal of joy. The typical question is usually a slant on "Why did civil war break out in Spain in 1939?" My revision question was "Why had democracy failed in Spain by 1939?", but you might get something like "Why did the Republic fail to win the civil war?". Don't be fooled by the A-level like questions: the answers are expected to be very detailed and analytical. So, for instance, you could take my revision question and argue that democracy had actually failed by 1936.

I did History, Politics and English Literature for A2 and an AS in German. Besides the German translation paper I sat in my first year, I've not used my language skills at all. Spanish will help you if you want to do a dissertation on a Spanish topic, but I think the only specific foreign language paper the faculty offers is a Part 2 paper in French. Of course, it's always useful for the primary sources. I'm probably going to do a dissertation on a modern political subject, take the paper on early modern patriarchy in England for my special subject, and then take the paper on post-1945 politics in England. Very different to my Part 1 papers, but there you go! I always did Modern History at school and that's really what I love best, so now that I've tried my hand at Victorian and Early Modern History I'm going to return to it for Part 2.
Reply 8
Ticki
9 and 18 were actually my favourite papers, along with 4. I didn't enjoy 5 or 16 as much. Paper 9 includes some very dull lectures on agriculture, but the agricultural revolution is fairly easy to get to grips with. It was actually the most straight-forward paper I took, in that none of the theories were very difficult and the books I read were well-written. Social order, popular history and literacy were my favourite topics, but population and London were interesting too. I don't think I really clicked with povery and poor relief, but the only one I really objected to was agriculture, even though it was really easy. The main problem is probably the lecturers - when it came to reading and writing the essays I did enjoy the paper.

The Spanish Civil War was a real nightmare for the weekly essay (it's an immense and fascinating subject so I read too much and wasn't concise enough), but I had an excellent revision supervision on it and really really loved revising it. When it came up in my exam I actually had to supress a squeal of joy. The typical question is usually a slant on "Why did civil war break out in Spain in 1939?" My revision question was "Why had democracy failed in Spain by 1939?", but you might get something like "Why did the Republic fail to win the civil war?". Don't be fooled by the A-level like questions: the answers are expected to be very detailed and analytical. So, for instance, you could take my revision question and argue that democracy had actually failed by 1936.

I did History, Politics and English Literature for A2 and an AS in German. Besides the German translation paper I sat in my first year, I've not used my language skills at all. Spanish will help you if you want to do a dissertation on a Spanish topic, but I think the only specific foreign language paper the faculty offers is a Part 2 paper in French. Of course, it's always useful for the primary sources. I'm probably going to do a dissertation on a modern political subject, take the paper on early modern patriarchy in England for my special subject, and then take the paper on post-1945 politics in England. Very different to my Part 1 papers, but there you go! I always did Modern History at school and that's really what I love best, so now that I've tried my hand at Victorian and Early Modern History I'm going to return to it for Part 2.



Nice one, thanks for that, rep coming tomorrow when I can actualy do it. Thats pretty much covered all I wanted to know. One last thing-when you revise a series of topics, say on post 1870 Europe, what are the chances that it won't come up at all (on the exam), and how much time are you likely to waste doing topics? Not trying to sound like a prick, I know that obviously everything you do cant possibly come up, I was just wondering. Thanks.
Reply 9
Niccolo
Nice one, thanks for that, rep coming tomorrow when I can actualy do it. Thats pretty much covered all I wanted to know. One last thing-when you revise a series of topics, say on post 1870 Europe, what are the chances that it won't come up at all (on the exam), and how much time are you likely to waste doing topics? Not trying to sound like a prick, I know that obviously everything you do cant possibly come up, I was just wondering. Thanks.

No it's fine! Well, there are loads of questions on an exam paper - something like 20-25, so you should be able to answer 3. Of the 8 topics you should revise 4-5 very well, 2 well and 1 or 2 less well, which usually sees people through. The exam papers are written after consultation with supervisors and lecturers - generally anything lectured on is fair game. Some supervisors teach random topics so you have to be wary - consult the faculty reading list to ensure you're covering enough of the core texts. Even if a topic doesn't come up in the exam, it's generally useful to get an overall picture of the paper. Does that answer your question?
Reply 10
Ticki
No it's fine! Well, there are loads of questions on an exam paper - something like 20-25, so you should be able to answer 3. Of the 8 topics you should revise 4-5 very well, 2 well and 1 or 2 less well, which usually sees people through. The exam papers are written after consultation with supervisors and lecturers - generally anything lectured on is fair game. Some supervisors teach random topics so you have to be wary - consult the faculty reading list to ensure you're covering enough of the core texts. Even if a topic doesn't come up in the exam, it's generally useful to get an overall picture of the paper. Does that answer your question?


Yep, certainly does, thank you for all this. I really appreciate it.
Reply 11
*sigh* I wish I had applied for history...I got 95% *sigh* it sounds so much fun... :bawling:
lol...
Reply 12
minimo
*sigh* I wish I had applied for history...I got 95% *sigh* it sounds so much fun... :bawling:
lol...


What did you apply for instead?

EDIT: oh, economics lol. Sorry, didnt read your profile. 95%, wow. I got 562/600, whatever percentage that is, I am too lazy to work it out and i don't have a calculator handy.
Reply 13
Niccolo
Yep, certainly does, thank you for all this. I really appreciate it.

No problem! It's great to see someone else who appreciates the wonders of 9 and 18. If you want to do reading before you come up or to start you off on any particular topic, I recommend the Seminar Studies guides. They're great introductions (and Amazon sell them second hand for as little as 1p!).