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CCEA History: How do you write a 12 mark answer?

Hi, Im going for top marks in the 7th June CCEA GCSE Paper 1 History exam and I want a clear view of how to write 12 mark answers. My teacher hasn't a clue what hes doing and I don't feel safe taking his advice on 12 mark questions. Once I handed him in an essay, and recieved a C; I told him I'd redo it and that I would hand it in to him a week later. Unfortunately I didnt have time to do so, so I handed him the exact same essay that I got a C in... and I got full marks/A* He's so inconsistent and I really have no faith in any of my school teachers. Can anybody give me any advice whatsoever? Do you have to adhere to the bullet points only, should you write a lot about a little or go into brief detail on a lot of points? How long should It normally be? What should I be doing to differentiate a 12 mark A* essay to a 12 Mark C essay? Any help appreciated, thanks for taking the time to read :smile:

Reply 1

James Old

Hi
I'm doing the same. My teacher just told us to answer all the questions in bullet points. We're quite lucky because all the questions are basically factual recall of knowledge, and the CCEA specification is said to be much easier than AQA, OCR or Edexcel. Just do 12 bullet points of facts and some effects etc, and the question always says include other relevant knowledge, so you don't have to just adhere to the bullet points. You can even do more than 12 bullet points, making more than 12 points if you want and if you feel better, as you have no limit. The only limit is on the "a)" questions as you must only make two points. Anyway, if you finish the exam before the 2hrs are up which you probably will, we were told to just keep adding bullet points to answers with whatever we could think of, because, there's a possibility that you'll get more marks. Even if you don't know what to say, just make something up. Better have a stab in the dark, and gain two marks, than just sit around, because that could be the difference between an A* and an A.
Good luck anyway. Hope this helps.

Reply 2

Mulechild

That has helped unbelievably! Thanks! This may turn out to be just a stupid rumor, but apparently there was leak in the CCEA History that the 12 mark question on Nazi Germany is going to be about the Social policies (women, children education and the jews). Normally I'd just wave it away but all of my teachers are taking it seriously. They're giving out sample answers and everything. Maybe thats where the last minute revision should go :wink:

Reply 3

TheGoodNamesArgon

I'm doing the same exam tomorrow, basically, if there's twelve marks try and make twelve points or at least six fully developed ones. And make sure they're relevant to the question if you're using your own knowledge.

Reply 4

ShadowCat29

If there's a specific number next to a question, it generally just means it wants that many points/reasons/sentences. For example, if you had to answer a 12 mark question, you have to go in-depth and make 12 valid and clear points relevant to the question. My old teacher told me to limit my sentences to one per mark and not include anything blatantly obvious to the examiner.

Reply 5

KatiePhilips1996

Would someone please help me!! My teacher hasn't taught my class exam technique and I have no clue how to tackle or structure a 13 mark essay for ccea history. I am studying option 5

Reply 6

Mulechild

Is this for AS? And the 13 mark is the source question?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 7

KatiePhilips1996

yeah AS and it is a source question

Reply 8

KatiePhilips1996

Original post by Mulechild

Is this for AS? And the 13 mark is the source question?

Posted from TSR Mobile

yeah could you give me an idea on the structuring?

Reply 9

Mulechild

Okay, well i'm no expert at this kind of question but this is they way i'll be doing it

Introduction - state what the source is and then go on to say how useful it is (never say that is "useless". No matter how weak a source is it is always useful to some degree)

Author - who is the author and how does this affect the usefulness
Date- what is the date and how does this affect the usefulness
Audience - who is the audience and how does this affect the usefulness
etc etc etc you get the point

Keep doing this about Author, Date, Audience, Purpose, Tone and Limitations. Limitattions are the most important part and this is where you should say why the source isnt useful - what does it leave out to the historian?

Basically you have to examine the reliability in these questions. Obviously an unreliable source isnt useful to a historian. So for example, you could say about the date - "This source was written from memory over 30 years after the event. This means that the memory of the author could have become distorted over time and suggest unreliability. As the reliability is doubted, this is harldy useful for a historian.

Hope this helps. And to finish off, you conclude by saying how useful it is and explaining why you think so.

If you can, check this forum and help me out for the sources part fo the 35 mark questions please! Thanks!
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2650120&p=47203926

Reply 10

Mulechild