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Planning an A2 Edexcel Unit 3 Essay

I've got my exam on the 3rd of June and i am doing Option E - the Cold War.

I've never really planned essays ever because I've always thought it wastes time. My teacher believes I will do a lot better if I plan.

Can people please show me how they plan their essays? When I try to plan I tend to spend a long time bullet pointing loads of facts and linking them together. Please show me a good method of planning which is very short (takes around 5 minutes)

Would be great if you could write a plan for the question below .

To what extent was the nuclear arms race a stabilising factor in the Cold War between 1949 and 1963?
Reply 1
im learning the entire content but i want to prioritise more likely topics that could possibly come up. could anyone suggest what can most likely come up???
Reply 2
Original post by samueel
im learning the entire content but i want to prioritise more likely topics that could possibly come up. could anyone suggest what can most likely come up???


A Sino-Soviet question is likely to come up, as it hasn't come up for 2 years now. Post-Stalin came up last year so it's unlikely it will come up again unless Edexcel are sneaky..
Reply 3
Bump anyone can help?
Reply 4
Original post by rokknroll3r
I've got my exam on the 3rd of June and i am doing Option E - the Cold War.

I've never really planned essays ever because I've always thought it wastes time. My teacher believes I will do a lot better if I plan.

Can people please show me how they plan their essays? When I try to plan I tend to spend a long time bullet pointing loads of facts and linking them together. Please show me a good method of planning which is very short (takes around 5 minutes)

Would be great if you could write a plan for the question below .

To what extent was the nuclear arms race a stabilising factor in the Cold War between 1949 and 1963?


I do Kaiser to Fuhrer but i can try and give you some advice.

Do you agree with the factor in the question? And to what extent?

What other factors contribute to the question? List them out and use 'trigger words' in your plan that can be expanded into a point in your answer.

Is one factor is more important than the other? - If so, what ones.

Then you have your line of argument. I don't know if it's much help but yeaaah.
Reply 5
Original post by Sannn
A Sino-Soviet question is likely to come up, as it hasn't come up for 2 years now. Post-Stalin came up last year so it's unlikely it will come up again unless Edexcel are sneaky..

whats sino-soviet??
Reply 6
Original post by Indyy
I do Kaiser to Fuhrer but i can try and give you some advice.

Do you agree with the factor in the question? And to what extent?

What other factors contribute to the question? List them out and use 'trigger words' in your plan that can be expanded into a point in your answer.

Is one factor is more important than the other? - If so, what ones.

Then you have your line of argument. I don't know if it's much help but yeaaah.


Yeah that's very helpful. Thanks. I know you do a different topic but could you write a plan for a question so I can have a look. Thanks again
Reply 7
Original post by samueel
whats sino-soviet??


Are you serious? It's the unit on Chinese-Soviet relations
Reply 8
Original post by rokknroll3r
Yeah that's very helpful. Thanks. I know you do a different topic but could you write a plan for a question so I can have a look. Thanks again


Was an aggressive German Foreign Policy the main reason for the outbreak of war in 1914?

- Foreign Policy. - Reassurance Treaty not renewed, place in the sun, Kruger, Blank Cheque, Miscalculation, Weltpolitik/Flottenpolitk --- Link into fear of encirclement. ----------- 2
- Fear of Encirclement (A defensive war). - Schliffen plan (plan war on two fronts), Moroccon crisis (1,2), -- Link into foreign policy. ----------- 1
- Actions of other powers. - Serbia, Austria/Hungary, Russia, Britain, France. Issue of Balkans. Bosnia Herzegovina, Balkans war. ----------- 3
- Actions of the Military - Reassurance Treaty not renewed, Willhelm, Flottenpolitik, Schliffen, Weltpolitik ----------- 4
- Primat Der Innenpolitk - Solve domestic issues, protect elites. ----------- 5

-Historians: Edrmat, Schulgen, Fischer.

^ Those are the factors and trigger words next to them. Also, i think it will be easier to number them 1-(how many factors you can mention) so you can state which is the most important, and produce your line of argument.

I hope that helps.
Reply 9
Original post by Indyy
Was an aggressive German Foreign Policy the main reason for the outbreak of war in 1914?

- Foreign Policy. - Reassurance Treaty not renewed, place in the sun, Kruger, Blank Cheque, Miscalculation, Weltpolitik/Flottenpolitk --- Link into fear of encirclement. ----------- 2
- Fear of Encirclement (A defensive war). - Schliffen plan (plan war on two fronts), Moroccon crisis (1,2), -- Link into foreign policy. ----------- 1
- Actions of other powers. - Serbia, Austria/Hungary, Russia, Britain, France. Issue of Balkans. Bosnia Herzegovina, Balkans war. ----------- 3
- Actions of the Military - Reassurance Treaty not renewed, Willhelm, Flottenpolitik, Schliffen, Weltpolitik ----------- 4
- Primat Der Innenpolitk - Solve domestic issues, protect elites. ----------- 5

-Historians: Edrmat, Schulgen, Fischer.

^ Those are the factors and trigger words next to them. Also, i think it will be easier to number them 1-(how many factors you can mention) so you can state which is the most important, and produce your line of argument.

I hope that helps.


Thanks that's great. It really helped. Are you required to know/use historian views for your option?
Reply 10
Original post by rokknroll3r
Thanks that's great. It really helped. Are you required to know/use historian views for your option?


For section B for the first controversy, we have to know historians viewpoints about the outbreak of war.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 11
Original post by Indyy
For section B for the first controversy, we have to know historians viewpoints about the outbreak of war.


Posted from TSR Mobile


I'm scared now. Don't know if that's the same for option E. I'm guessing it is but I didn't know we had to remember names. I thought it was just the different arguments and their advantages and limitations. Was the plan for section A or B then?
Reply 12
Original post by rokknroll3r
I'm scared now. Don't know if that's the same for option E. I'm guessing it is but I didn't know we had to remember names. I thought it was just the different arguments and their advantages and limitations. Was the plan for section A or B then?


But for the other controversy in my unit, you don't need to know historians. That one was for section B but it's exactly the same for section A minus the historians bit.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 13
Original post by rokknroll3r
I've got my exam on the 3rd of June and i am doing Option E - the Cold War.

I've never really planned essays ever because I've always thought it wastes time. My teacher believes I will do a lot better if I plan.

Can people please show me how they plan their essays? When I try to plan I tend to spend a long time bullet pointing loads of facts and linking them together. Please show me a good method of planning which is very short (takes around 5 minutes)

Would be great if you could write a plan for the question below .

To what extent was the nuclear arms race a stabilising factor in the Cold War between 1949 and 1963?


I think thats basically saying whether the nuclear arms race made the cold war balanced or imbalanced.

So for the Yes side you would have things like :
In terms of weapons parity is quickly established i.e Hbomb created in 1952 for US and 53 for SU.
The thaw and peaceful coexistance occurred showing growing relations which would led to more stabalised relations.
Missile gap never existed, MAD was reached after SLBMs and Deterrance was used as a defining diplomacy. Flexible response etc.
Also the confrontations which was made safe due to the nuclear weapsons i.e Cuban missile crisis and check point charlie.

For the no side:
The Danger in relations like PAM , the sheer destructiveness of the bombs like H-bomb being 1000x more destructive than the A-bomb.
Potemkinism policy was established, exaggerating the amount of arms the SU had basically trying to one-up the US.
Sputnik which brought the fear of the missile gap back via the Gaither report and overall escalating the arms race development more.
The confrontations such as again the cuban missile crisis which only existed because of nuclear weapons.

Its not really phrased well but hope that helps :smile:

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