My question/mark structure is different to yours but I think I can help.
An examiner for Edexcel History came in to our school and gave us some really useful tips for the exam.
He's been marking papers for over 12 years and basically told us the difference between a C/B grade student or an A/A* student.Here's some of the things he said:
1.) When answering questions that are sources, never state that it is completely or not at all useful/reliable. Avoid using 'partly' or 'fairly' Try to use 'largely' or 'a little'. You want to impress the examiner by making a decision.
2.) For A*, be sure to use an 'overall' paragraph to sum everything up
3.) When answering 'explain why' questions, it's fine to use the same sentence starter for each paragraph. He said that students tend to waste time thinking of fancy ways to rephrase sentences (you don't get extra brownie points for this).
4.) When mentioning your own knowledge or own information for a question, never use : 'From my own knowledge I know that ...' Just try to infer what you know by saying 'This could suggest' etc instead.
5.) When analysing sources, he said that students always make the same mistake of saying that eyewitnesses are better than later accounts. This is not always the case because ..
Eyewitnesses = can lie
Later accounts = Have the advantage of finding more info about a particular event
So don't make the mistake of saying eyewitnesses are more reliable basically.
6.) Use the correct order - chronology is key E.G.
-Cause, What happened and then the result
-A reason, this led to.., as a result ... , Overall..