what makes a band 6 modern history essay? (1 Viewer)

[pinkhippo99]

what do you need to include for an A range response (21-25)

btw my topic is russia and the soviet union

 

[cheesynooby]

the marking rubric on the hsc basically says what u need:
1 - "addresses the question", "sophisticated and sustained argument", "comprehensive understanding of the issue(s) raised in the question"
so just atq all throughout your essay (make sure everything is relevant to ur argument and show it with links) and make sure the argument is at least somewhat sensible to show comprehensive understanding (don't say Stalin didn't have power or wasn't significant)

2 - "extensive and accurate historical knowledge", "relevant evidence and interpretation"
so back up every claim, every explanation with stats, quotes, examples etc.
the majority of the body paragraphs should be evidence - don't waste time "narrating" the events or simply stating it did something if u don't have evidence to support it. u do also need a substantial amount of evidence to be deemed as "extensive historical knowledge"

3 - "well structured, logical and cohesive"
basically just have good grammar and make sure it makes sense
+ don't go like "Stalin was pretty skibidi, fanum taxing all the non-@Socialism ppl with the sigma nkvd" (pretty extreme example but u get what i mean)

if u have all that it should be an A band

 

[pinkhippo99]

the marking rubric on the hsc basically says what u need:
1 - "addresses the question", "sophisticated and sustained argument", "comprehensive understanding of the issue(s) raised in the question"
so just atq all throughout your essay (make sure everything is relevant to ur argument and show it with links) and make sure the argument is at least somewhat sensible to show comprehensive understanding (don't say Stalin didn't have power or wasn't significant)

2 - "extensive and accurate historical knowledge", "relevant evidence and interpretation"
so back up every claim, every explanation with stats, quotes, examples etc.
the majority of the body paragraphs should be evidence - don't waste time "narrating" the events or simply stating it did something if u don't have evidence to support it. u do also need a substantial amount of evidence to be deemed as "extensive historical knowledge"

3 - "well structured, logical and cohesive"
basically just have good grammar and make sure it makes sense
+ don't go like "Stalin was pretty skibidi, fanum taxing all the non-@Socialism ppl with the sigma nkvd" (pretty extreme example but u get what i mean)

if u have all that it should be an A band

should i be arguing both sides for my arguments to show depth or is that unnecessary ?

 

[cheesynooby]

should i be arguing both sides for my arguments to show depth or is that unnecessary ?

depends on the question, but generally it's better to argue something that u have evidence for rather than try to force an argument that u cannot explain adequately.
i don't do Russia as my national study so this might not be very accurate but:
if there's a question like "how significant was Stalin to society" it would probably be pretty hard to argue that Stalin wasn't significant, and arguing a straightforward 'yes he was significant' can still give full marks.
but if you think you can argue both sides, e.g. a paragraph on the changes to society brought by the economic/political conditions rather than Stalin, then yes that would generally be better (but not by too much so don't worry too much about it)

 

[enoilgam]

should i be arguing both sides for my arguments to show depth or is that unnecessary ?

Been ages since Ive answered one of these, but an essay by default should have a single position/argument. What top tier essays do is give an overview of arguments counter to the one being argued and then disprove them. For example, "Some people claim X event wasnt significant to Y for these reasons. However, this argument fails to consider...".

 

[Socialism]

i don't do Russia as my national study

just out of interest, what do you do?

 

[cheesynooby]

just out of interest, what do you do?

USA!
hbu
edit: oh wait ur not in yr 12 lol

 

[hscccc]

DO NOT CONTENT DUMP!! so many ppl get into the exam, freak out, see the question, and DUMP everything they know on the topic/question instead of forming an argument.

Make your argument first, and then select evidence that backs this up. Consistently argue that the whole way through, always come back to your thesis/argument, WHY is this significant, what does this evidence show? Keep your argument really solidly in the front of your mind while writing.

Read the question carefully - pay close attention to the verb, what is the question asking you to do?

Make essay plans for conflict/national study with content aimed towards specific topics/questions/past questions, it saved me revising in the HSC. You also have a preset plan and content that helps you to avoid dumping everything in your brain.

I did Russia/soviet union if you have any specific questions. it's hard to say what you should have in it without seeing a specific question

 

[pinkhippo99]

DO NOT CONTENT DUMP!! so many ppl get into the exam, freak out, see the question, and DUMP everything they know on the topic/question instead of forming an argument.

Make your argument first, and then select evidence that backs this up. Consistently argue that the whole way through, always come back to your thesis/argument, WHY is this significant, what does this evidence show? Keep your argument really solidly in the front of your mind while writing.

Read the question carefully - pay close attention to the verb, what is the question asking you to do?

Make essay plans for conflict/national study with content aimed towards specific topics/questions/past questions, it saved me revising in the HSC. You also have a preset plan and content that helps you to avoid dumping everything in your brain.

I did Russia/soviet union if you have any specific questions. it's hard to say what you should have in it without seeing a specific question

my exam is an unseen question and my teacher mentioned choosing a dot-point that hasn't been assessed in the hsc. also do you have any tips for preparing for unseen questions because my plan was to draft a couple essays that are most likely in the exam like political transformation and USSR under Stalin and essay plans for the other syllabus dot points.

 

[Socialism]

USA!
hbu

its russia for the current year 12s and i think ive heard we do that too

 

[cheesynooby]

my exam is an unseen question and my teacher mentioned choosing a dot-point that hasn't been assessed in the hsc. also do you have any tips for preparing for unseen questions because my plan was to draft a couple essays that are most likely in the exam like political transformation and USSR under Stalin and essay plans for the other syllabus dot points.

a strat that i do is typing 'dot point essays' as its just way faster but is more of a 'coming up with ideas on how to tackle a question' than practicing writing essays.
if u had a few of these or normal draft essays that cover the syllabus dot points u should be set, as usually ur just able to take selected body paragraphs from ur prepared essays and mush them to answer the unseen question (although u will likely have to change the wording and explanation

e.g. a pre-prepared body paragraph on how hitler was successful at consolidating power - could be transformed to one on how hitler's consolidation of power showed the weakness of the Weimar republic (with the same evidence but different explanations), if the unseen question was 'evaluate the success of the Weimar republic'

 

[hscccc]

my exam is an unseen question and my teacher mentioned choosing a dot-point that hasn't been assessed in the hsc. also do you have any tips for preparing for unseen questions because my plan was to draft a couple essays that are most likely in the exam like political transformation and USSR under Stalin and essay plans for the other syllabus dot points.

I did something really similar to what's already been said, basically dot point essay plans. I'd dot point a thesis, points, and then historical evidence for each para. I'd often use that to write an actual practice essay and hand it to my teacher to mark. Once I'd written a practice essay, I pretty much remembered the paragraphs.

If you have time, I'd start making all the plans for Russia right now, and then you'll be prepared for trials. If not, focus on the ones you think are likely to be assessed in this upcoming assessment, and go through past HSC questions to figure out what hasn't been assessed. Just go through the syllabus and make a plan for each dot point/section. Write some practice essays; the more practice you do, the better.

Political/Economic/Social is great to have plans for there's a lot of overlap in this section This falls into the same section as USSR under Stalin - so you're well covered for that part of the syllabus.