Thank you!
Just one more question - when writing essays, is it better to be writing three paragraphs or four?
Write as many paragraphs as you have points/judgements.
Throughout Modern History I fluctuated between 3 paragraphs and 6 paragraphs (obviously the size of these paragraphs also fluctuated). In the
actual HSC exam, for the Cold War essay I only wrote two paragraphs (wasn't the plan, but I didn't give myself enough time after the personality study, so I had try and integrate some of the detail of what would have been my third para within my other two instead of having it separate)! The amount of paragraphs you write is also going to be dependant upon what type of essay you write - thematic, factor or syllabus (the last two being very similar).
For example for a Bolshevik Consolidation of power essay, which I always wrote by the syllabus, I would always have 4.5 paragraphs (I'm saying .5 because my third paragraph was kind of split into two mini paragraphs when I touched on the Civil War and War Communism - related but still different.) However for a Stalinism essay (or literally any Cold War essay I wrote),which I always structured thematically, I'd usually only have three paragraphs - Political, Socio-cultural and Economic.
So yeah, don't think about how many paragraphs as if there is a quota. Think about it more in terms of a) how many points you want to make, and b) how much can you actually write within a 45 min period
Hope this helps!
Susie