Past question bank & essay planning

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For the 25 mark sections I find it hard to try and plan essays from the syllabus dot points, because there's a plethora of questions that could be asked for each point. For trials I got something I definitely hadn't planned for because it's not really an explicit dot point. Fortunately I think I answered it OK.

Anyway, I thought we could share past questions, both for making essay plans and in general readiness for what could be asked. I'm mostly focusing on National Studies and Studies in Peace/Conflict here because there's more content. If you'd like to share questions from other topics that'd be awesome too.

I'm also down to discuss essay plans here if that's something you'd be interested in.

I'm doing Russia/Indochina but feel free to share questions from other options as other students will find them useful. It's probably better if you don't mention where they came from down to a specific paper/year. This ensures that past papers aren't too predictable..

Here's a few that I've come across in trials/HSC/Ken Webb textbooks. Unfortunately I don't have too many yet, and for some reason they're mostly assess/to what extent questions. Maybe they're the most common.

Russia and the Soviet Union:

• Assess the importance of Lenin in the Bolshevik consolidation of power.
• Assess the importance of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in the Bolshevik consolidation of power.
• Assess the importance of The New Economic Policy in the Bolshevik consolidation of power.
• Assess the importance of War Communism in the Bolshevik consolidation of power.
• Account for the Bolshevik victory in the Civil War
• To what extent did the Bolsheviks sacrifice ideology for power?
• Assess the importance of ideology on the early policies of the Bolshevik regime.
• "What was striking in the General Secretary was that there was nothing striking about him." Assess the importance of personality in Stalin's successful pursuit of power after the death of Lenin.
• To what extent does Stalin's domination of the party structure account for his ultimate success in the post-Lenin struggle for power?
• Assess the impact of Stalinism on Soviet society in the period to 1941.
• Analyse the purpose and impact of the introduction of collectivisation and industrialisation.
• To what extent was Stalin's control of the Soviet state the result of the use of terror?
• Assess the view that Soviet foreign policy in the period 1917-1941 was determined by the changing ideological debate inside the Soviet Union.

Indochina:

• Assess the consequences of Vietnamese victory over the French.
• To what extent was nationalism responsible for the communist victory in Vietnam by 1973?
• To what extent can it be argued that by the 1960s, Diem's rule of South Vietnam had been successful?
• Assess the importance of the containment of communism in determining United States policy towards Vietnam in the period to 1965.
• To what extent was communism responsible for President Johnson's eagerness to escalate the American commitment to Vietnam in 1964-1965?
• Assess the significance of the Tet Offensive on the outcome of the Vietnam War.
• To what extent was the United States defeat in the second Indochina war the result of inappropriate strategies and tactics?
• Assess the impact on Cambodia of the Khmer Rouge's attempt to implement its aims.

[sudodds]

what a fantastic idea!! Always super important to expose yourself to as many questions and question types as possible, especially because after a while, you'll probably start to see some patterns in how to answer them! I know I did Great work, thanks so much for sharing - this will definitely help out a lot of students 

[_____]

Since I've made a short essay plan for (nearly) all of these questions I thought I'd post a few here. Thoughts? Good historian choice? Stuff I've missed? Let me know! If you like, post your own and we can discuss them 

PS images used as i cba reformatting tables on a bulletin board. I haven't planned an introduction/conclusion, each segment is a body paragraph (normally I write three).

Russia





Indochina

[JD99]

Here's a list of the past 10 years questions for Conflict in the Pacific (I don't think many others actually do this topic but...)
Some questions cover more than one point on the syllabus, I've just put them under whichever I thought was the most relevant (lmk if i'm wrong )

1    Growth of Pacific tensions
–   economic and political issues in the Pacific by 1937
–   Japanese foreign policy 1937–1941
   o   To what extent was Japanese nationalism responsible for the growth of Pacific tensions to 1941? (2016)
   o   To what extent did imperialism and the various responses to it contribute to the growth of Pacific tensions in the period 1937−1941? (2015)
   o   To what extent was Japanese foreign policy from 1937 to 1941 responsible for the increasing tensions that eventually led to war? (2011)
–   US and British policies in the Pacific 1937–1941
   o   Assess the role of US and British policies in the Pacific from 1937 to 1941 in the outbreak of the Pacific war. (2012)
–   strategic and political reasons for bombing Pearl Harbour
   o   Japan had little choice but to bomb Pearl Harbour if it wanted to achieve its foreign policy aims in the Pacific. To what extent is this statement accurate? (2013)
   o   To what extent did Japanese nationalism lead to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941? (2009)
2    Course of the Pacific War
–   Japanese advance 1941–1942 and the impact of the fall of the Philippines, Singapore, Burma and the Dutch East Indies
   o   The success of the Japanese advance to 1942 could not be maintained, and led to Japan’s defeat in 1945. How accurate is this statement? (2012)
–   turning points in the war: Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Midway, Battle of Guadalcanal, New Guinea
   o   Assess the view that the Battle of the Coral Sea was the main turning point in the Pacific War. (2015)
   o   To what extent was the Battle of Midway the most significant turning point in the Pacific War? (2010)
   o   Evaluate the view that the Battle of the Coral Sea was the major turning point in the course of the Pacific War. (2007)
–   Strategies used by Allied forces against Japan 1942–1945
   o   Assess the impact of strategies used by the Japanese and the Allies in the Pacific in the period 1937–1951. (2008)
3    Civilians at war
–   social, political and economic effects on civilians in occupied territories in South-East Asia
   o   Assess the impact on civilians of the Japanese occupation in South-¬East Asia in the period 1941 to 1945. (2013)
   o   Assess the impact of the war on civilians in territories occupied by Japan in South-East Asia. (2007)
–   life under Occupation: collaboration and resistance, the use of slave labour
–   the effect of the war on the home fronts in Japan and Australia
   o   The effect of the war on the home fronts was the same for Japan and Australia. To what extent is this statement accurate? (2014)
   o   Assess the impact of the Pacific War on the home fronts in Australia and Japan. (2010)
4    End of the conflict
–   reasons for the use of the A-bomb and the subsequent controversy over its use
   o   To what extent did the use of the A-bomb bring about the end of the conflict? (2014)
   o   Evaluate the view that the United States had no option but to use the atomic bomb in 1945. (2009)
–   reasons for the Japanese defeat
–   War Crimes Tribunals and the status of the Emperor
   o   Evaluate the view that maintaining the status of the Emperor was responsible for the success of the Allied Occupation of Japan to 1951.(2008)
–   Allied Occupation of Japan to 1951
   o   Evaluate the consequences of the Allied Occupation of Japan to 1951. (2016)
   o   How successful was the Allied Occupation of Japan in achieving its aims to 1951? (2011)