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March 29, 2024, 02:29:21 am

Author Topic: Maximising marks  (Read 909 times)  Share 

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JoyMaalouf

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Maximising marks
« on: August 01, 2017, 08:45:22 pm »
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Hey guys! I always get around 75% in my modern history exams and although I've tried to improve, I just can't seem to get higher marks which is really frustrating

Does anybody have any simple essay writing tips or anything that could help be receive a higher mark? Thanks!

sudodds

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Re: Maximising marks
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2017, 08:54:14 pm »
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Hey guys! I always get around 75% in my modern history exams and although I've tried to improve, I just can't seem to get higher marks which is really frustrating

Does anybody have any simple essay writing tips or anything that could help be receive a higher mark? Thanks!
Hey! A lot of the time, people lose marks in modern for structural issues, rather than based on their actual knowledge of the content. With that in mind, here are some things you can do to make your essays more "bullet proof"!

- Judgements!! Your first sentence of your introduction, and EVERY paragraph, must be a judgement based upon the question. So lets say your question was "To what extent was Lenin a critical factor in the Bolshevik Consolidation of Power?" my first sentence would be something like "Lenin was a highly critical factor in the Bolshevik Consolidation of power", rather that, what many people do, a description of who Lenin was. You judgement must also be sustained - you can't have one paragraph saying he was highly critical in this event, and then not critical in another - consistency!

- Detail, detail, detail! Back everything up with stats, exact names, terminology (in the native language if possible), quotes (though less significant than the others), etc. etc. This is what makes your essay historical, and if how you back up your judgement!

- Answer the question: So many people just write a narrative of the events. This is not correct. You need to analyse! The easiest way to avoid story telling is to continually bring it back to the question, and to focus on the significance of the events, rather than the events themselves. Sentences like this "thus it is evident that (your judgement) is supported", or "this further emphasises the significance of (your judgement)". These sentences show that you are analysing rather than just telling us a story, because they are forcing you to have to make a judgement as to whether this event is significant or not. Another suggestion I often give my students who write too narrative is to use a thematic structure. A thematic structure, by nature will prevent you from writing a narrative, as they do not focus on full events, but more so different aspects of many events, and how they contribute to a theme. The themes are political, social, economic (and sometimes strategic/militaristic, cultural and ideological!). So, lets say you are a Russia student writing a Stalinism essay. Rather than having each paragraph go in chronological order detailing what Stalin did, which is very easy to slip into re-tell, you could instead have a paragraph on Stalin's political impact, social impact, economic impact, etc. etc, where you have to make the call as to which events demonstrate which theme :) My teachers no. 1 tip to tell if you are writing a narrative was this. If you can put "meanwhile" at the beginning of a sentence, and it make sense - you are probably writing too narrative!

But yes, these would be my top tips!!

Hope this helps,

Susie
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JoyMaalouf

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Re: Maximising marks
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2017, 08:36:12 am »
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This helps sooooooooo much thank you!!!