Your guide to dealing with awkward questions in the exam

Your guide to dealing with awkward questions in the exam Name: Teacher: Tutor Set:

Typical Questions How to answer questions which ask for description 1. Briefly describe the work of Hippocrates. 2. Describe the ways in which Greek and Roman medicine were similar. 3. Describe the problems facing surgeons in the early nineteenth century. 4. Describe the events of the Reichstag Fire? 5. Describe the aims of the Nazis in the early 1930s. The Chief Examiner says... REMEMBER you cannot get anywhere in History GCSE unless you have revised thoroughly. You need to have detailed knowledge of the Medicine and Nazi Germany course before you go into an exam. This is because the first objective is to remember of recall this information. The first question on a paper one if often a describe question as you can see from above. This is 5 easy marks. The tip... Prepare revision cards for each person from medicine, each major discovery in medicine, each of the major events in Nazi Germany 1919-1945 It is important to read the question carefully. If you look at question 3 it asks for the early 19 th century, therefore you should be thinking about problems between 1800-1840. Stick to the question, if it says to write about the events of the Reichstag fire, only write about the events. Do not explain their importance! A good idea is to use part of the question in the answer. For example on question 1: The work of Hippocrates consists of... You should aim write about a third of an A4 page for this type of question, anymore would be a waste of time. 2

Task Try marking the answers given below using the mark scheme Describe the problems facing surgeons in the early nineteenth century. Mark Scheme 1 mark for each valid example identified, 2-3 marks for any examples that are described or explained. Answer A The main problem early 19 th century surgeons faced was that their patients often died and they did not understand why. There were no anaesthetics, so patients suffered in great pain. Surgeons tried to reduce this by working fast: amputations were done in two or three minutes. They did not know the dirty coats they wore, their dirty hands and instruments were mainly responsible for causing the infections from which their patients died. Another problem they faced was patients dying from blood loss. This was another reason why they worked so fast, so as to get on with tying up the blood vessels. MARK Answer B There was a very high death rate in early 19 th century surgery. There were no good anaesthetics, so patients suffered from terrible pain, which was sometimes enough to kill them. They later died from infection which got into the wound because no care was taken over hygiene in the operating theatre. Surgeons wore dirty coats and did not sterilise the instruments they used. Patients also died from blood loss during the operation and there was no effective method of blood transfusion. Surgeons tried to stop bleeding by tying up the cut vessels but this was just another way infection could enter the body. MARK 3

Typical Questions How to answer questions which ask for comprehension of sources 1. Study Source A. What can an historian studying the Black Death learn from this source? Use the source to explain your answer. 2. What can you learn from this source about medicine in Britain before the introduction of the National Health Service? Use the source to explain your answer. Top Tips Go beyond what you can see or read in the source. You need to make an inference. This means what overall impression does the source give? For example in question 3, you are being asked what impression of medicine do you get before the NHS. Source: She would open and shut her purse waiting for the right moment to pay the half crown (12.5p), she could hardly afford. The inference that can be made is that medicine before the NHS was expensive. Make sure you always relate your inferences to medicine. This either means what they think caused disease, how they cured it, or what services were available. You must say how you ve reached your inference from the source. Therefore you should quote from the source to support your answer. For example, I know this because in source A it says... Make sure you check which source or sources you need to refer to. If it says to refer to source A, refer to source A. If you need to refer to 2 sources, refer to both sources. 4

Task Attempt the question below Study Source A. What can an historian studying the Black Death learn from this source? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. 5

How to answer questions which ask for comprehension of sources in context These are similar to the previous comprehension questions in that they require to understand hat a source tells us about a person or situation and then link it with knowledge you already have which is relevant to the question. Typical questions Q1 What can you learn from source A about medical knowledge at the time? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Q2. Look at source A. What can you learn about Greek medicine from this source? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Q3. What impression of Fleming does this source give? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Top tips Firstly study the source or sources what does it tell you? Go through the same process as you would looking for inferences as well as the obvious Secondly think about what else you know about the topic and include this in your answer to show a better understanding of the source. Keep referring to the question and the source to keep your answer focussed. Do not write about usefulness or reliability in this type of question. Do not paraphrase the source: i.e. Don t re-write it in your own words. 6

Task Attempt the question below Study Source A. What impression of Fleming does this source give? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. 7

How to answer source comparison type questions Once you understand how to answer the 3 previous types of questions, comparison questions are straight forward and easy peasy! Typical questions Q1. Do you think that source B is more useful than source C? Q2. Which source is more useful: source B or source C? Q3. In what ways do sources B and C agree about? Q4. To what extend do sources A and B agree? Top tips These questions fall into 2 types: o Those who ask you to compare the value of 2 sources (this was dealt with in part 3. Check that you understand) o Those that wish you to look for similarities and differences. Which ever way the question is worded YOU MUST LOOK FOR BOTH SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES OR AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENTS. o Remember they may agree or disagree on facts, but also they may agree or disagree in opinion or impression. Think about the type of language used. Is one more emotive than the other? It is often useful to draw up a table. Similarities / Agree Differences / Disagree Use the information in the table to create a well-structured answer by: o First writing about the points on which the sources agree o Then write about the points on which they do not agree 8

o Finally write a short conclusion on the extent on which they agree 9

Task Use the two sources below to answer the following question To what extent does source H agree with source G about the work of Florence Nightingale? SOURCE G: An account of Florence Nightingale s work from a school text book written by John Robottom in 1991. By 1856 most people knew of Florence Nightingale s work from the many pictures of the Lady of the Lamp. The pictures of the gentle lady with the lamp were only part of the truth, but they touched people s imaginations. They sent the huge sum of 40 000 to the Nightingale Fund for training nurses. Back in England, Florence Nightingale spent three years advising the government on changes in army hospitals. Then in 1860 she chose St Thomas Hospital for the first nurse-training school. SOURCE H: An account of Florence Nightingale s work in the Crimea, from the Oxford Children s Encyclopaedia, 1991. Florence Nightingale set sail in 1854 with 38 nurses. Within a month they had 5000 men to look after. Florence worked 20 hours a day to improve the nursing of ordinary soldiers. Every night she visited all the wards, and the soldiers loved her as the lady with the lamp. Her story was published in newspapers back home and she became a national heroine. 45 000 was collected from the public for her to spend as she saw fit. In 1860 she spent it on the Nightingale training school for nurses at St Thomas s hospital, London. 10

How to answer questions about reliability You are guaranteed to get this type of question in Paper 2. This question is asking whether you trust what the source is telling you. There are 2 ways to test this: against other sources on the paper and against your own knowledge. Typical questions Q1. Does source G provide reliable evidence that people were cured in Asclepions? Explain your answer. Q2. Do you think this source is completely reliable about the impact of the Black Death? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Q3. How reliable is this source as evidence about medical care in English monasteries in the Middle Ages? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. Top tips Always look at the provenance. This is the information at the bottom of the source. You must think about who wrote it, when it was written and why it was written. This should give you an idea of whether it is biased. If it is biased, you must explain why. If the source is biased you must decide how much this affect its reliability. REMEMBER a source is never completely reliable or unreliable. You must also cross reference the source or sources to other sources on the paper. Is there another source on the paper which backs up what the original source says? For example, source A is reliable because it says and this is backed up by source B which also says... You can also cross reference to the background knowledge at the beginning of the paper and your own knowledge. NB: You can pick up bonus points on other questions by mentioning reliability and cross referencing. 11

Task Attempt the question below Study Source B. How reliable is this source as evidence about medical care in English monasteries in the Middle Ages? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. 12

How to answer questions about the usefulness of sources You are guaranteed to get this type of question in Paper 2. This question is asking whether you can use the information from this source Typical questions Q1. Study source A. How useful is this source to an historian studying Fleming? Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer. Q2. Study source B. How useful is this account of the French occupation of the Ruhr? Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer. Q3. Study source F. These 3 illustrations are about medical care in a nunnery, so they are of no value to an historian studying medical care in monasteries. Do you agree? Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer. Top tips Usefulness/Value of sources can only be decided when you know what the historian wants to use the source for. Once you know the question being asked you need to make two lists. What are the uses of this source to answer the question? What are the problems of using this source to answer that question? Before you think about the content you need to think about reliability again. Once you ve decided whether it s reliable or not then you can comment on its usefulness. Even if a source is unreliable it will still be useful, even if it is only useful in telling you one person s opinion of event. 13

You should always make a value judgment using phrases like Source A is very useful BECAUSE, Source A is quite useful BECAUSE, Source A is not very useful BECAUSE Task Attempt the question below Study source B. How useful is this account of the French occupation of the Ruhr? Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer. 14

How to answer does this source prove? type questions Typical questions Q1. Does source B prove that they had a better understanding of the Black Death than the people mentioned in source D? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. Q2. Does source E prove that Fleming did not deserve the credit for penicillin? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. Top tips NO IT DOES NOT. Under no circumstances does a source ever completely prove anything. First compare with other sources on the paper. Find one source which agrees and one which disagree with the statement or the targeted source? Use the information within the sources to explain how they agree or disagree. Look at the provenance of the source (Who wrote it, when and why?). Think about how reliable it might be. Remember you can also use the tips you have learnt about how to answer a reliability question. You must write a concluding sentence saying whether you believe it does or does not. 15

Task Attempt the question below Study Source D. Does this source prove that the people of Oxfordshire had a better understanding of the Black Death than the people of Derbyshire? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. 16

How to answer are you surprised? questions Typical questions Q1. Are you surprised by what this source tells us? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Q2. Are you surprised by what is shown in this source? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. Top tips If in doubt, NO YOU ARE NOT SURPRISED. You just need to figure out why you re not surprised and explain it. It is absolutely vital that you at least give reasons why you are not surprised using your knowledge of the time. However, to be sure getting top marks in a question like this, it s best to give reasons why you are AND are not surprised. Start a reason why you are surprised. Look carefully at the source and think back to your own knowledge. Is there anything in the source that you wouldn t expect to be happening at that time? Now you need to come up with a reason why you are not surprised. What is happening in the source that fits with what you know about the time? Explain this clearly. 17

Task Attempt the question below Study Source A. Are you surprised by what this source tells us? Use the source and your knowledge to explain your answer. 18

How to answer a why was this source published / written? question Typical questions Q1. Why do you think this cartoon was published in early 1948? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. Top Tips Most of these questions will be asked about cartoons, but you may occasionally get asked a question like this on a piece of writing. Most importantly, when you answer this type of question you must always refer back to the details of the source. Refer to a part of the picture or use a quote to show you have not ignored the source. If you are stuck look at the provenance (the bit underneath/above the source which tells you what it is, who wrote it and where it came from). This will help you. The question is trying to get you to explain what the artist or writer was thinking about when they produced the source. What was their motive? Start by looking at the details of the source. What is it about? What issues were around then? For example with the Treaty of Versailles most Germans disliked it. Then look for the message of the cartoon. A lot of cartoons around Jenner s time were published as a protest against the smallpox vaccination. Therefore the message was the smallpox vaccination was bad. For top marks, you must decide what the author or artist was trying to do. How were they trying to influence your view? What was the purpose of the cartoon? For example the film poster of the Eternal Jew was trying to turn people in Germany against the Jews. Finally make sure you put the source in context. Explain anti Jewish propaganda was normal in Nazi Germany during the 1930s due to Hitler s anti-semitic policies. 19

Task Attempt the question below Study Source B. Why do you think this cartoon was published in early 1948? Use the source and your own knowledge to explain your answer. 20

How to answer questions that ask you to interpret These questions are usually the last to be asked on Paper 2 and carry the most marks. Therefore you should spend more time on these; about 20 minutes. These questions ask you to explain or make a judgement about the past. You will usually be asked to use all the sources and your own knowledge. Typical questions Q1. Study all the sources. Fleming s importance has been exaggerated. How far do the sources on this paper support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. Remember to identify the sources you use. Q2. Study all the sources. In the nineteenth century people accepted that cholera was spread by drinking contaminated water. How far do the sources on the sources on this paper support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. Remember to identify the sources you use. Top tips First of all you need to plan by drawing up a table to show the sources that do support and those that don t support the statement. Support Don t support Underline in one colour points on the sources that support the view in the question. Underline in another colour points from the sources that disagree with the view in the question. Now from your own knowledge can you add any additional information that support or disagree. 21

To write a good answer you must: o Write an opening paragraph which refers to the questions and suggests your opinions o Write a paragraph explaining which sources agree or support the statement. Remember to refer to information in the sources and refer to the sources by name (e.g. source A agrees because it says ) o Write a paragraph explain which sources disagree or do not support the statement. Remember to refer to information in the sources and refer to the sources by name (e.g. source A agrees because it says ) o Write a closing paragraph which sums up your opinion. 22