QCE Modern History IA1 historical investigation quiz

A 1-hour multiple choice test sat at home, marked automatically with no written response required at all

A 2-hour supervised examination essay in response to a 3-5 source stimulus pack on a Unit 3 topic

A take-home essay researched over several weeks using any sources the student chooses to gather

A group oral presentation delivered to the class and assessed mainly on speaking and slide design

200 words

1500-2000 words

600-800 words

5000 words

Memorising the wording of every stimulus source and reproducing each quotation exactly from recall

Drawing labelled pictures and timelines instead of writing an analytical paragraph-based response

Reaching the highest possible word count, since longer responses always earn a higher mark band

Devising of a historical argument, analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, communication

Identify origin/perspective, evaluate value and limitations, integrate into the argument

Quote long passages from each source without any comment, analysis or link to the question

Avoid quoting the sources at all and rely only on memorised contextual knowledge for the response

List the sources in a neat table of dates and authors instead of analysing them within paragraphs

Read every single source twice over very slowly first, even if that leaves only a few short minutes left for writing the actual essay

Read the question carefully, plan a thesis on scrap paper using 3-5 minutes, then start writing with a clear argument

Start writing immediately without reading the question, then adjust the argument later if time happens to allow

Write the conclusion first so the marker sees your answer, then fill in the body paragraphs afterwards

Be kept hidden until the conclusion so the reader is kept guessing about your position until the very end

Be a simple list of facts and dates with no argument, since the sources are expected to speak for themselves

Be a clear, debatable, defensible answer to the question, stated in the opening paragraph

Match exactly what the most recent textbook says, even when the stimulus sources point another way

Discouraged, because markers reportedly want a response built strictly from the provided stimulus sources and nothing else at all whatsoever

Only required in IA3, with IA1 assessed purely on how accurately the provided stimulus sources are summarised

Worth no marks under the criteria, so any time spent recalling outside dates and events is wasted in the exam

Expected: top-band responses use the sources alongside relevant outside knowledge of dates, names, events, and historiography

Acknowledge the contradiction, weigh the value/limitations of each source, and reach a conclusion supported by additional evidence and contextual knowledge

Pick whichever single source you happen to like best and quietly ignore the other one entirely, since two conflicting views simply cannot both be discussed within the same essay

Quote both sources at length without comment and let the marker decide for themselves which one is the more reliable

Pretend the sources do not actually disagree and present both claims as if they comfortably support the same point

Introduce a large amount of brand-new evidence and a fresh, previously unseen source that was never once analysed anywhere in the body of the essay

Restate the thesis (with refinement if appropriate), summarise the argument's weight, and end on the broader significance

Just say 'in conclusion' and then stop, on the basis that the body paragraphs have already done all the work

Repeat the introduction word for word so the marker is reminded of exactly how the response first opened

This essay is going to talk about the Nazis and how they rose to power in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, looking at lots of different events and people and dates along the way in the order that they happened over those years.

The Nazi Party was a German political movement of the early twentieth century, and Germany was a country that had a great many serious problems after the First World War, and there were many elections and several important leaders across this very interesting and complicated period that people still study closely today.

Although mass unemployment created the conditions for radicalisation, the Nazi consolidation of power 1933-34 was decisively shaped by a combination of legal manoeuvre, organised violence, and the systematic destruction of independent civil society institutions, as the four stimulus sources collectively demonstrate.

Germany was unstable for a very long time, and many things happened one after another to the German people, and there were good times and bad times, and eventually the Nazis became powerful, which is what this whole essay will be all about from start to finish.