QCE Modern History IA1 historical investigation quiz

A 1-hour multiple choice test

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

A take-home essay

A group oral presentation

200 words

600-800 words

1500-2000 words

5000 words

Memorising sources

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

Drawing pictures

Word count alone

Quote without comment

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

Avoid quotes

List sources in a table

Read all sources twice slowly

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

Write the conclusion first

Be hidden in the conclusion

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

Be a list of facts

Match what the most recent textbook says

Discouraged

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

Only required in IA3

Worth no marks

Pick one and ignore the other

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

Quote both without comment

Pretend they don't

Introduce new information

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

Just say 'in conclusion'

Repeat the introduction word for word

The Nazis are interesting.

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.

I will discuss the Nazis.

Germany was unstable.