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2015 Notes from the Marking Centre – Ancient History

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Ancient History course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2015 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting their strengths in particular parts of the examination and indicating where candidates need to improve.
This document should be read along with:

Section I – Cities of Vesuvius – Pompeii and Herculaneum

Part A

Questions 6 and 7

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • providing accurate and relevant information about the streetscape of Herculaneum
  • demonstrating knowledge of Source G (the mosaic) and including a range of other evidence of leisure activities.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • understanding that Pompeii and Herculaneum are not exactly the same with regard to evidence
  • linking specific evidence to support a discussion rather than simply listing leisure activities.

Part B

Question 8

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • providing a clear response to the question and an argument that was cohesive and well structured
  • providing detailed information, particularly about up-to-date conventions and views
  • understanding all the elements of the question: ethics, study, time and change, and using examples to support each.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • interpreting the sources more accurately
  • using examples of own knowledge to support an argument.

Section II – Ancient Societies

Questions 9–18

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • accurately identifying information relevant to the ancient society (part a)
  • providing accurate descriptions of main features of an aspect of the ancient society (part c)
  • using ancient sources, both archaeological and written, as evidence
  • providing a well-structured and coherent response using historical terms and concepts.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • providing accurate and relevant information on key historical terms and concepts in short-answer responses (part b)
  • using a range of sources to explain what evidence reveals about the society (part d)
  • focusing on specific wording in questions such as ‘significance’, ‘importance’ or ‘role of’
  • attaining greater depth to responses through the incorporation of historical detail.

Section III – Personalities in Their Times

Questions 19–30

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • accurately identifying a range of information relevant to the question, providing a detailed description and using sources as evidence
  • making a critical judgement about the usefulness of the quotation and integrating this into the response
  • identifying a wide range of issues relevant to the question to support a judgement or evaluation
  • integrating information from ancient and contemporary sources to support an argument.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • referring to information from relevant sources in part (a) of the question to support a response
  • referring to the quotation in part (b) and other sources as directed in the question
  • writing an appropriate amount relevant to the value of the question
  • interpreting the quotation in part (b) and assessing it for reliability, rather than merely trusting its veracity.

Section IV – Historical Periods

Questions 31–47

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

  • directly answering the question and, where appropriate, addressing relevant issues from across the entire historical period
  • demonstrating comprehensive and accurate historical knowledge and understanding and making detailed reference to a range of relevant archaeological and written evidence
  • demonstrating a comprehensive knowledge of the historical period and using appropriate historical terms and concepts.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

  • directly addressing the factor identified in a ‘to what extent’ question before identifying and evaluating other factors
  • avoiding a narrative response that is of marginal relevance to the question or includes substantial amounts of material that is irrelevant to the parameters of the question
  • integrating sources appropriately as evidence to support an argument, rather than simply naming the source or attributing sources incorrectly
  • including relevant and accurate historical information
  • writing responses that are structured and of appropriate length to adequately address issues raised by the question and incorporating a range of historical terms and concepts.
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