HSC Modern History Question Thread

[birdwing341]

So birdwing341 you prefer memorising historians?
We are all going to try our best! Hope the exam is not too challenging!

Yup Or leastways the quotes that they have/their opinions so they can kind of back up my opinion. Particularly for the Nazi Germany sections, I spent a decent amount of time researching historians and their actual opinions so it's useful to have them in my essay

[pughg16]

I will be studying my historians and quotes for Speer, however for the national & conflict studies, I think I will focus on just a couple of quotes/historians, but mainly on stats & dates that are more important for the essays, particularly because historians aren't needed for these sections.

Come on fellow Historians!!! We can ACE THIS EXAM!!!

[elysepopplewell]

Just going to pop this here for anyone studying Germany in the national study, particularly if interested in Goebbels. This is about his assistant, and the way she contributed to the propaganda. Really chilling, really interesting! Have a read here.

[diesxel]

Hello, I had a question about studying for Modern History.  A lot of students recommend purchasing textbooks such as the Excel or Success books. Are these actually helpful or a 'waste of money'? Just a general q asking for opinions to see if I should buy it or not. Thanks! 

[sudodds]

Hello, I had a question about studying for Modern History.  A lot of students recommend purchasing textbooks such as the Excel or Success books. Are these actually helpful or a 'waste of money'? Just a general q asking for opinions to see if I should buy it or not. Thanks! 

In my opinion don't get excel, success one or ken webb. Way too oversimplified to the point where you lose the detail and nuance (this is particularly an issue if you study russia). Checkpoint is great because of the practice questions and sample responses, but I still think it is quite expensive for what it is. 'Key Features of Modern History' by Bruce Dennett and Stephen Dixon is a really good textbook (Dennett wrote the WW1 syllabus so he's defs a credible resource) but again it's sooooo expensive (because it's legit a full on textbook with all the major options of study).

Checkpoint + Key Features of Modern History can be found in the education section of most libraries, so I'd recommend taking a look in your local library before purchasing them, or ask your teacher if they have any copies they could lend you.

*or alternatively you could buy my notes book under 'shop' idk I think they're pretty neat  *

[elysepopplewell]

*or alternatively you could buy my notes book under 'shop' idk I think they're pretty neat  *

Can vouch for this!

[diesxel]

Thank you!! I will definitely keep this information in mind.

I actually have already bought the ATAR Notes Modern history book, I bought it at the lectures this year. It's fantastic, I love it! I wish it had some info on the Option topics though (Russia gets confusing for me sometimes). But it's amazing for assessment practice and WW1 info. Thanks again!

[sudodds]

Thank you!! I will definitely keep this information in mind.

I actually have already bought the ATAR Notes Modern history book, I bought it at the lectures this year. It's fantastic, I love it! I wish it had some info on the Option topics though (Russia gets confusing for me sometimes). But it's amazing for assessment practice and WW1 info. Thanks again!

That's fantastic, I'm so glad you are finding it useful Feel free to message me if you need any help with Russia! Its definitely a challenging unit, particularly when it comes to the integration and understanding of communist theory and practice so you're definitely not alone. Some of my notes/essays on it can be found under the notes tab also + a heap from other users too

[diesxel]

Oh thank you so much! That means a lot to me, and yes I definitely will. The notes and essays on here are amaaaaaaazing

[diesxel]

Hello, I had a question about the dates in Modern History, in particular about Russia and the Russian Revolution.

In some textbooks I study in, the Revolutions are dated in March and October, but in others, the dates are different, they're set in February. I researched and realised it was because of a difference in calendars of the time and of present. My question was, which ones are the ones that should be used in the HSC? And if both, which one is the better option? Thanks 

[sudodds]

Hello, I had a question about the dates in Modern History, in particular about Russia and the Russian Revolution.

In some textbooks I study in, the Revolutions are dated in March and October, but in others, the dates are different, they're set in February. I researched and realised it was because of a difference in calendars of the time and of present. My question was, which ones are the ones that should be used in the HSC? And if both, which one is the better option? Thanks 

both will be fine, but the most common variations are February and October

[Jess.martinuzzo]

Hey Susie,
I have a modern assessment at the moment on Russia for our national study with the question:
'Explain How the Bolshevik/Communist Government was able to consolidate it's power between 1917 and 1921.'
I was unsure as to whether I should write a thematic essay and split the factors by economic reforms, social and political reforms, military and repression (one idea per paragraph) OR focus on events or 'ideas' each paragraph - so a paragraph on social and political (combined), one on The Treaty of Brest Litovsk,  another on Civil War and War Communism (combined) and a final paragraph on the NEP. My only concern is that if I do the second structure, that the essay will lack other minor details. However if I do the first structure, I will have too much content that won't go into enough detail?

What do you suggest I do and in your opinion, what do you believe will mark better?
Is there anything else crucial that I should consider to include in my essay?
Should I worry about including quotations from Historians?
And any good resources to use for research?

Thankyou so much!!! - Jess 

[sudodds]

Hey Susie,
I have a modern assessment at the moment on Russia for our national study with the question:
'Explain How the Bolshevik/Communist Government was able to consolidate it's power between 1917 and 1921.'
I was unsure as to whether I should write a thematic essay and split the factors by economic reforms, social and political reforms, military and repression (one idea per paragraph) OR focus on events or 'ideas' each paragraph - so a paragraph on social and political (combined), one on The Treaty of Brest Litovsk,  another on Civil War and War Communism (combined) and a final paragraph on the NEP. My only concern is that if I do the second structure, that the essay will lack other minor details. However if I do the first structure, I will have too much content that won't go into enough detail?

What do you suggest I do and in your opinion, what do you believe will mark better?
Is there anything else crucial that I should consider to include in my essay?
Should I worry about including quotations from Historians?
And any good resources to use for research?

Thankyou so much!!! - Jess 

The way I would have done it is by the syllabus dot points/events, so a paragraph on social and political reforms, a paragraph on the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, one on the Civil War and War Communism, and then one on the NEP, but that is because when it came to Bolshevik essays I always structured them this way as that is how I was most comfortable. You are correct in that these types of essays can be tricky though, because when you structure them around events you need to make sure you know the ins and outs of these events back to front. I'd still probably prefer this essay over a thematic essay though, as the extrapolating of themes from this section of the syllabus is going to be pretty intense given that it's such a large unit. My detail table + essays that I wrote on this section can be found under the notes tab - they will probably help quite a lot if you're worried about not having enough detail or knowledge on the specific events and their intricacies.

However, a thematic essay would definitely work with this essay also, and if I was going to attempt it, i'd say that paragraphs you'd want to write about would be socio-cultural, military, economic and political. I wouldn't particularly discuss repression as a theme in and of itself - but you could discuss it within the military and political paragraphs if you so wish.

I don't think one structure over the other is going to get better marks, its moreso what you are most comfortable writing. Syllabus essays sometimes have the advantage of making it easy for the marker to see that you are ticking all the boxes, however thematic essays sometimes have the advantage of appearing more sophisticated, so I don't really think either way it'll make much of a difference.

In terms of things that I think are crucial to mention - Communist Theory and Practice. This underlying factor of the entire consolidation so its defs something I'd try to include. Something on the conflict between ideological adherence and pragmatism/needs of society is also great to include.

Don't worry about including quotes from historians. Are they a nice addition to an essay? Definitely! But you shouldn't lose marks for it (check with your teacher though for their opinion, because I do know that certain teachers can be quite insistent on their inclusion - but in regards to the final HSC exam you should never be marked down for not including them). That being said, if you do have the time, quotes are defs a nice touch and count as detail if you're worried about not having enough specifically. They're pretty easy to find, just type in "historian quotes on _________" and heaps should pop up!

In terms of resources, check out this thread I made Modern History Reading/Resource Guide. I've put a bunch of some of the best resources I know there, I'd definitely recommend checking some of these out!

[Jess.martinuzzo]

The way I would have done it is by the syllabus dot points/events, so a paragraph on social and political reforms, a paragraph on the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, one on the Civil War and War Communism, and then one on the NEP, but that is because when it came to Bolshevik essays I always structured them this way as that is how I was most comfortable. You are correct in that these types of essays can be tricky though, because when you structure them around events you need to make sure you know the ins and outs of these events back to front. I'd still probably prefer this essay over a thematic essay though, as the extrapolating of themes from this section of the syllabus is going to be pretty intense given that it's such a large unit. My detail table + essays that I wrote on this section can be found under the notes tab - they will probably help quite a lot if you're worried about not having enough detail or knowledge on the specific events and their intricacies.

However, a thematic essay would definitely work with this essay also, and if I was going to attempt it, i'd say that paragraphs you'd want to write about would be socio-cultural, military, economic and political. I wouldn't particularly discuss repression as a theme in and of itself - but you could discuss it within the military and political paragraphs if you so wish.

I don't think one structure over the other is going to get better marks, its moreso what you are most comfortable writing. Syllabus essays sometimes have the advantage of making it easy for the marker to see that you are ticking all the boxes, however thematic essays sometimes have the advantage of appearing more sophisticated, so I don't really think either way it'll make much of a difference.

In terms of things that I think are crucial to mention - Communist Theory and Practice. This underlying factor of the entire consolidation so its defs something I'd try to include. Something on the conflict between ideological adherence and pragmatism/needs of society is also great to include.

Don't worry about including quotes from historians. Are they a nice addition to an essay? Definitely! But you shouldn't lose marks for it (check with your teacher though for their opinion, because I do know that certain teachers can be quite insistent on their inclusion - but in regards to the final HSC exam you should never be marked down for not including them). That being said, if you do have the time, quotes are defs a nice touch and count as detail if you're worried about not having enough specifically. They're pretty easy to find, just type in "historian quotes on _________" and heaps should pop up!

In terms of resources, check out this thread I made Modern History Reading/Resource Guide. I've put a bunch of some of the best resources I know there, I'd definitely recommend checking some of these out!

Thankyou so much!! Such a big help!!

[sudodds]

Thankyou so much!! Such a big help!!

No worries! That's what I'm here for  If you need help with anything else let us know!