HSC Modern History Question Thread

[dancing phalanges]

Hey Susie I had just one quick question about that Speer 2008 HSC Question
So these are the historical context points that are hard to link to his background:
–    development of the Nazi state after 1933
–    Nazi war effort to 1945
–    Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
I am just a bit confused on what the markers are looking for you to write haha! Am I supposed to link the development of the Nazi State in regards of propaganda, anti-Antisemitism to Speer's work at all or just discuss the development of the Nazi state in isolation? And with the Nazi War effort 1945 again is this discussing Speer's role in it or just the Nazi war effort in general. And finally, with the Nuremberg Trials, is this discussing what Speer was up for and how he handled it or just the Trials in general? I am super confused because I can write about each of these points easily but am really not sure what the markers are actually looking for and whether it all has to tie back to Speer  Thanks a bunch!

[Nooriye]

hi for a question like this"Assess the impact of the purges on the development of Stalinism during the 1930s." is it narrow to base the essay solely on purges but link to concepts such as the cult of personality and ideology. not sure if the economic aspects of stalinism are also applicable here

[sudodds]

Hey Susie I had just one quick question about that Speer 2008 HSC Question
So these are the historical context points that are hard to link to his background:
–    development of the Nazi state after 1933
–    Nazi war effort to 1945
–    Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
I am just a bit confused on what the markers are looking for you to write haha! Am I supposed to link the development of the Nazi State in regards of propaganda, anti-Antisemitism to Speer's work at all or just discuss the development of the Nazi state in isolation? And with the Nazi War effort 1945 again is this discussing Speer's role in it or just the Nazi war effort in general. And finally, with the Nuremberg Trials, is this discussing what Speer was up for and how he handled it or just the Trials in general? I am super confused because I can write about each of these points easily but am really not sure what the markers are actually looking for and whether it all has to tie back to Speer  Thanks a bunch!

Hey! I think your overthinking it a bit aha All you need to do is outline/provide a description of these events - so what you have learned. With these types of questions I think a narrative structure works best, just going through everything chronologically, ticking everything off on the syllabus as I go As this is a personality study, everything you discuss must be related to your personality, even when under historical context - always focus on their role within an event or issue, rather than straying away from the question So like, if I'm talking about Trotsky's role in the 1917 Revolution, I'm going to avoid focusing on Lenin's role too much, and instead just focus on what Trotsky did that was significant

hi for a question like this"Assess the impact of the purges on the development of Stalinism during the 1930s." is it narrow to base the essay solely on purges but link to concepts such as the cult of personality and ideology. not sure if the economic aspects of stalinism are also applicable here

I don't think its too narrow at all if you consider the purges as both the purges, show trials and the Terror (because they were all an example of purging!). For this kinda essay I would have either written in according to the different groups that were purged; members of the communist party, kulaks, intellectuals, Red Army, or have written it thematically, so the purges impact on society/culture, politics and the military

Hope this helps!

Susie

[miraxx]

Hey,

I'm new to AtarNotes, but I was wondering if anyone could briefly explain what the nationality study on India is like?

[sudodds]

Hey,

I'm new to AtarNotes, but I was wondering if anyone could briefly explain what the nationality study on India is like?

Hey! Welcome
I didn't study India for my national study unfortunately, it's quite a rare one I'm afraid! However you can read up on what you will be studying by checking out the syllabus (page 32)

[miraxx]

Hey! Welcome
I didn't study India for my national study unfortunately, it's quite a rare one I'm afraid! However you can read up on what you will be studying by checking out the syllabus (page 32)

Thank you Could you also give a rundown on the exam layout? I'm a bit confused on how everything will be like, between personality study, nationality study and everything? Do we have to write an essay on all of it?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Thank you Could you also give a rundown on the exam layout? I'm a bit confused on how everything will be like, between personality study, nationality study and everything? Do we have to write an essay on all of it?

hiiiii. the exam is 3 hours (rip), and 45 minutes per section (there's 4) and each section is 25 marks. it goes like this:
section 1: ww1 - source based study split into two sections. section 1 is multiple choice and short answers, section 2 is a source analysis worth 10 marks.
section 2: national study - essay
section 3: personality - directed essay (if you can call it that); part a is a lower order question, it's usually 'outline' or 'describe'. part b is a bit lot harder, and asks you to assess the significance (can be different interpretations) of the personality you're studying. part a is 10 marks, part b is 15.
section 4: international studies in peace and conflict - essay

technically there's 2 essays in the entire exam, because section 3 is this weird thing, like it's not exactly an essay, but it is? so yea! best of luck with year 12 :-)

[miraxx]

hiiiii. the exam is 3 hours (rip), and 45 minutes per section (there's 4) and each section is 25 marks. it goes like this:
section 1: ww1 - source based study split into two sections. section 1 is multiple choice and short answers, section 2 is a source analysis worth 10 marks.
section 2: national study - essay
section 3: personality - directed essay (if you can call it that); part a is a lower order question, it's usually 'outline' or 'describe'. part b is a bit lot harder, and asks you to assess the significance (can be different interpretations) of the personality you're studying. part a is 10 marks, part b is 15.
section 4: international studies in peace and conflict - essay

technically there's 2 essays in the entire exam, because section 3 is this weird thing, like it's not exactly an essay, but it is? so yea! best of luck with year 12 :-)

Thank you for your answer  , I think I know what I'm in for (3 hours  )
Is it recommended you go in order? Or does it really depend on the individual?

[fantasticbeasts3]

Thank you for your answer  , I think I know what I'm in for (3 hours  )
Is it recommended you go in order? Or does it really depend on the individual?

no worries! 3 hours sounds like a long time, but it goes by reaaaaaally fast. it depends on the person - i personally don't go in order because doing the ww1 section either second or third gives my hand a bit of a break :-)

[rodero]

Thank you for your answer  , I think I know what I'm in for (3 hours  )
Is it recommended you go in order? Or does it really depend on the individual?

I do the paper in order because it takes be through a timeline of events.

WW1 (1914-1918) -> Germany (1918-1939) -> Speer (1905-1981, though it should really be 1905-1945) -> Conflict in Europe (1935-1945)

So yeah, they all flow on from each other and I can use knowledge from one section to aid me in the other. I personally use reading time so that I can read through all of the ww1 sources. That way I don't need to re-read them during my writing time.

[sudodds]

Thank you for your answer  , I think I know what I'm in for (3 hours  )
Is it recommended you go in order? Or does it really depend on the individual?

Very much so depends on the individual - I typically went from the section I was most comfortable with, to the least However I personally recommend doing Section I first Reason for that is because you can save a lot of time by working out the multiple choice/short answers in your head during reading time (obviously you can't write on the paper though!), it means you don't need to waste "non-reading time" reading the sources in the middle of the exam, and it is the easiest section to complete in under 45 minutes, meaning that you know exactly how much time you spared that you can dedicate to your other sections

[dancing phalanges]

Hey Susie, you said something ages ago about how the Germans did not effectively use/failed to use the 52 divisions of troops freed from the Eastern Front. Could you possibly refresh my memory on this point. Thank you

[sudodds]

Hey Susie, you said something ages ago about how the Germans did not effectively use/failed to use the 52 divisions of troops freed from the Eastern Front. Could you possibly refresh my memory on this point. Thank you

Hey! Yeah they didn't, as rather than moving them all to the Western Front, where they were needed in order to replenish troops lost during the Ludendorff Spring Offensive, and make up for the difference once the US entered the war, they left 500 000 troops on the Eastern Front, in order to make sure that Russia - the nation that was crippled by WW1, had just accepted a Treaty to get out of the war that left them even more crippled, and was currently experiencing a intense civil war - didn't use the opportunity to invade Germany!

[dancing phalanges]

Hey! Yeah they didn't, as rather than moving them all to the Western Front, where they were needed in order to replenish troops lost during the Ludendorff Spring Offensive, and make up for the difference once the US entered the war, they left 500 000 troops on the Eastern Front, in order to make sure that Russia - the nation that was crippled by WW1, had just accepted a Treaty to get out of the war that left them even more crippled, and was currently experiencing a intense civil war - didn't use the opportunity to invade Germany!

Yep sweet thank you very much

[dancing phalanges]

Hey Susie, I know you didn't study Germany but I just did a practice question on:
 Hitler came to power as a result of a lack of opposition.
To what extent is this statement true?
I was just wondering, I was able to write 8 pages without writing about the reasons for the failure of the Weimar Republic but I was just wondering if it would have been off topic to write about that eg. one paragraph on the illegitimacy of the republic and how national socialism in contrast had a broad appeal (which i already talk about). I was just worried about going off topic and hence did not mention it but I finished the essay in 39 mins so i would have had time to write about it
any thoughts would be great