Modern history study methods

[JoyMaalouf]

Hey guys! I usually write summary notes and re read those 292881 for study however I feel as this isn't working well for modern history due to the amount of content so I was wondering if anybody had any other study tips?

Thank you!!

[dancing phalanges]

Personally, these holidays I haven't been writing notes rather I'll download solid notes on each topic from sites like this to just have and instead focus on practice questions and papers. For example, I have gone through Germany, Albert Speer now starting War in the Pacific and gone through the syllabus dot points, found a corresponding past paper question and written a detailed plan for each, especially for essays where it's hard to write practice essays for all possible questions with so little time. Other than that, with WW1, just do as many past papers as you can.

Good luck!

Mod Edit: Removed link to competing site, and copyrighted material

[dancing phalanges]

Here's an example of one point in an essay plan on Assess the impact of Nazism on German society by 1939:
WORKING CLASS (Considerable impact)
- Hitler needed control over labour
- therefore, abolished trade unions in may 1933 and brought in german labour front to manage the working class
- aim was to indoctrinate workers to accept role in new germany through a series of reforms:
1. Strength through Joy Movement:
- took advantage of 3740 hours of leisure an average german worked had every year
- german labour front organised theatre outings, sporting games etc.
- 1938, 10 million german workers allowed on holiday trips, 4 cruise liners bought
- all passengers travel in same one-class accommodation reinforcing idea of 'volksgemeinschaft'
2. Beauty of Labour:
- nov 1933 bureau of the beauty of labour set up to improve working conditions eg. washrooms, canteens, better ventilation
- compensation for their small wage
- ensured contentment with work and therefore, efficiency within german economy
THEREFORE, the Nazi Party had a significant impact on the lives of the working class in Germany by 1939 as they introduced a series of reforms which pleased the working class whilst also operating as propaganda and buying their support for the Nazi regime.
Something along those lines.

[mixel]

Essay plans! They're super helpful and don't take long at all. Best of all, by doing them open-book you're revising the content while you're planning out how to structure it into an essay.

Basically, you just find a section 2 or 4 question (the harder the better), write out the full introduction, and then 'skeleton' the rest of the essay in bullet points. You can make it as simple or as detailed as you find useful: really simple phrases and thoughts rather than full sentences is generally faster, but if you're doing it open book you might as well write out full meat and potatoes arguments. In either case, you want to pack it with statistics and historiography, maybe even mark them out in bold, because when you're going back over your essay plans for revision you have a really quick and easy cheat sheet for all of the detail you'd need for that question.

[jakesilove]

I would use this technique to memorise data when you study for Modern! Let me know if you have any questions about it

[sudodds]

Hey guys! I usually write summary notes and re read those 292881 for study however I feel as this isn't working well for modern history due to the amount of content so I was wondering if anybody had any other study tips?

Thank you!!

Hey! All the above suggestions are absolutely fab For me, last year what I focused on was just smashing out past papers. I didn't write notes (at least in not the conventional sense) - I just did a bunch of practice responses (often open book, but closed nearer the exam), and had my teacher look over them. I honestly felt like I learnt more in those one to one sessions with my teacher, just going through my responses than I ever did in class.

If you are going to write notes, I suggest a table format Detail tables; so each row is a syllabus dot point, you have a column for detail and a column for quotes (no actual content notes - purely miscellaneous detail like stats, terminology, etc.), Linking tables, demonstrating how different factors that contribute to an issue are linked and interrelated (both to each other but also wide thematic concerns) and argument tables, which go through the many debates in relation to your case study, and how you can argue for an against them (so you can work out which argument is stronger!).

Hope this helps! Love seeing more and more students from this year contributing answers, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy <3 Modern fam = best fam.

Susie

[JoyMaalouf]

Personally, these holidays I haven't been writing notes rather I'll download solid notes on each topic from sites like this to just have and instead focus on practice questions and papers. For example, I have gone through Germany, Albert Speer now starting War in the Pacific and gone through the syllabus dot points, found a corresponding past paper question and written a detailed plan for each, especially for essays where it's hard to write practice essays for all possible questions with so little time. Other than that, with WW1, just do as many past papers as you can.

Good luck!

Thank you so much!!! I will start doing this tomorrow

Essay plans! They're super helpful and don't take long at all. Best of all, by doing them open-book you're revising the content while you're planning out how to structure it into an essay.

Basically, you just find a section 2 or 4 question (the harder the better), write out the full introduction, and then 'skeleton' the rest of the essay in bullet points. You can make it as simple or as detailed as you find useful: really simple phrases and thoughts rather than full sentences is generally faster, but if you're doing it open book you might as well write out full meat and potatoes arguments. In either case, you want to pack it with statistics and historiography, maybe even mark them out in bold, because when you're going back over your essay plans for revision you have a really quick and easy cheat sheet for all of the detail you'd need for that question.

Thank you heaps! I will start doing this tomorrow! 

I would use this technique to memorise data when you study for Modern! Let me know if you have any questions about it

Thank you! I will take a look 

Hey! All the above suggestions are absolutely fab For me, last year what I focused on was just smashing out past papers. I didn't write notes (at least in not the conventional sense) - I just did a bunch of practice responses (often open book, but closed nearer the exam), and had my teacher look over them. I honestly felt like I learnt more in those one to one sessions with my teacher, just going through my responses than I ever did in class.

If you are going to write notes, I suggest a table format Detail tables; so each row is a syllabus dot point, you have a column for detail and a column for quotes (no actual content notes - purely miscellaneous detail like stats, terminology, etc.), Linking tables, demonstrating how different factors that contribute to an issue are linked and interrelated (both to each other but also wide thematic concerns) and argument tables, which go through the many debates in relation to your case study, and how you can argue for an against them (so you can work out which argument is stronger!).

Hope this helps! Love seeing more and more students from this year contributing answers, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy <3 Modern fam = best fam.

Susie

Thank you susie!! I will try making tables like you've suggested that would make memorising things much easier hahah! And YAY the modern fam is growing

Mod edit: Merged posts into one