Susie - Ask a State Ranker (Q+A Closed)

[sudodds]

Hello Susie!

Do you have any important tips or advice when studying for modern history and how to memorise quotes/sources?

Hey droodsh!
My biggest tip would be to do as many practice responses as you can! That was pretty much the only way that I studied last year for all of my subjects, but in particular for Modern History. For trials, I did 21 practice responses for Modern History. Do you need to do that many in order to do well? NO. I went way to far, but that was because I loved the subject and genuinely enjoyed studying it. But whether I titf'ed or not, does not change that fact that I genuinely believe that I learned more in the mini meetings I had with my teacher going over my practice responses, than I ever did in class (and these classes were fantastic by the way!).

Hey, when it comes to memorising detail/sources/quotes/etc. - I personally used a detail table! Basically it had all the syllabus dot points down one side, and then a column for miscellaneous detail (eg. stats, terminology, names, etc.) and then a column for quotes (you can actually find mine in the notes section). I also recommend taking a look at this thread! made by jakesilove! Worksheets are a really effective form or study, because they are "active", meaning that your brain has to be switched on, rather than just reading and writing out different stats. When done often, its kinda like muscle memory - you will just know these stats/quotes, without even having to think!

[sudodds]

Hi Susie!

For Modern sections 2 and 4, do you think it's necessary to use historians' quotes? Or does it just count as additional knowledge/detail?

Thanks

Okay so keep in mind I am talking about this only in the context of the HSC exam - schools may have their own rules on this in regards to Trials, and thus it is important that you check.

However - in terms of the HSC - historians quotes are NOT necessary. Are historians/quotes a great addition to a response? YES. Tbh, most band 6 students will be using historians, as it counts as detail, and detail = GOOD! However there is nothing in the marking criteria that says you HAVE to include historiography, and if integrated poorly, it can even be a detriment! A lot of students rely too heavily on the historians, and just end up providing a shopping list of interpretations, which is not analysis. Many others lose precious time in the exam trying to remember that exact quote, when really – not including it won’t even cost you a mark. A marker would much rather see your OWN judgement, than the parroted opinion of historians, thus quotes should only be used to BACK UP your own analysis – not form it. Long story short - quotes are fantastic, as they count as detail, however don't go overboard and limit your own analysis in place of a historians quote.

[sudodds]

Hey Susie,

I am currently preparing for my Trials which begin on Monday.

I'm studying for Advanced English and I was wondering what texts you did for each module and your AOS.

If you studied any of these (below) or know anything about them could you help me with key themes to write about? I can't seem to find resources for most of my texts, especially for module C. 
 AOS: The Motorcycle Diaries
Mod A: Metropolis / 1984
Mod B: Hamlet
Mod C: Poetry of Judith Wright

Also, what are your best tips for writing thematic essays?

Thanks

Charbella

Unfortunately I didn't study any of those texts I studied the Tempest for Discovery (along with the Perks of Being a Wallflower and an Idiot Abroad as related texts), Pride and Prejudice and Letters to Alice for Module A, TS Eliot for Module B and Wag the Dog for Module C (along with Candide and The Evil Empire Speech as related texts). However, though I may not have studied these, I guarantee you will find someone who has on this thread!

In terms of writing a thematic essay for english, my biggest tip would be to make sure that these themes aren't just themes prevalent in you prescribed, but actively link to the rubric for the Module you are doing - that way you can make these essays more adaptable, and easier to mould around different questions. I'd also make sure, for the modules that have related texts, to pick related texts that thematically link to the prescribed, rather than ones that are just similar contextually

[sudodds]

Hi Susie!
I was just wondering if you had any tips or tricks for remembering all the content in Ancient History? And also how to improve in source analysis for Pompeii and Herculaneum?

Hey Tracy!
I found writing essay plans (and sometimes full essays!) on the content in ancient really helpful for consolidating my understanding - so I'd construct an essay plan, open book (meaning I can do research as a I go, learning more and filling in gaps), on every syllabus dot point. Furthermore, as I am sure you are aware, sources are CRITICAL for doing well in Ancient and thus you need to have at least two sources for every syllabus dot point for all of your topics - holy shit that is a lot of sources! Way more than a sane person could memorise. So what I did is I found sources that worked for multiple dot points, rather than focusing on finding a totally unique source for every one. Eg. the Temple of Isis works for sooooooooo many dot points, so I'd focus my attention on knowing this, and more adaptable sources in depth, rather than spreading it all out and doing more unique sources for each In terms of how to improve your source analysis, just remember to really dissect motive and intent - why was this source produced, and for whom was it produced for. Further, relate the significance of the source back to your own understanding of the content - all questions, even if they are source based, will require integration of your own knowledge

[sudodds]

Hi Suzie!
I have modern trial exam coming up and its on the same day as my maths exam.
I'm worried that I'am going to be too mentally exhausted and stuff up my modern exam.
Do you have any suggestions for reserving energy and getting through the exam?
Also for my exam I was thinking of starting with WW1 (I'm most comfortable with this section) then Cold war (least comfortable-we just started learning it), Personality and then National study (most comfortable) , would that be a good order to do it?

You have no idea how pissed off I was when I saw that Maths and Modern were put on the same day. Such a stupid idea - both are hella popular subjects, just so dumb NESA  I was super lucky last year, that in neither Trials or HSC I had to deal with any difficult double ups. The worst for me was economics in the morning, history extension in the afternoon. In between the two exams I didn't do any "active" study. I read through some past essays, and I discussed things with other students from my class, but I didn't actively try to memorise anything, or try and learn new content - tbh it was more about putting myself in the history extension mindset after 3 hours of economics. I also made sure that I had a walk and something to eat, to clear my head and fill my stomach

In terms of the way you plan to tackle the exam, that seems like a fantastic structure to me! In my opinion as long as you do Section I first (as I think it is a great way to ease you into the exam - plus as it is the easiest section to complete under 45 mins, it can give you some added confidence knowing that you have a bit more time for the other sections), it is completely personal preference

[sudodds]

Hi Susie,
With regards to Drama, how did you go about writing your 2 essays? Did you memorise, have set scenes for memorisation of quotes, do practice quotes, etc?

Yay a drama question!!! Finally I didn't so much have a full memorised essay, as I had memorised scenes So I knew what I was going to be talking about in each, it just depended on what the question was focusing on! If you'd like to have a look at how I structured my drama essays, I actually wrote a little guide here

Also, regarding Studies Of Religion, which tradition did you write about in the final exam, and had you decided on that prior to the exam itself? Thanks!

I wrote about Christianity, and yes, I did decide prior to the exam. Going to catholic schools all my life, I knew that my understanding of Christianity in practice was a lot stronger, so it made more sense to focus on that for the longer response (particularly as I also found that I had more contemporary examples of say organisations that adhere to environmental ethics, as my school had actively worked with them and stuff like that), and then focus on Islam for the shorter response question, where my in depth knowledge was a little bit more limited

[sudodds]

Hi Suzie

I am overwhelmed with the amount of content for modern history.  I have essay plans for Germany and indochina as well as notes for Speer and ww1. I am nervous about the question for Germany in the trials (this thursday) what is the best way to prepare for this? Also with Part B of Speer my teacher hasnt really gone through how to answer it - do you have any tips on determining what to include?

Thank you

Hey donna! Don't stress - everyone is in the same boat, I know I felt super overwhelmed last year! Essay plans is a fantastic study method, so I'm not too worried there In terms of the best way to prepare, I think writing essay plans/full essays on the different areas of the syllabus is a great idea, along with constructing detail, argument and linking tables (examples of which can be found within this thread, and also in the notes section!). I'd also recommend reading past students responses, and having a look at how they answered questions as well - may give you some ideas as to what to include if you're stuck For Part B, unfortunately I studied Leon Trotsky, not Albert Speer, so I personally can't give much advice on what to specifically include for him (however we have a heap load of Speer EXPERTS on the modern history question thread! Highly recommend shooting a post over there if you have any specific questions!), however I can tell you that when it comes to Part B, there are only there types of questions they can ask:

- Overall significance in national and/or international history. (unlikely as this is a bit too easy)
- Product of their time or shaper of events? So Was their significance determined by them, or by circumstance Were they caught up in the atmosphere of the time, or did they help to fuel it? Why were they unique? Could anyone had done what they did?
- Interpretations and Debate - So for Speer you'd want to look at the 'Good Nazi' debate!

So when you are trying to learn the content, try and focus your understanding in relation to these ideas

[sudodds]

Thanks

MOd C is literally killing me.

My essay structure is crappy, but I know what I want to say, it's just a matter of writing it down properly.

I can research a theme in a text and explain it in my head but it never sounds as good when i write it down, and then i don't know how to fix it.

Tips anyone?

Definitely something that a lot of people struggle with! You're not alone It really just comes down to practice, and also absorbing other peoples writing as well! Wide reading will help you become a better writer - look at how other people synthesize their ideas on paper, what about their writing makes it easy for you to understand A good way to practice is to write it down, literally the way you explain it in your head. Yes it'll be colloquial, yes it'll be a bit messy, but it'll be down on paper. Then look back and what you have written, and sentence by sentence, shift your structure to be more concise and formal! This is something that I did when I was practicing history extension essays!

[sudodds]

Hi Susie, I was just confused. my teacher says to avoid a narrative in a history essay, however I never understand what she really means

Hey! Basically what she means is that you're not analysing the significance of the events - more so just explaining what happened, which isn't going to answer the question at hand. However, this is easily fixed don't worry!

The easiest way to avoid writing a narrative is to continually bring it back to the question, and to focus on the significance of the events, rather than the events themselves. Sentences like this "thus it is evident that (your judgement) is supported", or "this further emphasises the significance of (your judgement)". These sentences show that you are analysing rather than just telling us a story, because they are forcing you to have to make a judgement as to whether this event is significant or not.
 
Another suggestion I often give my students who write too narrative is to use a thematic structure. A thematic structure, by nature will prevent you from writing a narrative, as they do not focus on full events, but more so different aspects of many events, and how they contribute to a theme. The themes are political, social, economic (and sometimes strategic/militaristic, cultural and ideological!). So, lets say you are a Russia student writing a Stalinism essay. Rather than having each paragraph go in chronological order detailing what Stalin did, which is very easy to slip into re-tell, you could instead have a paragraph on Stalin's political impact, social impact, economic impact, etc. etc, where you have to make the call as to which events demonstrate which theme

My teachers no. 1 tip to tell if you are writing a narrative was this. If you can put "meanwhile" at the beginning of a sentence, and it make sense - you are probably writing too narrative!

Hope this helps,

Susie

[sudodds]

Hello
How do you suggest studying for the 3 hour modern history exams (trials and HSC) ? I'm doing conflict in Indochina, Germany, and Leni Riefenstahl, and don't know how I would be able to remember all my judgements and content.

Hey Claire! For me, pretty much the only way I studied was writing practice responses! That was pretty much the only way that I studied for ALL of my subjects in fact! For trials, I did 21 practice responses for Modern. Do you need to do that many in order to do well? NO. I went way to far, but that was because I loved the subject and genuinely enjoyed studying it. But whether I titf'ed or not, does not change that fact that I genuinely believe that I learned more in the mini meetings I had with my teacher going over my practice responses, than I ever did in class (and these classes were fantastic by the way!).

When it comes to memorising detail/sources/quotes/etc. - I personally used a detail table! Basically it had all the syllabus dot points down one side, and then a column for miscellaneous detail (eg. stats, terminology, names, etc.) and then a column for quotes (you can actually find mine in the notes section). I also recommend taking a look at this thread! made by jakesilove! Worksheets are a really effective form or study, because they are "active", meaning that your brain has to be switched on, rather than just reading and writing out different stats. When done often, its kinda like muscle memory - you will just know these stats/quotes, without even having to think!

Did you use historiography in modern? How important would you say it is?

Okay so keep in mind I am talking about this only in the context of the HSC exam - schools may have their own rules on this in regards to Trials, and thus it is important that you check.

However - in terms of the HSC - historians quotes are NOT necessary. Are historians/quotes a great addition to a response? YES. Tbh, most band 6 students will be using historians, as it counts as detail, and detail = GOOD! However there is nothing in the marking criteria that says you HAVE to include historiography, and if integrated poorly, it can even be a detriment! A lot of students rely too heavily on the historians, and just end up providing a shopping list of interpretations, which is not analysis. Many others lose precious time in the exam trying to remember that exact quote, when really – not including it won’t even cost you a mark. A marker would much rather see your OWN judgement, than the parroted opinion of historians, thus quotes should only be used to BACK UP your own analysis – not form it. Long story short - quotes are fantastic, as they count as detail, however don't go overboard and limit your own analysis in place of a historians quote.

And generally, how did you get ready on the day of an exam, did you look at your notes again? does being stressed or calm help more on the day?

I actually didn't write any notes for modern, or for any of my subjects! If the exam was in the morning, I would just go over my detail table, doing a look/cover/write/check method to see how many stats/quotes I could remember If the exam was in the afternoon, I'd do this, plus read all of my past practice essays that I had written. CALM! Definitely calm. Though many girls at my school didn't like it, I actually loved that my teachers would come down before the exam, and really just joke around with us. Made me feel a lot less on edge I'd also watch Epic Rap Battles of History: Russia to sike me up ahaha, because it's modern related, but also absolutely hilarious, which would further calm me down For me, I was typically more stressed AFTER the exam than before it! Hearing how everyone answered the question differently to me, that is what stressed me out, and is why I recommend not talking about the exam after it is completed, no matter how tempting it is!

[sudodds]

What's it like to literally be in the same room as jamonwindeyer? Also Elyse. Also Jake. Also Rui. Also yourself.

Ahahaha, well as I said, difficult to put into words But I'll try!

Jamon is an absolute legend (as I'm sure pretty much everyone on AN can attest to) both on and offline, but at the same time is just super down to earth, friendly and helpful (like the amount of times I've messaged him along the lines of "help I don't know how to be an adult!", to get a super detailed, thorough response is amazing). Also his passion for helping out students is so inspiring, beyond just on the forum. Elyse is literally like, my idol, on just so many fronts - academics, fashion, insta, travel, uni - just such an icon, but again, super down to earth and easy to talk to, someone that you don't need to try and make conversation with, it just comes naturally to her Also an amazing storyteller (rip sarpay97 ). When Jake is not making fun of my height, my age, my full name, my ideological/dialectical opinions, or my taste in literally anything - he can actually be pretty cool Also freaking hilarious, and can make pretty much anyone feel welcome and included, which has been greatly appreciated, from the beginning of this year when I joined the lecturing team all the way to today Rui is exactly as you'd expect - one of the most awesome people ever, the banter does not stay online when it comes to Rui Actually watching him answer maths questions as well (because the literal legend was answering questions AT the lectures) just provides a whole new perspective on how hard he works to help out all the maths students on AN - you guys are super lucky to have him around.

Literally though, the whole team - Brenden, Nick, Emily, Naomi, Maddie, Andrew, Jamie, Steph and Isaac as well - are so freaking incredible, like the funnest, funniest, nicest, most interesting group of people, that I'm honestly so honoured to call my friends

Okay - sappiness over ahahaha (what did we expect from 12:20 am Susie?). Back to Trials! Fun fun fun! (but yeah, ily AN <3 )

[sudodds]

Hey Susie, I am really worried about my Modern Trial on Thursday. I always seem to storytell in my essay and I am horrible at writing historical essays. How do you manage to write three essays in three hours! I am really stressed out and I am so worried that my results will be horrible.

Heya! Don't stress - I know, easier said than done - but you have a whole support team here to help you out I know it may seem close, but by Thursday is more than enough time to get prepared (even with other exams). The easiest way to avoid story telling is to continually bring it back to the question, and to focus on the significance of the events, rather than the events themselves. Sentences like this "thus it is evident that (your judgement) is supported", or "this further emphasises the significance of (your judgement)". These sentences show that you are analysing rather than just telling us a story, because they are forcing you to have to make a judgement as to whether this event is significant or not.
 
Another suggestion I often give my students who write too narrative is to use a thematic structure. A thematic structure, by nature will prevent you from writing a narrative, as they do not focus on full events, but more so different aspects of many events, and how they contribute to a theme. The themes are political, social, economic (and sometimes strategic/militaristic, cultural and ideological!). So, lets say you are a Russia student writing a Stalinism essay. Rather than having each paragraph go in chronological order detailing what Stalin did, which is very easy to slip into re-tell, you could instead have a paragraph on Stalin's political impact, social impact, economic impact, etc. etc, where you have to make the call as to which events demonstrate which theme

My teachers no. 1 tip to tell if you are writing a narrative was this. If you can put "meanwhile" at the beginning of a sentence, and it make sense - you are probably writing too narrative!

In terms of writing 3 essays in 3 hours - I know that may seem like a lot, cos well, it is - I can tell you right now it is manageable You really don't need more than 45 minutes to answer the question - hell, in the HSC I accidentally went way overboard in the personality section, and only had 30 minutes to write my Cold War essay, but I got the same mark for that, as I got for my Russia essay, which I took 45 minutes to write. Just focus on one obstacle at a time, and make sure that you plan your response before hand, rather than just ploughing through

I really hope this helps - remember you can always PM me if you're stressed and need help <3 Just keep a level head - I'm sure you'll do amazing in this exam, and even if you don't - meh No one cares about your marks beyond HSC, and there are so many pathways to getting into what you want, even if you don't get the exact mark that you need. Getting good marks in the HSC is just one journey, out of many that you could take

Susie

[sudodds]

Hey Susie!

Since there's so much content to learn for Modern History, specifically within the national, international peace and conflict and personality studies. How do you best narrow down your notes?

Thank you so much!

Hey riiisaa87!

So, fun fact - I didn't write notes for Modern! Or for any of my subjects! For me, writing notes just isn't an effective study method, as I am someone that needs to actively be "doing" something in order to retain information. The way that I studied was just doing a shit tonne of practice papers - most of which I completed open book! That way I could work out what arguments and content were most applicable to different types of questions, and I could really see where the gaps in my knowledge lay (unlike in Ancient, I found that for different sections of the syllabus, my modern essays tended to be structured quite similarly - not to the extent whereby I would feel comfortable memorising them - DO NOT do that - but where I could definitely see patterns in my arguments).

[sudodds]

Hi Susie! I went to your trial lecture (you were FANTASTIC) and do all three histories, and I was wondering how you managed to memorise all the dates and historian names across the subjects? also for the HTA history extension prize submission, did you have to convert your footnotes to endnotes (as they suggest)?

Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed - I had so much fun delivering it And yayayaya another member of the 5 unit fam! When it comes to memorising detail/sources/quotes/etc. - I personally used a detail table! Basically it had all the syllabus dot points down one side, and then a column for miscellaneous detail (eg. stats, terminology, names, etc.) and then a column for quotes (you can actually find mine in the notes section). I also recommend taking a look at this thread! made by jakesilove! Worksheets are a really effective form or study, because they are "active", meaning that your brain has to be switched on, rather than just reading and writing out different stats. When done often, its kinda like muscle memory - you will just know these stats/quotes, without even having to think!

For the HTA essay prize - yes, you need to convert all footnotes to endnotes Easy to do on word!

[sudodds]

What are your tips for procrastination? (I find that I could procrastinate on anything at the moment )

- Study in a study environment - ie. school library. I'd go into school even during exam blocks and study in the library, because I found I could just focus better (plus I liked the convenience of having the staff study just upstairs, if I needed help with anything).
- Give your phone to your parents when you want to study, so that you can't get distracted by it - tell them not to give it back until you have finished x essay etc. etc.
- Download selfcontrol or cold turkey onto your laptop!

But also - know that sometimes procrastination is your brains way of saying - I NEED A BREAK! If you have been working consistently, and then sudden, one day you're finding it really hard to focus? Give into the procrastination and take a well deserved break You can't be studying 24/7, that's just not healthy - and in the long run, not effective Give yourself time to relax, have fun, etc. etc.

Also, for English did you use both your related texts in your trials and HSC?

Yep! I didn't change them If you mean did I use both in terms of the fact that I had two related texts for each Module - no. I only used one for the actual exams, I just had the other prepared just in case!

For section 2 in extension, how many areas of the debate did you study and use in your exams? Is it better to do one in depth, or to do two?

I studied three - you'd definitely want to do more than one, as the question often asks specifically for the amount of debates they want you to discuss! (I don't think it has ever been more than 2).

Also, may seem like a dumb question, but you seem to really like Trotsky-Who was he? (showing my lack of modern history knowledge here )
Thanks so much (again)!!

Ahahaha, I definitely think he is an interesting figure that has garnered an unfair reputation throughout history - potentially because of the hella smear campaign that Stalin (and also many capitalist historians/figures) launched against him. Basically, Trotsky was a key communist leader in Russia, during the 1917 Revolution, and was really responsible for much of their success, however when he lost the power struggle to Stalin and was exiled from Russia, much of his significance to history was erased and demonized (literally Stalin photoshopped him out of pictures its mental) - like even amongst other communists, "Trotskyites" (which essentially just means anyone who supports his theory of Permanent Revolution) are vilified (though it is a classic joke that who do communists hate more than fascists? Other communists). Though I don't know whether I would necessarily call him a "good guy" (*cough cough* ruthless suppression of the Kronstadt Rebellion *cough cough*), I definitely don't think he was as evil as he has often been painted to be (and I think it is important to understand the context and ideology behind his decisions), and he undeniably played a critical role in shaping Russian history. But yeah, hella interesting, complex character - sad that he (and the personality study altogether!) have been taken off the new syllabus.