2017 CSSA Ancient History Trials Discussion!

[sudodds]

Hey hey!! How did the exam go? Were the questions what you expected? Are you pleased with how everything went? Do you want to vent about a particularly shitty question?

Super interested to hear what you all think!

Papers were required to be held until today (Thursday 17th) so we can now chat about the questions and the approaches we took. However, please do not share copies of the exam or anything similar!

[mitchello]

Yeah just came out, it was pretty good the Pompeii section was one of the most difficult I've tried personally, and it's the first time I've seen a page long source for the 10 mark question. I did Mycenae for Section II (discontinued next year lol) which was really nice, Section III was Akhenaten (that was pretty messy cause I left it till last) and Section IV was New Kingdom Egypt - I'd just done an essay on one of the options a couple of months prior so very happy with that. Overall pretty decent 

Note: if I were to vent about a shitty question it'd be the Pompeii 10 marker, I had to rework the things I'd studied to suit (which they did not), and the source was just meh. Looking back I wish i saved it till last and actually finished Section III well

[sudodds]

Yeah just came out, it was pretty good the Pompeii section was one of the most difficult I've tried personally, and it's the first time I've seen a page long source for the 10 mark question. I did Mycenae for Section II (discontinued next year lol) which was really nice, Section III was Akhenaten (that was pretty messy cause I left it till last) and Section IV was New Kingdom Egypt - I'd just done an essay on one of the options a couple of months prior so very happy with that. Overall pretty decent 

Note: if I were to vent about a shitty question it'd be the Pompeii 10 marker, I had to rework the things I'd studied to suit (which they did not), and the source was just meh. Looking back I wish i saved it till last and actually finished Section III well

Fantastic!! I'm sure you absolutely smashed it A one page source! That is pretty intense wow! Awesome that you went in so prepared - Well done!! Good luck with the rest of your exams

[beatroot]

Surprisingly not that bad! I've been dreading this exam since the timetable got released and was so glad the questions were straight forward and easy to answer!
Core: Fairly easy, besides the second short answer question. Don't remember learning that in class.
Spartan society: Not that bad, though the extended response got to me. I'm not too sure if I answered it correctly
Xerxes: So glad we got amended questions, because I wouldn't have answered the questions in the booklet. They were confusing. But still annoyed that I didn't finish my answer for part B . Accidentally spent ten minutes on a paragraph that had no relevance to Xerxes at all in part a, thus cutting time into my part b.
Greek World (500BC-440BC): Really liked the essay question. Though I felt like I was repetitive and kept ranting the entire time.

Really hope I get at least 80%, because my half yearly result was terrible. Though I wished I spent more time studying written sources, because I kept using the same historian for all sections.

[mitchello]

Surprisingly not that bad! I've been dreading this exam since the timetable got released and was so glad the questions were straight forward and easy to answer!
Core: Fairly easy, besides the second short answer question. Don't remember learning that in class.

Very nice, hahaha I think I underestimated the core section during study (or a lack of). Other people i've spoken to didn't mind Section I too much either, my wake up call for the HSC I guess.

Also, the second short answer was my most confident and it was the others that I struggled most with, how strange. Hope you get that 80+

[sudodds]

Surprisingly not that bad! I've been dreading this exam since the timetable got released and was so glad the questions were straight forward and easy to answer!
Core: Fairly easy, besides the second short answer question. Don't remember learning that in class.
Spartan society: Not that bad, though the extended response got to me. I'm not too sure if I answered it correctly
Xerxes: So glad we got amended questions, because I wouldn't have answered the questions in the booklet. They were confusing. But still annoyed that I didn't finish my answer for part B . Accidentally spent ten minutes on a paragraph that had no relevance to Xerxes at all in part a, thus cutting time into my part b.
Greek World (500BC-440BC): Really liked the essay question. Though I felt like I was repetitive and kept ranting the entire time.

Really hope I get at least 80%, because my half yearly result was terrible. Though I wished I spent more time studying written sources, because I kept using the same historian for all sections.

Yay!! Sounds like overall the history exams have been pretty good so far Lets hope History Extension continues with that pattern. Fantastic stuff, fingers crossed for that 80+%, though from what I can see you've clearly put in a lot of effort, which I'm anticipating will be rewarded Definitely a good idea to focus more on studying a variety of sources! I was caught out by that last year in my trial as well. It didn't affect my mark too much so don't worry, but for Sparta the prescribed source for the long response was my favourite quote to include - so annoying cos now it didn't make my response look special ahaha. Make sure to focus on the modern historians as well for HSC, like Cartledge for Sparta, and any archeological sources you can find as well!

Great work beatek!! I'm sure you absolutely smashed it

Very nice, hahaha I think I underestimated the core section during study (or a lack of). Other people i've spoken to didn't mind Section I too much either, my wake up call for the HSC I guess.

Also, the second short answer was my most confident and it was the others that I struggled most with, how strange. Hope you get that 80+

Very very common mistake - one that I continually made last year in both Modern and Ancient! But that is the (one) benefit of Trials! It indicates the weaker areas, so you can make sure that they are all fixed up by the time you get to the exam that actually counts

[bearbear]

I found the exam really good and was happy with questions I got. Pompeii and Herculaneum and Athenian Society had some challenging questions though but hopefully I have still managed to answer them well. But I am feeling good about how I went especially after how stressed out I was over the Historical Period but I was able to what I had done in an assessment which was great!

[sudodds]

I found the exam really good and was happy with questions I got. Pompeii and Herculaneum and Athenian Society had some challenging questions though but hopefully I have still managed to answer them well. But I am feeling good about how I went especially after how stressed out I was over the Historical Period but I was able to what I had done in an assessment which was great!

YESSSSS!! Good work bearbear! You've been so helpful around the Ancient History board, so unsurprised that you had a positive experience - if you're good at answering others questions on AN, you're probably gonna be good at answering them in an exam So great, congratulations on getting through it! Can't wait to hear what you actually end up getting (only if you're comfortable sharing of course)!

Great work, good luck with the rest of your exams!

[mitchello]

Has anyone started getting results? I got mine today but the security period still applied to the paper, so I couldn't get that