Exam skills These are the exam skills you will need to pass your National 5 History exam. Please do structure your answers in the way we have advised you to, or you will lose marks. If you are unsure, come and see us.

There are six question stems:  “Evaluate the usefulness of…”- 4-5 marks.  Compare the views of… 4 marks  Describe… (5-6 marks)  Explain… (5-6 marks)  “To what extent…” (8 marks)  “How fully…?” (5-6 marks)

“Evaluate the usefulness of…”- 4-5 marks  Look at… Who…? (Origin) When…? (Origin) The type of source- Primary or Secondary. Why…? (the purpose of the source) What…? (The content of the source) up to 2 marks. What’s been left out…? (Recall) up to 2 marks. You must make an evaluative comment on each element, and an overall judgement on how useful the source is. 1 mark

Compare the views of… 4 marks  One basic comparison is worth 1 mark.  2 full comparisons are worth 2 marks each.  You cannot get full marks if you don’t write an overall judgement i.e. “sources A and B agree/disagree to some extent/to a great extent…”

Describe… (5-6 marks)  There is no source to help you.  You must come up with 5-6 strong and distinctive points.  POINT-EXPLAIN – make sure you develop your point.  Each point must be in a separate sentence.  It MUST ATQ! Answer the question.

Explain… (5-6 marks)  Here you must develop your points fully-  Use point, explain, evaluate.  Each point must be in a separate sentence.  You do not need to write a conclusion for this question.  There is no source to help you in the exam.  Some examples you may have seen do have a source.

“To what extent…” (8 marks)  This is like a mini essay, with four sections.  You should write a short introduction with background and introducing your factors.  You need a paragraph on the “isolated factor” of the essay.  You then need to BALANCE this with “other factors”  You also need a balanced conclusion: That means making a judgement, overall, on the question, e.g. X was very significant, but other factors like Y and Z were also… _ is the most important factor.

“How fully…?” (5-6 marks)  Answer the question, e.g. “Source A does/does not fully explain…”  Next, deal with the source- start with “Source A states…” You get up to 3 marks for this.  Now, deal with what the source fails to mention. Start with; “The source fails to mention…” You can get up to 4 marks for this.  You must discuss both the source and recall to have a chance of gaining full marks.

There are 2 basic rules-  Rule 1 – read and follow the examples in the yellow Exam Skills booklet.  Rule 2 – Always ATQ- Answer The Question.  Every year pupils make the simple mistake of not reading questions properly.

Go back to your checklist-  Tick the exam type questions that you can understand.  Cross the ones you do not understand.  A simple revision trick is to work on your weaknesses.

Troubleshooting  Common mistakes you should check for; Points under developed. The wrong information – you do need to know your facts. Points being joined together and too brief, e.g. “diseases like cholera and rickets were bad for health” instead of “Cholera caused bad health as it was a killer disease present in dirty water. Also, as houses were built close together a disease called rickets was caused, which causes bone deformities.” Answering the wrong type of question; e.g. answering a “how fully” as an “evaluate the usefulness…” question. Including the correct information but not actually answering the question.