I just read over them once or twice a day tbh, I paid particularly close attention to my Weimar one because I knew with about 85% certainty it'd be asked, and my 'causes of the conflict' for Conflict in Europe (bc that's about as far as we had gone at that point). Ended up getting both in the trials so that was good(/lucky), but I could've answered anything else for Germany and anything that we were up to for Conflict bc I had my plans to fall back on.
Well in many ways writing them and researching them is the practice! I personally get more out of reading all my essays twice in forty minutes than writing one down in the same amount of time. When I write stuff down I usually just zone out and copy the words, but If I read I tend to be more engaged. Mind you, this a very personal thing, so make sure to do whatever you feel suits you best!oh, so you don't practice essays
i'm surprised lol
Can you do the syllabus analysis of Conflict in Europe that you did for Germany? I don't do it, but I love your style of thinking.
Hey, I definitely can! Give me a bit of time between today and tomorrow and I'll get onto it
In terms of applying it to whatever topics your doing, I recommend looking at all the past papers from 2001-2014 with the syllabus right next to it. Modern examiners aren't very creative with their choices (besides personality study) and will usually just reword aspects of the syllabus. From there, see if there are any trends, like Germany almost always having a Weimar collapse question. Do this plan first. Then go down your syllabus and answer anything to which they could ask you something that requires a critical level of understanding. Skip rubbish fluffy aspects of the syllabus, and then write practice essays for the remaining dot points. Aim for one essay every two days with it ramping up as the exam approaches, and combined with a good understanding of your personality and knowledge on how to answer source based questions, you're golden! Really hope I can get something similar in the HSC!
It's all very well and good to talk about "changing the wording around" but without knowing how specific your essay plans are, if you just wheel out your pre-prepared response for a question which is 'worded differently' which in actuality changes the entire focus of the essay, you're in big trouble. It's a very bad idea to rely solely on essay plans without actually fleshing out background knowledge because there's every likelihood bostes can throw in left of field questions in which case you're done for.The markers can change wording around, but the same core topics remain the same.
I'll go over Germany.
1. Collapse of the Weimar Republic
For example, Weimar, every question will be on the collapse of the republic. Looking at your syllabus, it does not ask/care about social life in Weimar, only the issues that would eventually lead to its fall.
Hence, for Weimar, as long as you have an essay that deals with all aspects of the collapse, you can answer any question on Weimar. Even if the markers 'change things around' by specifying something they want you to talk about (which they more than often do) it's a 'too what extent' or an 'evaluate the impact of xyz on the collapse'. Hence, all you need to say is that it played an important role, but other factors contributed, and you're golden. I have one large essay plan here.
2. Rise of the Nazi Party
Now it's rare that they'll ask anything from here, but they have recently in the form of 'Outline the Nazi Party's Consolidation of Power between 1933-34'. I have two essays from this section, one for the rise of NSDAP and the other the consolidation of power. They won't ask a question on Hitler's accession of power because it requires absolutely no critical analysis whatsoever, and even if they did, students should probably avoid it like a rash, bc it'd be near impossible to earn an A.
3. Nazism in Power
This is where the bulk of the Non Weimar Questions will come from.
I have an essay on Hitler's role in the Nazi state
Nazism as totalarianism
Role of propaganda and repression
Nothing on cultural life because again, no critical thought whatsoever, simply will not get asked. IF it did get asked, it's just an extension of nazi racial policy and totalarianism.
Nazi racial policy essay.
4. Foreign Policy
I have one for effectiveness and one for the impact on ideology.
Total Essay Count: 9
I'm not saying that writing a practice essay for every single dot point is some sort of easy fix. It's far from easy, and a good plan should take upwards of 1.5 hours to research, structure and write. That's something like 25-30 hours of just writing plans. Then learning all these plans, you're looking at 40 hours of modern studying! But what you get out of it is far more effective then just reading your 120+ page notes over and over again, at least, it is for me. Everyone study's differently, and my way of studying might not be the best for everyone! More than anything, these essay plans are really just condensed notes that are structured in the form of an argument rather than just content, and it's that sense of argument that I find separates the B's from the A's in Modern
I'm not sure if I agree with you. I mean, sure memorising the content is probably helpful for background knowledge but the point of essay plans is to condense your knowledge to the most nuanced posts and have a clear structure to what you want.
What I'm trying to say is that by writing essay plans and memorising those plans specifically you limit yourself quite significantly when it comes to anything that's not exactly what you planned for. If you plan for an essay on the aims of German foreign policy and then you get a question on the extent to which German racial policy dictated foreign policy you'll get absolutely steamrolled. On the other hand, if you have a clear knowledge of the entire syllabus it allows you far more scope to synthesise complex ideas, and most importantly, actually answer the question at hand, rather than spurt out what your essay plan has on it.
Lol the absolute last thing I'd be advocating is trying to regurgitate a response that's irrelevant to the question. The point of the essay plan is to give you a scaffold off which you can frame any thesis is given on that topic.
I know yeah!!
I didn't really feel the jump from yr10 to 11, is this even normal
I know you're talking about Jap, but I didn't feel any jump from year 10 to 11 at all. Same with year 12 lol.
Yeah, me too, but I've been pretty intense since I was a little kid (thank god for mum and dad). The jump is overrated if you're used to studying, I think.
Yes! It's super effective. MAke sure it's specific though. Don't just say
Oh wow that's a really good idea! Wish I had thought of this ahead of time lel.
i swear sikkient is like my fav word to describe ppl lol
nah. Studying subjects in 3 hour chunks is better. Prepares you for the same time limit as the exam.
