mayris Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 My History teacher recently told me that the last years IB2s got really good results on their finals: apparently one got a six, four or five got fives, and the rest got fours, with the odd three. But, to me this doesn't sound very good at all. Does anyone know if this year's History exams were particularly hard? Would love to know as either the exams are really that difficult, or there is something missing that the students at my school don't learn. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowhead Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Your teacher obviously isn't very good and is not preparing your class well enough for IB exams. In my graduating class, there were 14 students in my one and only History HL class. Of us 14, 3 got 7s (including me), 5 got 6s, 5 got 5s, and we had 1 person with a 3 (but he was an idiot who slept through his Paper 3, so he doesn't count). Its not really hard at all, you just need to develop a flair for essay writing and memorising timelines, sequence of events, and basic facts for various incidents. Also including commentary from other historians is very helpful and impressive in your essays. The first thing you should do is look up the name of the historian who wrote your textbook. In future essays, instead of saying, "The Cold War was a time of great turmoil between the superpowers," say, "According to Keylor, the Cold War was a period of quiet hostility, which led to great turmoil between the two superpowers." For other instances, look up names of other historians who've written books on the subjects you're focussing your essays on. Then just drop their names in various bits of analysis that you've utilised. I tended to write my own thing in all my essays, but just throw around the names of the four historians whose textbooks I used at some point in the IB (Keen, Keylor, Keenan, Kennedy, Jackson). I would just be smart about it and give credit to one of them for some of the more ambiguous sentences or claims in my essays. So if I would write about the tensions between the two superpowers rising during the U2 incident, I would probably phrase it as, "Kennedy explained how tensions were "flaring" between the two superpowers when the U2 incident was revealed." Its such an obvious idea, but just for throwing that historian's name out there, you get some brownie points.Best of luck,Arrowhead. 3 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase01 Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 I have a situation similar to Mayris. I had my history teacher last year for and AP class, and I failed the AP exam because she didn't do the best job teaching the subject. My best advice is to read, read, and overread. If your teacher is no good you have to be able to cover the lost ground yourself. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hehe101 Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 I sure hope not since I'm taking HL history right now. But last year in our school, my HL history teacher said that all of her students got 7's and 6's. She's an amazing teacher though. Honestly, for me history truly needs a good teacher. Our HL History class year after year does consistently well with the majority of students getting 7's and 6's. So it all depends on your teacher and how well you can write and analyze I guess Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubyawhy Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 We had about 20 kids doing HL history last year, and the majority got 6. But no 7s. This is rather intimidating...as I feel I need a 7 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Award Winning Boss Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 My teacher said the same thing about philosophy but instead of looking it as a bad thing... make sure your the one who gets a 7 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peanut Butter Jelly Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 um.... History is one of the hardest subjects to get a 7..only behing English A1 HL. Its somewhere like 3%. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowhead Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 A 7 in History is very much achievable: it takes practice, a sharp memory, good technical essay writing, and a teacher who knows what he/she is doing. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShootingStars Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Agree with the post above, it is very much achievable.- Spend time on your IA, don't rush through it.- Find your own way of learning history. Some people in my class prefer watching videos, they feel they remember facts better that way. Also you don't necessarily have to memorize, you have to work at understanding! - Practice writing essays. SO unbelievably important. And don't NARRATE, EXPLAIN. + historiography (using historions' commentary as mentioned previously on the thread) does make you look more well-read about the subject. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopTheLops Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 yeah my history teacher is great, out of all students i'd probably be considered the worst and i got a 6 on my paper 2, got a 5 on my paper 3, that was on the mini mocks, dunno if u guys have em but we had em in IB1. Our school has pretty good history teachers Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
i love ib lol jk Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 Anyone know any good sources for historiographical summaries? It's very time consuming to look through books for them (I'm sure you all know how little time we have in the IB). Cheers Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChloeAnne95 Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 I think we had six level 7s and two level 6s last year... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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