Racing against Time

[luck]

Okay. I need to explain myself before I get yelled at.

First, I admit it is my fault that I am completely cramming for the history SL test. Yes I know I'm not supposed to do that, but I had a terrible year of horrible teachers.

Second, I am in DIRE DIRE DIRE need of advice on how to write history SL paper 1 and 2.

Third, my history teacher is a total ignorant pervert. I didn't even KNOW that the course was called "20th Century World History" not freaking "US History" until like a month ago. Now the IB test is in about 2 days. We took 3 practice paper 1s where WE graded it and we took 2 paper 2s where he did not explain how to write them at ALL.

So okay here are my questions:

Paper 1: Do you have any advice on what I can do to maximize the points I get here?

Most of my class gets 4s and 5s out of 7. While skimming through the forums, it seems as if a LOT of people are easily getting 6s and if not 7s. I'm just utterly amazed because this whole year my class has been failing the class and my teacher has not been helping us in any way to actually prepare for the test. I get about 5s on these paper 1s. I always mess up on the "Compare and Contrast source * and source *". And I always screw up on the political cartoons. ALWAYS. I don't know what to do really... I got my background knowledge down for the last question. Any idea?

Paper 2: Okay. I have a LOT of questions here:

Loaded Assumptions: What the heck is this? Apparently good paper 2s challenge the assumption in the topic? Where would you talk about this stuff? Conclusion? Within a paragraph? The whole essay? I don't know where to write it...

And this is my fault but please help me: Since I have about... 3 days to study, I've decided to study causes/effects of WWI and WWII for topic 1 and the origins of the cold war for topic 5. I've looked at past paper questions and it seems as if topic 5 ALWAYS has an origins questions. Topic 1 seems to have a cause/effect question on WWI and WWII. Do you have anything to say to this?

Historiography: How exactly do you use historians? In my essays, I just put them on my paper. For example, if the historian's sayings is related to the paragraph I'm writing, I just name drop him. But I KNOW I'm not supposed to do that. I just don't know WHAT to do. Any suggestions?

Facts itself: Do you need to know a LOT of facts? Like do you need to know years for example?

Thank you for your help in all seriousness. :/ Sorry.

EDIT: Argh. I wish I knew about this website earlier... those downloadable notes would have been awesome...

EDIT 2: Is it true that you only need a 13/20 average on the essays to get a 7? o_o. I just read that somewhere... I got a 14/20 on one of my essays..

Edited May 9, 2010 by luck

[SushiMonstar]

Check out this website for Paper 1 and I'm sure you could get a 6 or 7 easily

http://www.activehistory.co.uk/ib-history/ib-history-paper-1-tips.pdf

(That website is really helpful so make sure you explore it enough to get examination help lol)

Paper 2: (Can only answer as much since I've only studied Topic 1 and Topic 3 for Paper2)

Loaded assumptions... for example..

To what extent was the Provisional Government doomed to fail? (Soviet Russia)

Loaded assumption: that the Provisional Government was doomed to fail

To challenge it: Talk about specific successes of the Provisional Government despite its many failures

Stating things like that show that you're challenging the question. Just make sure you have a balanced essay.

And well, I'm not sure what the grade boundaries are for standard level but (for comparison's sake) I think a 7 for us in HL is a 16/20.

Anyway, hope that helped. I have to revise everything myself lol. You're not alone.

EDIT:

Facts: Yes of course you need to know the facts You need to KNOW what happens to be able to provide evidence to your claims in your essay. You need to be able to provide a detailed account of the topic you're answering to get high marks.

Names: "The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip....."

Years: "The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was a ... "The Great Depression of 1929...."

In general, when writing essays, details (names, years, percentages etc.) are always nice. :0

Historiography: Use historiography to back up your claims. When you quote them, make sure you explore it and say for example: "Another factor which contributed to the rise of the Bolsheviks in power was the use of Checka to inflict terror towards their oppositions. (Evidence!) (Evidence!) (Evidence!) The historian, Robert Service, however, states that "Evidence from the Russian archives show that the period of the Russian Civil War was extremely chaotic that Bolshevik control of the Cheka limited."

Good luck!

Edited May 9, 2010 by SushiMonstar