[Bobthealmighty]

I've got my GCSE mocks coming up and could with some advice on remember all the facts+some revision techniques things I could really do with the help. Its two papers and goes up to Russia, got any useful websites etc.? HELP!

[Mr Field]

Why not try:
http://www.schoolhis...co.uk/revision/

[Bobthealmighty]

Thanks i have been for a while now i just wondered if anyone knew of any other websites or had any adive

[Mrs Faithorn]

I assume you are doing a Modern World History course? You don't say which exam board you are doing but here are several websites that should help:

http://www.johndclare.net/ This site is run by a very experienced teacher and text book author and you should find the 'Revision Sheets' (which you can also print off - click on the 'Word' icon) very helpful as well as the advice in the 'How do I' section.

http://www.activehis...uk/GCSE/rev.htm This is another well-respected History teacher's site and this section has various games and quizzes on Modern World History Topics which might make revision a bit more fun

Finally, this site has an excellent revision section here: http://www.schoolhis...co.uk/revision/

Pick the topics you have studied and then explore each section. You should find plenty to help you get your head round the material. Eg the 'Interactive Diagrams' and various quizzes are particularly good.

As for revising ....... do you know what sort of learner you are? eg are you a visual learner then making spider diagrams or mind maps is a good strategy or are you an 'audio' learner? If so try putting your summary notes on tape and play them over and over again (sitting on the school bus, for example).

Let us know if you need more advice or help as there is much more to be said about revising effectively.

_____________________________
Sorry, but I must have been writing my reply at the same time as Mr Field so the last link I have given is the same as his.

This post has been edited by Mrs Faithorn: 24 November 2003 - 10:04 PM

[Bobthealmighty]

i just quickly looked through those websites and the advice its so far been alot of help. I'm sure to post how i did

[Miss Buxton]

I gave these websites to my pupils to help prepare them for their exam (some have been mentioned by Mr Field and Mrs Faithorn)


1. http://www.schoolhis...co.uk/revision/

2. http://www.johndclare.net/


3. http://www.bbc.co.uk...tesize/history/

4. http://www.activehistory.co.uk/

5. http://www.historyle...orldhistory.htm

6. http://studystop.the..._quiz/index.htm ://http://studystop.thehistorychannel....quiz/index.htm ://http://studystop.thehistorychannel....quiz/index.htm ://http://studystop.thehistorychannel....quiz/index.htm ://http://studystop.thehistorychannel....quiz/index.htm

7. http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/

8. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/

[Miss Buxton]

Top Tips for Questions:

Comparing sources
· When you are asked to compare to sources and decide on their reliability and/or usefulness make sure you analyse both.
· For each source analyse its strengths and weaknesses – what makes it reliable/useful, what detracts from its reliability/utility.
· Come to a conclusion! Don’t say they are both of the same reliability or usefulness, choose one and state your case clearly.

Looking at Bias· Don’t fall into the trap of calling a source biased just because it is written by someone on a particular side of a dispute. Make sure you have grounds for describing a source as biased!
· The essential skill is to explain how and why a source is biased and to explain why it matters that a source is biased namely that it affects its reliability and perhaps usefulness

When thinking about usefulness:
· The key trigger here is an understanding of what your line of enquiry is.
· For instance a biased source might be extremely useful if you are investigating the opinions of a particular group at a particular time, but less useful if you were asked to investigate “the facts” of an event.

Use all the sources and your own knowledge
This type of question often requires you to study a relatively high number of sources and to agree or disagree on a particular statement. These are frequently questions worth many marks!

When considering reliability ask these questions:
· Does this source distort the facts?
· Does it give one side of the story or is it balanced
· Does it deliberately attempt to mislead?
· Can the views expressed in the source be corroborated?


Reliability: Factors affecting reliability

Questions to consider for Written Sources
· Was the author an eyewitness and if so how long since the events did the writing take place?
· Did the author have access to all the relevant facts?
· Did the author have access to a variety of different sources? Is there evidence of balance in the source?
· Under what circumstances was the author writing – was he/she free to speak his/her mind freely?
· Was the author trying to persuade people to share his/her views?
· If the source is all opinion is it opinion typical of others at the time?

Questions to consider for pictorial sources: Drawings and paintings
· Was it the artist’s intention to give an accurate picture or a factual representation of what occurred? Or was it created to form opinion? What was the motive of the artist?
· If the picture was intended to be an accurate representation, was the artist an eyewitness?
· Was the picture a product of the artist's imagination?

Questions to consider for pictorial sources: Cartoons
These are frequently deliberately exaggerated for effect and in many cases simply unreal e.g. Winston Churchill portrayed with the body of a bulldog. In such cases it is clear that that the picture itself is not “reliable” so you will have to consider whether the message of the picture is reliable (did Churchill have bulldog qualities?). Does the message accurately reflect the generally held opinion of the person, event or thing?

Questions to consider for pictorial sources: Photos
· The camera sometimes lies! However it is very unlikely that “doctored” photos will appear in exam papers.
· However staged photographs will often appear! Think of the school prospectus with all those happy hardworking students contently working away behind the screens of high specification computers! Ask yourself whether the photograph portrays events which are typical of such a context. Consider also the motive of the person who may have staged the photograph.

Questions to consider for Statistics
· Have they been collected accurately?
· Have the numbers been simplified – rounded up or down?
· Has the scale been altered for effect?

When sources disagree
· It is an examiner favourite to ask why two or more sources don’t agree. Don’t just describe the sources back to the examiner – this is how they disagree not why.
· Also take care to remain focussed – you have not been asked about reliability or usefulness here!
· To understand why sources disagree requires an understanding of motive – why did the author produce the source?
· You also need to consider the different access that each author would have had to the facts. For instance a British historian might have better access to source material on British history than a Chinese one!
· You also need to take into account the background, nationality, culture, religion etc. of the author and decide whether this may have had some bearing on how things have been interpreted in the source

Consider carefully the statement offered by the examiner e.g. “The most important reason why the League was weak was that it made decisions very slowly” Do you agree or disagree with it. Often as in the example given it is most sensible to disagree (explain why the slowness of the League to make decisions was important but explain the importance of a variety of other factors to explain the weakness of the League)
· List your knowledge which supports the statement
· List your knowledge which does not support the statement
· Look to the sources and add evidence from the sources to both your lists
· You will know be in a position to write a balanced answer
· Try not to sit on the fence – come to a conclusion!!

[Miss Buxton]

From this website I gave the students advice on how to learn dates:

http://www.johndclare.net/

How do I learn dates?

Where might you need to use dates? Let’s go back to the basics of what the GCSE is about. You want to show the examiner:
· That you can DESCRIBE things in history: You do not need to know the date for every fact. Weasel phrases (time connectives) such ‘then’ and ‘shortly afterwards’ are usually quite good enough, and the most that you will normally need is ‘In 1938…’. In these stories, there is only the need to learn a date if it is absolutely essential to the plot.
· That you can EXPLAIN things in history: Here, you will need to provide a bit of evidence as part of a ‘PEE every paragraph’ approach – but again, the most you will usually need here is a year.
· That you can ANALYSE SOURCES, using your own knowledge: Again, rarely will a specific date be essential to the argument.

¨ So do not to get too hung up on trying to remember lots of dates.
¨ You DO NEED to know what is happening at a certain time, but you rarely need to know the exact date that it was happening.
¨ There are other things (eg lists of causes/ stories of key events) which are more important.

GOOD ADVICE
1. Start by going through your topics and making lists of the dates you MUST remember – ie all the dates in the vital key lists of the big stories, plus dates which you think are essential within individual stories.
2. Prune your list to the number of dates you think you can remember – eg 50.
NOW LEARN THEM!!!

HOW you learn will depend on your learning style
¨ Lists: Write things like that down in lists, then I read/look away to put them into to my mind, then check if I know them, covering up one side then the other to see if I can remember etc.
¨ Some people are postcards people – date on one side, event on the other. You can go through the cards whenever you have a moment (as you sit on the bus going home) seeing if you can remember what is on the other side.
¨ Auditory learners – dictate them onto a tape, leaving short gaps in between. Play the tape to yourself over headphones, trying to fill the gaps before the tape does. Or recite them as a sing-song ‘poem’ (eg ‘Munich meeting: thirty-eight’).
¨ Visual learners – draw your dates onto timelines, using bright colours and pictures. Design each timeline differently, so that it has a different ‘hook’ for your visual memory to hang it on.¨ Kinaesthetic learners – you must tie/stick the different dates to different places. Eg write date+event cards, and blutack them to various places around the house (along the top of your wardrobe/ the back of the toilet door). Start by actually GOING TO those places to learn the dates, THEN try to imagine yourself going to those places, and rehearse the dates in each location. (Kinaestheic learners find the postcard approach useful, because they are actually touching the dates).

VITAL!!There is one situation where dates are ESSENTIAL
There are times when examiners put dates in questions - & you can really foul up if you don’t know the dates then!!!
Example: list of topics where this might happen…
· International events after the Treaty of Versailles (eg ‘What were the threats to the Treaty of Versailles 1919-19??’)
· the road to war, including detailed knowledge of the last year, Sept 1938-Sept 1939 (eg ‘How did Hitler endanger the peace of Europe 1933-19??’)
· the sequence of key events in the Cold War (eg ‘Why did America and Russia fall out 1945 to 19??)
· the events in/threats to the early Weimar Republic
· the rise of the early Nazi Party and Hitler 1919-1933
· the events of Hitler’s consolidation of power 1933-1939.
· Can you think of any others?
It is REALLY ESSENTIAL that you know the dates of events in these key lists, so that you can include the correct events in your answers.