General Thoughts: Ancient History (2 Viewers)

[Liv1712]

Hmmm...I definitely could have done better. I studied for Mark Antony/Pompey/Formation-Breakdown of the first and Second Triumvirates...DEFINITELY did not expect some of the stuff that we got. But after speaking to my teacher after the exam, I at least wrote about the right things for why the Roman Republic fell, lol. Only area I feel I did okay in, aside from Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The Caesar questions threw me a little, and so did the economic question about Sparta, but ugh- it's frustrating because this exam isn't a representation of the effort I put into this subject. Ah well. It's over now, now to await results... *cries*

On a side note, my whole class cried at some point during the exam. D:

 

[Parkskies]

Anyone here do Agrippina and the Julio-Claudians? And what did you think of them?

 

[Focus is Key]

My ancient teacher told me the average for P+H is usually about 13-15. I don't believe her though.

I heard the average is much higher than that. As in like 18-19, although this years will be lower.

 

[sixteencandles]

Anyone here do Agrippina and the Julio-Claudians? And what did you think of them?

I did both. Agrippina was actually okay (well that's what I thought but we'll see how the marks go...) I was so happy cause the 15 mark question was like a legacy question and I was hoping that's what it would be!!! And for Julio-Claudians I did the Praetorian Guard because it was pretty similar to the trial exam. Now I'm thinking though that I didn't go that welll because I was too basic....oh well

 

[SuperMike96]

Anyone here do Agrippina and the Julio-Claudians? And what did you think of them?

Julio-Claudians was weird. Usually they ask something about assessing the reign, or comparing the principates. I chose option a though. I felt I handled it fairly well considering I wasn't expecting it.

 

[scenario]

I had a mind blank for the 15 mark Agrippina question but managed to bs 3 pages. As fort he Julio-Claudians one of them was the same as my trial and the other was the same as my assessment task. I chose the Augustus' instruction on not extending the empire but couldn't remember everything especially sources.

overall, i think it was ok...

 

[asora1212]

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not fair the modern history exam paper was soooo easy compared to the ancient history. why why why??? the bored of studies are never fair they always just have to see a group suffer.

 

[alexm1996]

Pompeii/Herculaneum: doable, but it's noticeably getting harder and harder. The 10 marker questions are just getting more predictable too, yet in spite of this, it never occurred to me to revise on changing technologies. D'oh.

Sparta: 15 marks on economic activity in Sparta made me cry.

I ended up ranking second in internal assessments. However, barely a mark separated us. Personally, I dont agree that the exam was difficult. In all honesty Pompeii and Herculaneum was simple the 3 mark MC and 6 mark were pathetically easy. The ten marker although different was still the same. If you actually think about it the 10 marker for P and H can only have five different questions Changing methods, New tech & Research, Conservation & Reconstruction, Tourism and the ethical questions. People say its wrong to memorise responses but seriously 5 different questions are not that hard to memorise. Although it did only specifically draw upon the work of Bisel and Lazer you could draw links from such projects as the NEAPOLIS project interlinkning databases to make it easier to access information etc. The question was somewhat hard but not if you'd done it before. Thats what majority of the exam came down too. Whether or not you had done questions before and P and H were a prime example of how practice answers and model responses are.

Also, in response to your issue about Spartan economy. Really its all about how you think. If you saw the CSSA trial paper asking you about 15 marks of how important food in the sparta was you could cry then. Regardless i still recieved a 14/15 because i didnt link the source enough. But again the ancient paper is requiring for students to draw their knowledge from the whole society in order to the answer the question. Like P and H our class already answered economy in the half yearly so we were prepared. It comes down to preparedness, in all honesty there is about 30 or 40 questions in Sparta and once you do them 3-4 times it becomes second knowledge. I know i finished P and H in 40 minutes and similarily with sparta took me about 40 Minutes. I'd done the questions before and really economy is very easy to write. Once you discuss the relationship between economy and Lycurgus you discuss currency, metalurrgy how it relates to sparta only being doctrined by military. Then talk about land ownership and women. Periokoi and Helots. Boom a few quotes and intergrated source a very easy 15 marks.

Althought we did different Personality and Age we did Hatshepsut and Augustan Age. The Hats questions were pathetically easy and like with P and H and Sparta I had done them before multiple times. I ended up filling a whole booklet for 10 marker and two booklets for the 15 marker because i 'rope learned' the content which is all ancient is tbh. Just like the Augustus essay if i Dont get 25 id be very surprised Both our CSSA trial and School based trial centered around frontier policy and management of the provinces. I predicted that question like you for your Age and had memorised my essay. Although tweaked slightly I pumped that out in 45 and allowed for extra time in my Hats questions.

Overall, in my opinion the exam was not hard, if you were prepared you could easily have gotten above 90. Ancient is all about doing the questions before hand.

 

[pscecelia]

wait so if they whole state does bad our marks wont be affected much?

 

[Queenroot]

wait so if they whole state does bad our marks wont be affected much?

No, our marks would be affected a lot...

PoBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ne questions before and P and H were a prime example of how practice answers and model responses are.
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH society in order to the answer the question. Like P and H our class already answered economy in the half yearly so we were prepared. It comes down to preparedness, in all honesty there is about 30 or 40 questions in Sparta and once yBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH BLAH because i 'rope learned' the content BLAH BLAH BLAH

LOL

 

[scenario]

^ ROFL

 

[zhusalmz]

15 marks of how important food in the sparta was you could cry then. Regardless i still recieved a 14/15 because i didnt link the source enough. But again the ancient paper is requiring for students to draw their knowledge from the whole society in order to the answer the question

S

please tell me you actually wrote about role food played in relation to the Syssitia (source) then you linked it to the kleros kleroiai (w/e) Lycurgan reforms - society etc

 

[sedmo]

Pompeii/Herculaneum: doable, but it's noticeably getting harder and harder. The 10 marker questions are just getting more predictable too, yet in spite of this, it never occurred to me to revise on changing technologies. D'oh.

Sparta: 15 marks on economic activity in Sparta made me cry.

I ended up ranking second in internal assessments. However, barely a mark separated us. Personally, I dont agree that the exam was difficult. In all honesty Pompeii and Herculaneum was simple the 3 mark MC and 6 mark were pathetically easy. The ten marker although different was still the same. If you actually think about it the 10 marker for P and H can only have five different questions Changing methods, New tech & Research, Conservation & Reconstruction, Tourism and the ethical questions. People say its wrong to memorise responses but seriously 5 different questions are not that hard to memorise. Although it did only specifically draw upon the work of Bisel and Lazer you could draw links from such projects as the NEAPOLIS project interlinkning databases to make it easier to access information etc. The question was somewhat hard but not if you'd done it before. Thats what majority of the exam came down too. Whether or not you had done questions before and P and H were a prime example of how practice answers and model responses are.

Also, in response to your issue about Spartan economy. Really its all about how you think. If you saw the CSSA trial paper asking you about 15 marks of how important food in the sparta was you could cry then. Regardless i still recieved a 14/15 because i didnt link the source enough. But again the ancient paper is requiring for students to draw their knowledge from the whole society in order to the answer the question. Like P and H our class already answered economy in the half yearly so we were prepared. It comes down to preparedness, in all honesty there is about 30 or 40 questions in Sparta and once you do them 3-4 times it becomes second knowledge. I know i finished P and H in 40 minutes and similarily with sparta took me about 40 Minutes. I'd done the questions before and really economy is very easy to write. Once you discuss the relationship between economy and Lycurgus you discuss currency, metalurrgy how it relates to sparta only being doctrined by military. Then talk about land ownership and women. Periokoi and Helots. Boom a few quotes and intergrated source a very easy 15 marks.

Althought we did different Personality and Age we did Hatshepsut and Augustan Age. The Hats questions were pathetically easy and like with P and H and Sparta I had done them before multiple times. I ended up filling a whole booklet for 10 marker and two booklets for the 15 marker because i 'rope learned' the content which is all ancient is tbh. Just like the Augustus essay if i Dont get 25 id be very surprised Both our CSSA trial and School based trial centered around frontier policy and management of the provinces. I predicted that question like you for your Age and had memorised my essay. Although tweaked slightly I pumped that out in 45 and allowed for extra time in my Hats questions.

Overall, in my opinion the exam was not hard, if you were prepared you could easily have gotten above 90. Ancient is all about doing the questions before hand.

That might have worked for you. Personally, I dislike memorising responses because it doesn't allow you to engage properly with the exam question. I end up just writing my own response rather than writing to the set question. You didn't do New Kingdom Egypt, but if you had and had memorised a response, you would have been fucked. The questions were extremely specific. Learning content is learning content. 'Rope' learning essays is not. The markers will catch you out for it if you haven't been careful. I know that the teacher from my school is a senior marker, and she has a personal vendetta againt memorised responses lol

 

[Queenroot]

That might have worked for you. Personally, I dislike memorising responses because it doesn't allow you to engage properly with the exam question. I end up just writing my own response rather than writing to the set question. You didn't do New Kingdom Egypt, but if you had and had memorised a response, you would have been fucked. The questions were extremely specific. Learning content is learning content. 'Rope' learning essays is not. The markers will catch you out for it if you haven't been careful. I know that the teacher from my school is a senior marker, and she has a personal vendetta againt memorised responses lol

Which New Kingdom topic did you do?

 

[zhusalmz]

>prepared new kingdom essay on warrior pharoah beginning with Amenhotep, emphasis prior pharaohs in establishing the concept. finish Amenhotep, attempt to do Akhenaten, "fuck it they're not gonna ask about warrior pharaoh"

disregard the other pharoahs, keep Amenhotep warrior stuff in my notes just for fun. nek minute?

 

[sedmo]

Which New Kingdom topic did you do?

I did NKE to Thutmose IV

 

[Queenroot]

I did NKE to Thutmose IV

OMG, were you fucked?

 

[sedmo]

OMG, were you fucked?

hmm, I don't know. I picked maintenance of the empire (the T3 question was so ridiculous!) and i think it went ok. I literally read my notes on that section 5 minutes before the exam, and managed to remember most of the historiography. I just interpreted the question as mainly asking you to discuss a2 and t4's role in maintaining t3's so called 'empire' - the quote was weird, didn't see it coming! I couldn't remember specific nubia and retennu campaigns, so it was a bit general. I chucked a bit of historiography in about the 'empire' and ian shaw and barry kemp's interpretations of its extent and made some quite tenuous links to maintenence (i was running out of things to say haha). Hopefully can scrape maybe a b range mark? it wasn't anything special, I can assure you! The essay section is my stronger section, I had a lot more trouble with pompeii and herc (which is probs bad considering its a core topic lol - great judgement call leaving it to do last).
did you nke to t4? what question did you pick?

 

[Queenroot]

hmm, I don't know. I picked maintenance of the empire (the T3 question was so ridiculous!) and i think it went ok. I literally read my notes on that section 5 minutes before the exam, and managed to remember most of the historiography. I just interpreted the question as mainly asking you to discuss a2 and t4's role in maintaining t3's so called 'empire' - the quote was weird, didn't see it coming! I couldn't remember specific nubia and retennu campaigns, so it was a bit general. I chucked a bit of historiography in about the 'empire' and ian shaw and barry kemp's interpretations of its extent and made some quite tenuous links to maintenence (i was running out of things to say haha). Hopefully can scrape maybe a b range mark? it wasn't anything special, I can assure you! The essay section is my stronger section, I had a lot more trouble with pompeii and herc (which is probs bad considering its a core topic lol - great judgement call leaving it to do last).
did you nke to t4? what question did you pick?

Yeah, I thought T3 was stupid as fck, because I knew the building programs of all the pharaohs, but impossible to make a large essay from just T3.
Anyhoo, I picked the same option as you and managed to BS 2.5 pages, although the best I can get out of that is a C mark range... Made up sources + wrote about random shit.
talked briefly about diplomacy, marriage treaty, building programs(lol wtf? so random), and random campaigns - basically anything that came off the top of my head because I had NOT studied that at all. Haha, you're so lucky you read those notes.

 

[sedmo]

Yeah, I thought T3 was stupid as fck, because I knew the building programs of all the pharaohs, but impossible to make a large essay from just T3.
Anyhoo, I picked the same option as you and managed to BS 2.5 pages, although the best I can get out of that is a C mark range... Made up sources + wrote about random shit.
talked briefly about diplomacy, marriage treaty, building programs(lol wtf? so random), and random campaigns - basically anything that came off the top of my head because I had NOT studied that at all. Haha, you're so lucky you read those notes.

hahah omgsh, wrote about building programs as well but couldn't remember what the sites were called, so I basically just wrote 'A2 established a building program in Nubia, in coordination with the Viceroy of Kush, to maintain Egyptian superiority.' and just whacked some quote from alan gardiner about 'personal piety in the provinces' lol (i don't even remember if he was talking about t4 or a2).
marriage treaty was a gift! got a whole para out of that bad boy. but i couldn't remember shit about t4's nubian campaigns.when i was in the exam i basically forgot which parts of nubia wawat and kush were, my mind went so dead haha.
i know, the notes basically saved me. I don't know about you but our class was so behind and had to cover the last empire section at home in the holidays because we graduated before we could finish. thank god I bothered to write some for maintenence, skipped basically half the syllabus for nke.
sounds like you got some good stuff down though. A lot of people in my class at school had no idea what the hell to write, and some interpreted as a q about t3 and his empire. every history teacher i've spoken to said nke was especially hard, so hopefully that all sorts itself out when they fiddle about with the marks.