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History Tutor on Understanding the Elective History Exam Format

O  & N level ELective History is extremely popular in school as students realise that there are common areas between History and Social Studies and  namely in the source-based questions.

Below the Elective History tutor gives an explanation of the format of the exam paper which will help students and parents have a clearer picture of the type of questions and marks allocated.

Topics Covered:

Part 1: The World in Crisis

Impact of World War I

  • Treaty of Versailles
  • Weakness of the League of Nation

Stalin’s Soviet Union*

  • His rise
  • His dictatorship

Hitler’s Germany*

  • His Rise
  • His Dictatorship

World War II in Europe

  • Causes for outbreak
  • Entry of USA

Defeat of Germany/End of World War II

  • Causes

World War II in the Asia Pacific

  • Japan’s rise
  • Cause of WWII in Asia Pacific

Japan’s Defeat in World War II

  • Causes

*Both are source-based case studies – i.e they are topic options for SBQ as well SEQ. The rest are only topic options for SEQs.

Part 2: Bipolarity & the Cold War

Cold War in Europe

  • Reasons

The Korean War*

  • Causes
  • Development
  • Outcome/Impact

The Cuban Missile Crisis*

  • Causes
  • Development
  • Outcome/Impact

The End of Cold War

  • Detente
    Collapse of Communism in Soviet Union
    End of Communism in Eastern Europe

Both are source-based case studies – i.e they are topic options for SBQ as well SEQ. The rest are only topic options for SEQs.

Note that there are therefore only 4 topics that are options for Source-based Case Studies but they are also topic options for SEQs. The rest in part 1 and 2 are only options for SEQs.

Exam Format
Duration: 1 hr 40 mins

Section A: Source-base Case Study (30 marks)

  • 5 SBQ

Section B: 2 Structured-Essay Questions (20 Marks)

  • Two questions set. Each Question has two sub-parts.
  • Choose one

 

 

Burning of the Amazon Rainforest brought on plantation owners, farmers and developers. Extract & Photo from "Why is the Amazon burning? Four reasons" by EarthSky Voices in EARTH | HUMAN WORLD | August 27, 2019

Deforestation – an “evergreen” tragedy, an unceasing catastrophe

In my Geography tuition, we discuss environmental and sustainability issues. Current concerns are brought up regularly to  the best of my ability and discussed in my Geography tuition sessions.

Two and a half months ago, many of us read with horror about the gigantic blaze that has destroyed more than 9,600 sq km of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest or 906,000 hectares, a whopping 70 percent increase over the same tracking period last year. As a Geography tutor, it is distressful to read of such news.

Don’t blame global warming, climate change, these fires are the acts of humans. With close to 40,000 fires burning, they are started by farmers, plantation companies and developers. A quarter of the Amazon rainforests have disappeared for good and more of the forests will continue to disappear at an alarming rate.

For the Brazilian Amazon, infrastructure development means not just new dams to generate electricity but also “webs of waterways, rail lines, ports and roads” that will get products like soybeans, corn and beef to market, according to Walker, a professor from the University of Florida. The ambitious infrastructural plans pushed by the new government spells doom for the forests and forest tribes.

Sources:
“Why the Amazon is burning: 4 reasons”  | August 27, 2019.
“People and the tropical rainforest ecosystem” GeoActive Online 232, 2000.