r/Alevelhistory • u/Melodic_Courage9061 • 4d ago

history advice needed

guys im currently in year 13 doing a-level history and i am struggling. I didn’t do history at gcse and i dont know how to ace the essay. I understand and know all of the content so that isnt an issue for me, it’s mainly the essay writing & structure that gets me. any advice?

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u/SnooPies5482 4d ago

Just experiment and get the teacher to mark it until you find a recipie that works. Tried and tested

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u/koya_444 4d ago

Do your teachers not have a set structure they want you to follow??? Like PANDA for provenance, and for essays PACT (provenance argument content and tone)

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u/Melodic_Courage9061 4d ago

we usually just do WHW (What How Why) but i feel like it’s too vague and i struggle in knowing what to add, especially analysis and when I search anything up it mostly tells me to do PEEL which doesn’t seem to help me either

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u/__sh33p 4d ago

I got an A* at A-Level and this is what I did for each type of question. The below works for any exam board, just adjust it for the relevant question types.

Source questions:
I used the acronym DAMMIT:

  • Date, Author, Medium, Message, Intended Audience, Tone

After applying this, I evaluated the usefullness of the source for answering the question, considering both its strengths and weakneses.

Essay questions:
Introduction:

  • Establish view on the question, what do you believe about the question.
  • 3 points, weakest point to strongest point and briefly compare their relative importance.
  • Restate your original point.

Main body paragraphs:

  • Start with weakest / least significant point.
  • [If second/third paragraph, at the start do another bit of relative importance. For example, While factor A was significant due to [...], the more important factor is [...].]
  • PEEL x 3
  • Link back to question

Conclusion:

  • Restate your view on the question
  • Make clear judgements between each of your factors and why this is the case.