History
Study Resources

Practice writing essays

It’s difficult to get an essay written in 42.5 minutes, but with practice you can learn how it’s done. We did weekly class tests, which I found really helped.

Study past papers

Familiarise yourself with the paper and the past questions that have been asked.

Make a plan

In the exam, it’s much easier if you know the structure of what you’re going to write, before you write it. Those 42.5 minutes go by incredibly quickly, so knowing your structure is key. When making my plan, I wrote out each important point that I wanted to make, in each of the essays that I prepared.

Writing essays

Aim for 3-5 quotes per essay. Examiners love this, as it shows depth rather than reeling off facts. Include interesting nuggets of information in all paragraphs. Write short paragraphs. Each paragraph is marked out of 12, so writing 2 short paragraphs and each scoring 6’s, is better than one long paragraph which could be awarded 9.

Reaction to Leaving Certificate 2022 History (Higher Level) by Susan Cashell, history teacher at The Institute of Education.

This was a paper for the well prepared higher-level student.

Similarly to last year, students only had to answer the Documents Based Question (DBQ) and write two essays. Normally they have to answer the DBQ and write three essays. This meant they had one hour for each essay and 50 mins for the DBQ.

The Compulsory Document Based Question (DBQ) on Coleraine was straightforward, provided that students knew their key words autobiography and objective.

Some students might have been surprised by the contextualisation question 4 that didn’t just concentrate on Coleraine but asked for other issues that contributed to tension in Derry in the 1960’s

Because of modifiocations to the paper again this year, students only had to answer two essay question, rather then three. This would have given them time to answer the good choice of lovely survey questions in the US section, such as the strengths and weaknesses of the US economy 1945-89 and developments in race relations 1945-89.

The popular Dictatorship section had enough choice that would allow the well-prepared student to be able to answer one question in this section, especially the questions on why Italy and or Germany embraced dictatorship. Those who had studied Stalin had to be careful to note that the question included peace and war.

The Sovereignty section, which also proves popular, was more limited. There was a good question on factors that contributed to partition but it was not a question to attempt unless you have done it before.

The question on the case study of the Eucharistic Congress was on its impact and some students might find it difficult to write enough on that subject.