AS-LEVEL HISTORY Unit HIS1F Report on the Examination Specification 2040 June 2015 Version: 1.0
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Unit HIS1F Unit 1F: France in Revolution, 1774 1815 General Comments In this session, Question 1 was again the most popular question, but there was an even split in response between Question 2 and Question 3. The majority of students were able to complete the paper within the time limit and to divide their time appropriately between the 12 mark and the 24 mark questions. Overall, this paper was well done and there were some excellent responses to all of the questions. Such responses showed a firm grasp of the events of the French Revolution and the best answers were able to link factors effectively in the 12 mark questions and include a judgement in the 24 mark questions. The most effective of the 24 mark responses involved students setting out their argument in the introduction and referring back to it more than once as they wrote their answer. It was pleasing to see in this session, that the majority of students took note of the key words, e.g. reform in 02 and equality in 06 which allowed them to write focused responses. Dates were also less of a problem than last year, with nearly all students focused on, for example 1793 1794 for question 04. As in previous years, it was use of precise detail to support either reasons in the 01/03/05 questions or to support arguments in the 02/04 and 06 questions that was often a discriminating factor between students. It is also worth stressing again to students that they do not gain credit by making general reference to the views of historians. Comments such as Marxist/revisionist historians believe that do not contribute anything to their points and waste students precious time when they could be adding more precise detail or their own judgement. Indeed for AS there is no need to refer to historians views at all in order to score the top marks. Question 1 01 The majority of students were familiar with the Tennis Court Oath and could write a range of reasons as to why it took place. However, some students took the opportunity to write generally about the injustices of the Ancien Regime for the Third Estate without explaining how these led to the actual taking of the oath. The more successful answers were able to link the injustices of the Ancien Regime with the writing of the cahiers in the lead up to the Estates General and the growing ambitions of the Third estates to become a political force. Other successful answers focused on the events at the Estates General itself the actions of the King in failing to sort out the voting system, the closed hall of 20th June and the presence of troops which gave rise to fears amongst the Third Estate deputies that the King was going to move against them. 3 of 5
02 The majority of students were familiar with a range of reforms made by the Constituent Assembly and many did an excellent job of explaining how these changed society and government. More problematic seemed to be finding the balance; some students wrote detailed accounts of the reforms but then did not address How far... This meant that they could not get beyond the top of Level 3. A few students mis-read the question and argued for their balance that it was not just the Constituent Assembly that reformed France, but also the Parisians or the peasants. In order to address How far.., it was necessary to assess the extent to which France was reformed; thus also for the balance -addressing the ways in which it was not reformed. Answers which got to the top of Level 4 or into Level 5, argued that although the reforms changed much in French society and government, there were still areas that remained unchanged and/or that the reforms had a greater effect on the bourgeoisie rather than the workers and peasants. Question 2 03 Again, most students were familiar with the September Massacres and were able to explain a range of reasons to why they took place. Many focused on the events in the war, the impact of rumour in Paris about the priests and royalists who were in the prisons and the role of Marat and the sans-culottes. The best answers showed how it was a combination of these factors that worked together to create the situation that led to the September Massacres. Some students effectively prioritised their points to get to Level 4 arguing, for example, that it was the situation with regard to the war that was the most crucial factor in causing the massacres. 04 This question was generally well done with many students showing a good understanding of how the events in the Vendee along with the federalist revolts created the need for terror. The balance was also well done with students offering a range of arguments e.g. that terror was not caused just by counter-revolution but also the needs to have centralised control in the face of war, and/or that the pressure by the sans culottes to have both political and economic terror was key. Many also focused on the role of Robespierre in perpetuating the terror. The dates of the question were important here and, as already mentioned, only a few students went back to 1792 and repeated information on the September Massacres; the majority of students kept to the years 1793 1794. Question 3 05 Students generally had a good knowledge of The Concordat and most were able to give at least two good reasons as to why Napoleon made this with the Catholic Church. Precise detail was important here in order to reach the higher marks; students often make very generalised comments with regard to Napoleon concerning his desire for support and power without providing the evidence to back this up. 06 It was pleasing to see that the majority of students focused on equality and did not just write about Napoleon s reforms generally as has been the case in previous sessions. However, some students did confuse equality with freedom and thus wrote about censorship and the role of prefects which was not relevant to the issue of equality. As the question asked for the extent of equality by 1804, it was important that Napoleon s actions were considered; some students referred back to changes which affected equality pre-1804 but in order to assess how far France was still equal in 1814, Napoleon s actions with regard to law, education, patronage, voting also needed to be considered. The best answers considered how far Napoleon had maintained the gains of the revolution regarding equality in the civil code, his 4 of 5
support for careers being based on meritocracy, use of the plebiscite, and opening up education to more children at primary level. They then balanced this with Napoleon s actions regarding honours and titles, elitism in education, attitude towards women and restrictions for workers. High scoring students argued that equality was not Napoleon s key priority and that securing his power and position was of more importance. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator www.aqa.org.uk/umsconversion 5 of 5