Exam Guidance for Source-Based Questions

Exam Guidance for Source-Based Questions

Information

In Section A (25 marks), candidates answer one compulsory question made up of four parts: (a), (b), (c), and (d), which are linked by a common theme. Parts (a) and (b) are source-based questions using historical sources, either text or pictures/graphic. Candidates use and interpret each source in answering the questions.

SOURCE A

This type of question is designed to test your understanding of what a source tells us. To help understand what we have to do, it might be helpful to call it the ‘comprehension questions’. You have to read it, comprehend it and quote information from it. You must make sure you are using what the source tells us. There are three marks available for this question and one mark would be allocated for each statements. So, an answer to Question (a) above that should be considered a good answer would be.

Example:

Nawab Siraj-ud-Duala opposed the growing British power in Bengal in 1757. Robert Clive, commander of the British East India Company’s troops that had just retaken Calcutta from the Nawab, began to re-establish control of Bengal. Clive was heavily outnumbered by the Nawab’s forces, but persuaded Mir Jafar, the Nawab’s commander, to switch sides and not fight when the two armies met. The Nawab opened the battle with heavy gunfire which went on until it started to rain heavily. Clive’s troops covered their cannon and muskets to protect them from the rain, whilst the Nawab’s troops did not. When the rain cleared, Clive attacked. The Nawab’s troops retreated. 22 of Clive’s soldiers were killed and 500 of the Nawab’s soldiers were killed.

From Seven Years’ War: Battle of Plassey by Kennedy Hickman

1. According to Source A, what reasons are suggested for the British victory at the battle of Plassey in 1757? [3]

Source A tells us that Clive persuaded Mir Jafar to switch sides. It also tells us that Nawab’s opening gunfire was ineffective because the Nawab didn’t cover their cannon and muskets when it rained. However, English soldiers knew how to prepare for battle in the rain better.

If you wrote this, you would have written three correct statements.

SOURCE B

This question is a little more demanding. This time you would have to look at the picture and work something out from it. We call this making an ‘inference’ because you infer something that you have been told or shown. So, in answering Question (b) if you said ‘this painting is of a British official rising in an Indian procession in 1825’, you would not be making an inference. You would just be describing the source (in this case the caption) and would be marked in the lowest level.

Example:

A painting of a British official of the British East India Company riding in an Indian procession in 1825.

2. What does Source B tell us about the British East India Company in 1825? [5]

I can tell from Source B that the painter has made the British officer the largest figure to demonstrate the importance that they held in India. Similarly, the Indians are shown as small people to reflect their lowly status. Also, the horses are shown as large animals, graceful in appearance and movement, again showing superiority and power. This is reinforced by soldiers on horses who were carrying weapons.

This is not just a good answer. It is an excellent answer because the student had not only worked something out from the picture (made an inference), but has also supported the inference with detail from the source. In fact, the answer does this twice!