history is fun

Dear sec 2I and 2B,

Pay attention to this even though you may have done the SEQ already. Here are some points to take note of while doing the SEQ:

a) "To what extent was Singapore's good geographical location the reason for the British decision to start a trading settlement in Singapore?'' [7]

1. Follow the PEEL structure!

Many of you can reiterate this without much thinking, "Point, Evidence, Elaboration and Link." But without working your brains, I doubt many of you can craft your answer according to the PEEL structure. What I am looking for in this assignment is the strict adherence to the structure, rather than vomiting out facts from your textbook (as what i have observed in the few scripts collected). PEEL determines if you get an "A" or a "F".

2. Answer the question!

A common problem that many students face is that, they don't answer the question during the exam. This means that no matter how much or how extravagant you write, your ink smudges on the script avails to nothing.

Hence, step 1 is to identify the issue (my favourite quote). In this case, the 'issue' stares right at your face: 'reasons why the British decision to start a trading settlement in Singapore'. Straight-forward right? Your job is two identify 2 points pertaining to the issue.

Then, by using the PEEL structure, give appropriate evidence, elaboration to answer the question. Surely, 2 reasons isn't that hard for a [7] mark essay?

Look, the first reason is already given to you! "Singapore's good geographical location". From the mindmap which we did together, we can choose from two other points: "To break the dutch monopoly" or the fact that "It is a good harbour". Another viable point is that "The India-China trade was important to the EIC". After identifying the other point that you are going to talk about, you are ready to start the essay.

3. Point

Under point, you just need to recycle the topic sentence as so:

e.g. "Singapore's good geographical location was a reason for the British decision to start a trading settlement in there."

Clear?

4. Evidence

Quoting from the sec 2 history blog, "Evidence is something tangible, a name, a place, a date, a time, a statistic, an event, something that tells the examiner that you know something tangible about what happened during that period of time." To put it simply, the evidence is there to show the examiner that you studied!

e.g. "Situated just along the India–China trade route, Singapore’s location was superior to that of Penang and Bencoolen, the other two trade settlements of the East India Company."

The ways to construct your evidence is not exhaustive.

5. Elaboration

The purpose of elaboration? To show the examiner that you are able to explain how the facts that you have given in the evidence help to answer the question.

e.g. "Due to the favourable location, securing Singapore as a trade settlement will help to protect the EIC trading ships between China and India. Hence, securing the lucrative India-China trade which was important to the profiteering East India Company."

The elaboration portion cannot be 'smoked' if you don't study, don't try your luck.

6. Link

As 'link' implies, link back to the question.

e.g. "Therefore, Singapore's good geographical location is a reason for the British's decision to start a trading settlement there."

In its totality, the first paragraph of the essay should look something like this:

Singapore's good geographical location was a reason for the Bristish decision to start a trading settlement in there. Situated just along the India–China trade route, Singapore’s location was superior to that of Penang and Bencoolen, the other two trade settlements of the East India Company. Due to the favourable location, securing Singapore as a trade settlement will help to protect the EIC trading ships between China and India. Hence, securing the lucrative India-China trade which was important to the profiteering East India Company. Therefore, Singapore's good geographical location is a reason for the British's decision to start a trading settlement there.

http://www.negc.sg/rules-and-regulations.html

hi all,

Here's the paper and the answer scheme for SA2 2009.

Many thanks and have a good holiday!

Best Wishes,
Your History Teachers

And so the journey for Sec 2 history is coming to an end. For tomorrow, please remember the following:

1) The importance of time management - Watch your time! Don't spend too much time on any section in the paper. MCQ - Do not exceed 10 mins. SBQ - Do not exceed 40 mins. Remember half the marks are in the SEQ section! Spend some time on it.

There are certain paragraphs that you can skip, e.g. the contextual paragraph for the reliability question or the conclusions for the SEQs. Leave a space and come back to it if you have time at the end of the paper.

Remember, he who gets the most of the paper done gets the highest mark!

2) The importance of structure - For those of you who have the tendency to write and write and write and write and write and write for a 4 mark inference question. Well, my advice to you is.... DON'T!! Your teachers have taught you a structure for SBQ, which is Point Evidence Explaination. Stick to it and you won't go wrong.

The structure for SEQ is PEEL, remember to give specific evidence (refer to the previous post), then EXPLAIN. We are not only looking for what you know, we are also looking for how you are able to apply this knowledge.

3) The importance of technique - We have taught you have to analyse questions and how to answer them. Stick to it and you will be fine. These techniques exist for a reason - so that you won't miss out anything that is important.

4) The importance of effort - Remember to put in the effort to revise throughly tonight. Get it done and you will be fine tomorrow.

All the best for tomorrow!

Best Wishes,
Your history teachers

hi all,

After having marked quite a few practice SEQs, I would like to just take this opportunity to remind you about the use of evidence.

Now, the SEQ answering structure should follow the following:

Point - Just recycle the topic statement of the question.

Evidence - This is where it seems to be lacking - for the 1959 elections, it is not sufficient to just talk about the fact that the parties were more active in canvassing for votes. Someone who didn't study could say that! Evidence is something tangible, a name, a place, a date, a time, a statistic, an event, something that tells the examiner that you know something tangible about what happened during that period of time.

Explaination and Link - This is where you show the examiner that you are able to explain how the facts that you have given in the evidence help to answer the question. For example, just because the Japanese had better preparations (e.g. intelligence and training) doesn't necessarily translate into an immediate Japanese victory. So how did it lead to Japanese victory? Here you must make the connection between preparation and victory (see the section in bold).

For example: Due to the better Japanese preparations, the Japanese army had a tremendous advantage over the British. They were thus able to surprise the numerically superior British army during the battles in Malaya and Singapore and easily overcome the British, thus leading to the Japanese victory.