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Question technique: 4, 8, 12 and 16(+4) mark questions

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Answer on paper first, then reveal the mark scheme one mark at a time.

4 marks · About 5 minutes

4-mark technique – 'Describe two features of…' (Paper 2 British depth study)

Describe two features of the Witan in the reign of Edward the Confessor.

[4 marks]

What is being assessed
  • AO1: show accurate, relevant knowledge and understanding of the key features of the period (4 marks)
What examiners reward
  • Two different, valid features – 1 mark each for identifying them
  • One piece of accurate supporting detail for each feature – 1 more mark each
  • Specific detail (a name, a date, an example) rather than a vague claim
  • Brevity: two short paragraphs labelled Feature 1 and Feature 2
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Feature 121 mark for a valid feature correctly identified; 1 further mark for accurate detail that supports or develops that feature.
Feature 22Marked the same way, but it must be a genuinely different feature – a second example of the same feature earns no extra marks.
No marks0Nothing relevant to the features of the topic named.
How to plan it
  1. Pick two features that are clearly different: membership, and role (advising the king / choosing a successor)
  2. Write one sentence stating each feature
  3. Add one sentence of precise support for each (names, dates)
  4. Stop – no explanation or judgement is needed
Show the top-band model answer

Feature 1: The Witan was a council made up of the most powerful men in the kingdom1. Its members included earls, such as Harold Godwinson, senior churchmen such as archbishops and bishops2, and some important thegns, but there was no fixed membership – the king chose whom to summon.

Feature 2: The Witan advised the king and played a part in choosing a new king3. When Edward the Confessor died on 5 January 1066 without a son, the Witan supported Harold Godwinson as the next king, and he was crowned the following day, 6 January 10664.

1. Mark 1: a valid feature identified.
2. Mark 2: specific supporting detail for feature 1.
3. Mark 3: a second, different feature.
4. Mark 4: precise detail that supports feature 2.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Giving two examples of the same feature (e.g. 'earls were members' and 'bishops were members')
  • Writing a long essay with explanation and judgement – it earns no extra marks and costs time
  • Saying the Witan could overrule the king or that it met at fixed times – the king summoned it and did not have to take its advice
  • Identifying features but giving no supporting detail, which caps the answer at 2 marks
4 marks · About 5 minutes

4-mark technique – 'Explain one way in which… were similar' (Paper 1 thematic study)

Explain one way in which ideas about the cause of the Great Plague in 1665 were similar to ideas about the cause of the Black Death in 1348–49.

[4 marks]

What is being assessed
  • AO1: show accurate, relevant knowledge of the key features of the periods (2 marks)
  • AO2: explain and analyse similarity across time (2 marks)
What examiners reward
  • One clearly stated similarity that applies to BOTH periods
  • Supporting knowledge about BOTH dates – evidence from only one caps the answer
  • An explanation of why the similarity existed (e.g. no knowledge of germs)
  • Only ONE similarity is needed – a second earns no extra marks
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Level 23–4Explains a similarity, supported by specific and accurate knowledge of both periods.
Level 11–2Identifies a similarity with general or one-sided support.
No marks0Nothing worthy of credit.
How to plan it
  1. State the similarity in one sentence, naming both dates
  2. One sentence of evidence for 1348–49
  3. One sentence of evidence for 1665
  4. One sentence explaining why it stayed the same
Show the top-band model answer

One similarity is that in both 1348–49 and 1665 many people believed the plague was caused by miasma1 – bad air coming from rotting matter, filth and decaying bodies. During the Black Death, people carried sweet-smelling herbs and posies2 to protect themselves from the bad air, and towns were ordered to clear rubbish from the streets. In 1665, people still believed bad air spread the disease, so the authorities in London ordered bonfires to be lit in the streets to purify the air3, and some people smoked tobacco for the same reason. This shows that, even after more than three hundred years, the main natural explanation for the plague had hardly changed, because no one yet knew that germs caused disease4.

1. States one similarity and covers both dates in the first sentence.
2. Specific evidence for the first period.
3. Specific evidence for the second period – both dates are now supported.
4. Explains why the similarity existed, moving the answer into Level 2.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Writing about a difference instead of a similarity
  • Describing only one plague, so the comparison is not supported
  • Giving two or three similarities briefly instead of one developed similarity
  • Mixing up causes with treatments without linking the treatment back to the belief about cause
  • Claiming people knew about germs or rats spreading disease in 1665 – germ theory came in 1861

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