Home Work & Study
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

y am i so rubbish at history ?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
got 12 out of 40 on one test and 10 out of 35 on another . why am i so rubbish ?
i revised 4 the test but no matter how much i revise i always get **** grades.
how can i get better ?
x
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Have you spoke to your teacher about it?

    I think it depends on the way you think too, sometimes it's just really hard to be good at something (but not impossible) because you naturally think in a different way. I have a good memory and am good at logic so naturally history / science / maths came easy to me. Not so good with creative thinking though so art I was crap at!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I guess if i was you i would look to see which questions you got wrond and which ones you got right.

    In history there are basically several elements you need to look at - the first is remembering a whole load of dates - what happened when etc.

    The easyest way to revise for that sort of thing is to do yourself a time line with all the different dates and events in them - this is also the most boring part of history and either the hardest or the easyest depending on what sort of person you are.

    The second part if analysis - what actually happened and why, what were the different factors behind it happening - for example the Munich Crisis happened in 1938 - that is a date - but what is more interesting is what made Britain and France decide to appease at this time.

    You need to look at that from all angles - and all different sides of the story - so for example - The Germand had an expansionist policy and therefore wanted to get part of chezeslovakia for themselves becuase there were people of german decent living there (the sudetenland). Britain and France at this stage wanted to avoid a war because they were not ready to fight one, they also did to some extent believe that Hitler only wanted the land where the germans was and no where else, lastly all three countries were still scared from the 1st world war - but the effects of this made all three react in different ways - Germany wanted to become great again and therefore had an expasionist policy, whislt others were still marred by the memory of the millions of young men who had been killed only 20 years earlier!

    The last part is empahty - why did people take these decisions and act in these ways - and what would you have done in that situation - do you understand what happened and why?

    This is all obviously really simplistic - but should give you some pointers.

    Also dont' feel bad some people are just not good at some subjects - i was terrible at english and german but excellent at geography and science.

    What period was your test on?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i take it you're doing GCSE?

    the reality hon is that history is a hard subject and it doesn't suit everyone. but there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do well. you say you revised, but maybe you didn't revise in the right way. often just relaying information that you've memorised isn't enough, you need to build a line of argument. if you get to use sources then work out the best ways to get the marks on those questions because the information is already there. i agree that speaking to your teacher might be a good idea and i'm sure you're not the only one struggling. sometimes there is a certain way of answering questions and once you've got it, you know how to do it and something clicks. the good news is that you've got plenty of time to get better. as i said, really it depends on whether you were being tested on knowledge, argument or sources. let me know what syllabus/spec you're doing and i'll see if i can help more.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When I did GCSE History we were told it was the hardest one. I did OCR and luckily I found it quite easy. Different boards test on different things though so it would be helpful to know which spec you are doing.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wyetry wrote: »
    The last part is empathy - why did people take these decisions and act in these ways - and what would you have done in that situation - do you understand what happened and why?

    Much as I agree with everything people have said - I think this is really a key point. Studying history is more than dates it's about a chance to try and understand why events happened the way they did. Attempting to see the reasons why people made the choices they did is always so important whether you're studying Ancient Greece, Vietnam, Inuit tribes in the 1800's hundreds or even the Nazis. Though of course having empathy isn't the same thing as needing to agree with the choices that were made.

    History as a subject tends to improve as you study it further - and it's probably one of the key subjects in humanities, certainly it's central to many other subjects (political science, sociology, philosophy, economics and so on). Early on it can be far too focused on dates and exact events.

    It might be worth trying to look at something on the course without worrying about the dates at all and just start with the events. Try to pick something like 'why did the first world war happen' and just outline it in general terms, then try to add in events and specific dates later. Having that fundamental structure their first can make a big difference and in my mind is something much more important to know than a specific date or name.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Exams nowadays are about technique. You can know everything there is to know about a topic but if you can't write a decent essay, you're screwed.

    I just finished my English A Level. I was predicted an A and did very well on the coursework but kept getting Cs on the exam questions.

    If you still have time, you should get the past papers from your teachers and do them at home under test conditions. The more you practise at planning and writing a well-structured essay in 35 minutes (or whatever), the more confident you'll get and the better you'll be.

    Also, read your mark scheme/specification! Where do they give the most marks? Do you need to focus on looking at different perspectives? Linking to other time periods and giving related examples? Are you interpreting sources? What do the examiners expect you to "appreciate" about History?

    It worked for me, I was getting As after three weeks of intensive essay-churning. Good luck :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    egad. I hated history with a passion. I had the ultra boring teachers who were ancient relics themselves already. Coming into class "read page 45 to 60, summarize it and answer the questions im doodling on the blackboard."

    and aaaaalllll those black and white world war 2 movies of people getting mutilated. To no end.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I enjoyed GCSE history. I chose it over geography. I wouldn't have minded pursuing the subject further, but I didn't think it would lead to much.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I do History at uni so I'd say I'm better than the average joe on the street at it.

    First of all I take it you examine sources yes? Is it a primary or a secondary one, what are the advantages of both? Who wrote it? Is it biased (factual or opinionated or both)? Who is the audience? Does this affect the source? Basically what can you infer from the source.

    Secondly, remember figures and dates but not just them. If you walked in to an exam and wrote a narrative like "such and such a thing happened on the such and such a date" and even if you wrote all the dates and mentioned all the figures then the examiner will not like that as much as someone who used some dates and figures but shows an understanding to how they affected the world around them and how key dates are significant.
Sign In or Register to comment.