2. Types of questions
Essays ask you to consider a historical question which
has a range of potential answers.
Essays are split into two types:
Evaluate – make a judgement about how important an
isolated factor is to an overall topic
e.g. role of political factors in collapse of Weimar government
Judgement – balance arguments for and against an overall
position, and make a decision
e.g. were Nazi economic policies successful?
3. Question stems
Essays ask you to consider a historical question which has a range of
potential answers. They might start:
• To what extent…?
To what extent is it fair to say that Germany in 1918-1919 “there was a
revolutionary situation but not a revolution?
• How far…?
How far can it be argued that in the period 1924-1929 Germany became ‘a
republic with republicans’?
• How important was…?
How important were economic factors in the collapse of the Weimar Republic,
1929-1933?
• How successful were…?
How successful were Nazi economic policies between 1933 and 1939?
