History

Course summary

This is a personal study on a topic of the student's choice. It will be a question in the context of approximately 100 years. Students will select a topic from a study of Industrialisation and Society, Britain c.1750-c.1850. This begins at the very end of Year 12 and continues into Year 13. A very important part of the candidate's preparation for the exam is practice in writing essays. A good History essay is a clear, logical, well organised and persuasive statement about a complex situation and in an exam the statement has to be produced in about 45 minutes. If you can achieve this, you will have a skill which, in one form or another, will be of service in almost any walk of life dealing with human affairs. In studying History you use your mind in certain ways which, if not unique to the subject, are not found in the same combination in any other subject. In other words, the History student is engaged in a ‘discipline’ and this discipline encourages mental aptitudes and habits of great value. As History is the study of evidence, the student is continually considering statements made by people, so acquiring the ability to weigh evidence and detect bias is one of the main objectives of an education.