eAssessment Style Questions

The History eAssessment exam is worth 80 marks. There are usually between 7-10 questions on the exam and these are organised into three main tasks or sections that each focus on either investigating, communicating and thinking critically. Although these tasks assess different skills, knowledge and understanding is assessed throughout all the sections of the examination.

The investigating task is the first part of the exam and it assesses the skills you need to carry out historical research. Over a range of questions, you will be asked to demonstrate parts of the investigative process. You will have carried out many investigations of your own throughout the MYP course so these questions should be familiar to you.

You might be asked to:

• Formulate a research question
• Justify why a question is worth investigating
• Evaluate a research process
• Select appropriate historical sources
• Explain the usefulness of different research methods

This task will ask you to creatively communicate your historical knowledge to a particular audience, often in a unique and authentic format. So instead of writing an academic essay, these questions might ask you to write a script, blog, article, letter, or speech. It might even ask you to create a mixed-media outcome like an infographic, poster or presentation. This will always involve some form of writing.

This task will still involve your historical knowledge. So you will need to refer to historical events, perspectives, and arguments. But you will need to think carefully about who you are writing for, why you are writing and what the format should look like.

You might be asked to:

• Write a range of social media posts
• Write a script for a Podcast or Radio show
• Create a presentation for your history class
• Write a persuasive speech set in history
• Write a journal entry as a historical figure
• Write a biography about the life of an individual from history

This last section of the exam is the largest in terms of marks and therefore the time you should spend on it. You will be presented with a series of questions that ask you to analyse historical evidence and perspectives. This will often take the form of source-based questions with a final extended writing essay.

Source-based questions will often revolve around deploying your source analysis skills. This involves exploring the origin, purpose, values and limitations of historical sources. Practising these skills in class is good revision for this.

You might be asked to:

• identify the purpose of a source
• compare or contrast historical perspectives
• evaluate the value and limitations of evidence
• interpret different perspectives
• use evidence to support an argument
• synthesise information to reach a judgement

There are no specific historical events that you need to have studied to complete the exam. Your teacher would have designed your MYP History course around the twelve history topics/themes listed above. The exam questions will be based on a range of these themes - but it is up to you to select relevant examples flexibly when answering questions.

The history topics which exam questions might be based on are:

1. Industrialisation, Industry and Labour
2. Globalisation: Trade, Aid, Exchange and Flow
3. Empire and Colonialism (note - this topic is officially part of the superpowers topic for exam purposes)
4. Intellectual and Ideological Movements
5. Medicine and health
6. Pioneers, Innovators and Developers
7. Warfare and Peacekeeping
8. Superpowers, Supranational Alliances and Organisations
9. Independence and National Identity
10. Artistic and Cultural Development
11. Rights and Social Protest
12. Individual, Household and Daily Life
13. Significant Individuals 

For revision purposes, focus on revising historical examples and events that you have been taught for each theme.

Six months before the exam, the IB will release to schools the specific MYP Global Context for that exam session. For History, one of the three tasks will be “connected with, inspired by or derived from the selected global context.” It doesn't tell you what historical events to discuss, but it does give you some hints to what historical examples might be relevant to this section of the exam. The six MYP Global Contexts are:

The pre-release statement will look similar to this:

One of the sections of the exam will focus on this global context and the questions are likely to feature the wording of the global context in some form. An example of this could be as follows:

To answer this essay question well, you would need to recall accurate and effective historical examples of scientific and technical innovations that have caused major changes in human societies. Examples could include:

• Industrial revolution in Britain - steam-power, mechanised textile production, factories, railways, steamships
• Meiji Japan - Telegraphs, steam-power, military advances, warships
• The World Wars - Machine guns, artillery, railways, submarines, air-power, poison gas, nuclear bombs, radar
• Digital Revolution - Computers, internet, world wide web, smartphones, AI

The exam will feature a range of primary and secondary historical sources. You will need to be familiar with a range of different types of sources so they don't surprise you in the exam. They will include:

• Texts, Newspapers, Articles, Letters, Reports, Speeches and Biographies
• Diaries, Memoirs, Journals and Blogs
• Maps and Images
• Data tables, charts, and graphs
• Videos, Interviews, Documentaries and animation

You will also need to be confident in analysing and evaluating historical sources. Questions may ask you to discuss:

• Origin - What type of source is it and where does the source come from? Who wrote it? When? Where were they?
• Purpose - Why was the source created and what was it intended to achieve? inform? persuade? entertain? justify?
• Values - How can this source be useful to a historian studying a particular topic or question?
• Limitations - How might this source be limiting or restricting to a historian studying a particular topic or question?

Each question in the exam will be focused on one of the IB command words. These tell you what type of response is required for the question. It is important that you understand what each of the command words means and what type of response is required. Your teacher will probably have introduced these to you throughout your MYP course.

Remember to read the command word before you start writing! You will lose marks if you waste time explaining something that the question doesn't require. For example, if the question says contrast, don't spend time discussing similarities!

Traditional rote learning will not help you entirely for the MYP History eAssessment. You need to combine a range of approaches from revising the historical examples you have been taught in class to practising the skills needed for each type of question. The following revision tips might help you prepare for the exam:

• Build a bank of flexible historical examples - Identify, summarise and revise details from historical events from different periods and places that can be applied to the broad history themes and Global Context. Note and discuss how each event could serve as an example of each theme, context and other relevant concepts.
• Practise Command Terms - Revise the definitions of the command terms so you can confidently understand what is expected for each type of question. Aim to complete past paper questions for each type at least once.
• Practise Source Analysis - Try reading and examining all the different types of sources and practise applying OPVL to different sources. Just asking those questions from different sources can help develop the thinking required.
• Practise investigating - Take any history theme and global context. Try forming your own research questions that combine both, then outline a method for investigating it and identifying a range of historical sources you would need to answer. Then evaluate what was good or bad about your investigating process.
• Practise Communicating for Different Audiences - Explore different ways in which history is written. Flick through history books for kids, an academic text, a history magazine, listen to a Podcast, watch a history documentary. Take note of the style of writing and think about the intended audience. Try writing a paragraph in a similar way.
• Practise Extended Writing - There is no way of avoiding the 24-mark history essay. Your teacher should be helping you to build your essay writing skills throughout the MYP course. Make sure you a comfortable with writing an introduction, main body and conclusion. Review paragraph construction and remember to always link back to the essay question. Try writing essay plans for different essay questions.
• Make Connections to the Global Context - Practise taking any of the six global contexts, then mind-mapping historical events that could serve as good examples of that context.
• Answer Past Paper eAssessments - Practise makes perfect so try answering a number of real past paper exams in timed conditions. Try peer marking and feedback with a friend once completed.