These ten questions cover the four skills in the Germany depth-study pathway. Cover the answers, write your response, then open the answer. All extracts are invented for practice unless a sentence states a widely documented date.
Questions
1. (Easy) Label as event, viewpoint or interpretation: “The Reichstag passed the Enabling Act on 23 March 1933.”
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Event. It is a dated, documented happening that records agree on.
2. (Easy) Label: “A newspaper of the time called the law a triumph of order.” (invented)
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Source viewpoint. It records what the newspaper wrote and wished readers to think, not an independent judgement of the law.
3. (Easy) Label: “A modern historian argues that the Act ended the practical power of parliament.”
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Interpretation. It is a later reasoned argument about meaning and consequence, and another historian could weigh it differently.
4. Split this sentence into event and interpretation: “Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933, which made the collapse of democracy inevitable.”
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Event: “Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933.” Interpretation: “which made the collapse of democracy inevitable”. The word “inevitable” is an argued claim that needs evidence and reasoning, and it should be reported as someone’s argument.
5. Define this change properly: “Education changed.” Add what, who, when and where in your own invented example.
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Example: “Between 1932 and 1936, in one invented town school, a weekly lesson of civic reading was added for all classes.” The what is the lesson, the who is all classes, the when is 1932 to 1936 and the where is one school. Any consistent defined version is acceptable.
6. Source A (invented): a timetable for 1936 lists “Thursday, period 5: Civic reading.” Source B (invented): a 1932 timetable has no such lesson. What can you claim, and what can you not?
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You can claim the timetable changed between the two dates in that school. You cannot claim why it was added, how it was taught or how pupils reacted, because neither source contains that.
7. Source A (invented): an official reports to headquarters that “morale is high”. Source B (invented): a private diary says “most of us are tired and say little.” Explain the difference using provenance.
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Source A is an official report to a superior, so the author has a reason to give good news. Source B is a private diary with no audience, so it may be more candid. Neither can speak for everyone, and they may describe different people or moments.
8. Why is “Source A is unreliable because it was written by an official” a weak answer?
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It judges by author type. A stronger answer says what the purpose and audience suggest the report would include and omit, and what the source is still useful for, such as showing what officials chose to report.
9. Rewrite to remove speculation: “The leader secretly feared the army, so he issued the order.”
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“The leader issued the order. The sources do not state why, so a claim about fear of the army would need a source that says so.” You may add that a historian offers a view, attributing it by name or by “one historian”.
10. (Harder) Using the invented Source A below, write a bounded paragraph on how the government wished to present its leader. Source A: “The nation asked for firm leadership, and the Chancellor has answered.” (invented minister’s speech, 1933)
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Model: “Hitler became Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Source A, a minister’s speech, states that the nation ‘asked for firm leadership’, which suggests the government wished to present its leader as a response to public demand. The source shows how a member of the government chose to describe him, not what he privately intended or whether citizens agreed.” A good answer has a documented fact, an attributed viewpoint, a cautious inference and a stated limit.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 to 4: you may be mixing event, viewpoint and interpretation. Revisit distinguishing an event from an interpretation.
- Questions 5 and 6: the change was too vague or the claim went beyond the sources. Revisit using evidence about a defined change.
- Questions 7 and 8: provenance was missing or used as a label. Revisit comparing two sources.
- Questions 9 and 10: speculation crept in. Revisit writing a bounded explanation.
For help applying this to your own depth study, our online one-to-one History tuition works from the version of the syllabus you actually sit.