The 8 Mark "Write an Account" Question: East & West (Q3) (AQA GCSE History)

Summary of Question Three 

• Question Three requires you to explain the sequence or connections of the event or issue outlined

• You also need to analyse how the event or issue impacted a wider development in the course

• For the wider world depth study, this question will focus on cause and consequence 

• An example of the type of question you may encounter can be seen below:

• In previous years, this question has focused on the following topics: 

How to Explain Cause & Consequence 

• Cause and consequence is a second-order concept 

• Causes and consequences are like falling dominos. 

  • The causes are what pushes the dominos over

    • For the example question, a cause of the events in Hungary was the unpopularity of Mátyás Rákosi

  • The consequences are the other dominos that fall

    • For the example question, a consequence of the events in Hungary was the lack of US intervention to protect Hungary

• Cause and consequence can be directly linked and can be used to help explain the relationship between events, issues or developments 

Cause 

• A cause in history is usually something that resulted in an event or issue to happen

  • For example, a cause of the developments of the Cold War in the 1960s was the Berlin Wall 

• There can be multiple causes of a single event

  • Some can be short-term and long-term 

• A cause does not always have to be something which happened before the event or issue happened 

  • For example, a cause of tension in the space race was the interest of both the USA and the USSR to use space technology to build missiles 

Consequence 

• A consequence in history is something which has happened in response to the cause 

• Consequences can be:

  • Different for different groups of people 

    • E.g. the consequences of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences affected the countries in Europe in different ways

  • Short and long-term 

  • Both positive and negative 

• When explaining cause and consequences you may want to use causation connectives such as:

  • Due to 

  • As a result

  • Consequently

• For the wider depth study, you may want to revise key events by organising them into cause and consequence, as it will help you to answer this question 

 “Write an Account” Question Structure 

• Your answer should consist of: 

  • Specific and relevant knowledge 

  • A demonstration of the cause and consequence of the event or issue

  • An explanation of how the event or issue mentioned in the question impacted the wider development of the topic

• Your answers could be written in PEE paragraphs: 

  • P- Make a point about the question

  • E- Include knowledge to support the point you have made

    • Focused on the group or development mentioned in the question 

    • Show knowledge to demonstrate cause and/or consequence

  • E- Explain the question

    • Focus on the key demands of the questions 

    • Include a complex explanation showing your understanding of cause and/or consequence 

• To achieve full marks, you need to repeat this structure

• It is tempting in this question to write your answer like a story, do not do this 

  • The question is asking you to explain the causes and consequences

Worked Example of a "Write an Account" Question