BlogModern HistoryThe Complete Guide to Achieving a Band 6 in HSC Modern History

The Complete Guide to Achieving a Band 6 in HSC Modern History

HSC Modern History Guide - Featured Image

Curious as to how you can achieve a Band 6 in HSC Modern History?

Well, we’ve got everything you need to know neatly packaged in this comprehensive guide! We’ll walk you through the essential skills you need for the subject, guide you through the content you’ll cover, lend you our study tips and tricks, as well as some past papers and practice questions.

Now what are you waiting for? Let’s get you on your way to achieving that Band 6!

Part 1: Developing Essential HSC Modern History Skills
Part 2: Understanding the Content
Part 3: How to Study for HSC Modern History
Part 4: Preparing for Your Exam

Part 1: Developing Essential HSC Modern History Skills

If you weren’t already aware, source analysis and essay writing are extremely important skills to have if you want to do well in this subject. There are sections in the final exam dedicated to these skills alone, so you really need to be comfortable with both of these things!

How to Ace Your Source Analysis

Why do you need to know how to analyse sources? Well, it’s part of your final exam and you’ll need to be able to demonstrate your understanding of the source that’s been presented to you.

There is a variety of aspects you’ll need to cover in your source analysis — lucky for you, we’ve got a step-by-step guide that you can follow to ensure you’ve covered all the bases.

It dives into questions you should consider when looking at the or origin, motive, reliability, usefulness, and so on!

Check out our simple breakdown of what to include in your HSC Modern History source analysis!

How to Write a Band 6 Modern History Essay

Now source analysis is a skill that is specifically related to Modern History — essay writing on the other hand is something you do for the majority of your HSC subjects.

However, there are aspects to Modern History essay writing that will differ to the rest of your subjects and we’ve got some great resources to help you work towards a Band 6.

Essays need structure, and how you get that structure is by having a well thought out plan. By having a plan, your writing will flow very easily and you’ll know exactly what each paragraph of your essay will include.

Come up with a killer HSC Modern History essay plan, with our 5-step guide!

While it’s important to know what you’ll be including in your essay, it’s also essential to know where you want your essay to go. Basically, what are you trying to argue?

How do you make your argument unique and have it stand out when a marker reads through it?

It all comes down to having a strong thesis statement — you can check out the article below for writing one that will stand out.

Part 2: Understanding the Content

Now if you’ve only had a look at your syllabus a handful of times, it’s time to have a look at it more thoroughly.

Studying this subject means you’ll be focussing on:

  • Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919-1946
  • National Studies
  • Peace and Conflict
  • Change in the Modern World

HSC Modern History - Content

The topics you end up studying for each of the areas above will be dependent on your school — but we’ve still got some general advice to help you work towards that Band 6 in HSC Modern History.

Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World

What is this Core Study area all about? Let’s look at the syllabus:

HSC Modern History - Core Study Syllabus

In your classes you will be spending 30 hours on this core study, where you will “investigate the rise of fascist, totalitarian and military movements after WWI.”

Those 30 hours will consist of a ‘Survey’ (3 hours) and a ‘Focus of Study’ (27 hours).

  • Survey: WWI Peace Treaties
  • Focus of Study: Rise of Dictatorships after WWI

By the end of the Core Study, you should be able to form a “critical perspective” on the way power and authority was used between 1919 and 1946, and back up your view with relevant and in-depth historical information.

Discover what you’re expected to learn in the Core Study!

Change in the Modern World

As we’ve mentioned before, what you study in this subject area will depend on the topic chosen by your school.

Though what you should know in general about this area of study is that it will be the final section of the HSC Modern History exam, which will have 3-4 questions.

One of those questions will be worth 10-15 marks, but in total the whole section is worth 25 marks!

There’ll be a mixture of:

  • Lower-range questions (1-5 marks)
  • Mid-range questions (6-9 marks)
  • High value questions (10-15 marks)

With different marks attributed to different questions, the amount of detail you go into for each of your responses will vary.

Get a better understanding of how your responses should look, with our guide!

Part 3: How to Study for HSC Modern History

You’ve now got a better idea of how the content for HSC Modern History is laid out, but how do you actually study for the subject?

There’s a variety of things that you can do to ensure that you’re actually absorbing the content that you’re studying. So let’s breakdown some techniques:

How to Write Effective Study Notes 

For a subject like Modern History, your notes will definitely be different to English or Maths, or even a specific Science subject. So it’s important to differentiate your study notes approach!

Step 1: Figure out what you need to know

What topics will you be covering for each section? How confident are you for each of the syllabus dot points?

As soon as you can, you should ask your teacher which topics will be covered for each of the sections so that you can start planning ahead!

Our HSC tutors in Fairfield and across NSW can help identify your strengths and weaknesses so that you can prioritise effectively!

Step 2: Write out your notes the week before learning the content in class

The point of studying ahead means that when it comes to actual class time, it isn’t the first time you’re soaking in the content.

Since you’ve already gotten a bit of an understanding by studying the week prior and creating your notes, this will be the time for you to clarify anything you aren’t too sure about.

Step 3: Group your notes according to syllabus dot points

This is a great way of organising your notes, and most of the time, your teacher follows the syllabus when conducting their lessons.

You can add in as much detail as you’d like to help you remember the content — don’t feel silly for adding lots and lots of information. You’ll be cutting down your notes as you inch closer to your exam.

Feel free to include images, timelines, infographics or mindmaps — this will help you associate the syllabus dot point with something visual.

How to Memorise Content for Modern History

It’s quite obvious with a subject like this that you’ll need to remember a whole bunch of facts, dates and names. You’ve probably got heaps of notes, worksheets and content for your textbook that you need to be familiar with.

Memorising content doesn’t need to be so overwhelming, so we’ll walk you through 3 simple steps to help keep that content in your head!

HSC Modern History - Memorise

Step 1: Understand how you learn best

You may come to figure out that you best absorb information through one of the following categories:

  • Audio: Learning by hearing and speaking
  • Visual: Learning by seeing and reading
  • Kinaesthetic: Learning by touching and doing

You actually might study best with a combination of these styles too!

Step 2: Write out your notes

You’ve already got the steps listed above to writing effective notes for Modern History, so get to it!

Step 3: Actively repeat the content until it is memorised

Depending on the learning style you’ve identified with above, the techniques you use to repeat the content can differ.

You might use a visual timeline, read your notes aloud, create flashcards, and so many other techniques.

Studying a Week Before the Exam

Hopefully you would have implemented the above techniques well before exam time has come. If you’re only a week away from sitting the Modern History exam, it’s important to have a plan of attack when studying.

Lucky for you, we’ve got a step-by-step plan that you can follow for each day of the week up until the exam. And, you’ll only need to spend 3 hours of study a day in the lead up to exam day!

Part 4: Preparing for Your Exam

You’ve got the studying part down now! So it’s time to flex those writing muscles and actually answer some practice questions and past papers, to have you feeling confident come exam day.

HSC Modern History Past Papers

It’s never too early to have a peek at what your exam will look like or how it’s laid out, even if you haven’t covered all the content for the subject yet.

Having a look will mean that the exam structure won’t come as a surprise to you, and you’ll know exactly which section belongs to which areas of study. Plus, you’ll familiarise yourself with the way questions are worded and how long your responses should be according to the marks allocated.

Have a go at some of these practice questions for Modern History: Power and Authority in the Modern World

Practice Questions

Studying for the HSC doesn’t mean that you need to completely rely on all the resources made by NESA.

Using other resources to help you prepare for your exam can be highly beneficial!

We’ve come up with some questions of our own that you can use to get ready for your HSC Modern History exam.

We’ve got questions on the Core Study: Power and Authority in the Modern World and questions on Change in the Modern World!

There you have it!

That wraps up our guide to acing Modern History for your HSC. Make sure you follow these study tips, and you’ll be well on your way to passing your exams and getting that Band 6 in HSC Modern History! Good luck!

If you’re looking for other Band 6 guides to ace your subjects, check out the ones we’ve made below:

Are you looking for some extra help with HSC Modern History?

We have an incredible team of HSC tutors and mentors!

We can help you master the HSC Modern History syllabus and ace your upcoming assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or online!

We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!

Have all your Modern History questions answered with personalised Epping tutoring! Know that you’re supported in HSC Modern History with Mosman tutoring!

To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!

45,861 students have a head start...

Get exclusive study content & advice from our team of experts delivered weekly to your inbox!

AOS Website Asset 2

Looking for Modern History Support?

Discover how we can help you!

AOS Website Asset 1