2T05 2011
2008 ‘A’ Level GP P2
Answer Scheme
Q1
What is the difference between history and what historians study, according to paragraph 1? [1]
Question Analysis
Type
List clues
Direct – Identify and Re-express
“What is the difference”
“according to paragraph 1”
Requirements
Specific steps
1 mark for “the difference between history and what historians study”
- Refer to paragraph 1 for answer
- Identify “history” and “what historians study” in paragraph 1
- Identify 2 separate components near respective quotes:
(a) description of “history”;
(b) description of “what historians study”
- Re-express the 2 separate descriptions to show difference
Similar Questions
Need not be
exhaustive
2006
What are the similarities and differences between the new generation
‘born into the age of the internet, email and mobile phone’ (lines 79-80)
and the children in The Chrysalids? Use your own words as far as
possible. [3]
Answer
Passage
Underline question
words
Bold answers /
context
Everything that has ever happened is history — the past. It begins with
the origins of our solar system, the birth and physical changes of our
planet and the evolution of life forms on its surface, and extends to the
headlines in this morningʼs newspaper, Perhaps it would be a little
presumptuous for historians to claim all this ʻpastʼ as their field of study. In
fact, we are happy to leave whole areas of it to the likes of astronomers,
geologists and zoologists who investigate what is sometimes called
‘naturaI' history while we confine our attention to ‘human’ history. Not
everyone is fortunate enough to be able to devote their lives to this study.
But I firmly believe that everyone should have some knowledge of the
past, as members of a family, as citizens in a community or as 21st
century inhabitants of planet Earth.
Answer
Bold key words
Add your own notes
History refers to all events that have occurred before the present,
including that of nature or the Earth, whereas historians only study the
lives of people. [1]
Note: No ½ marks are to be awarded. Candidates must identify both parts
to score 1 mark.
2T05 2011
Amelia and Hanya
Q2
What is meant by ‘archival evidence’ (line 15)? How might its ‘dissemination’ stimulate new
interpretations of history? [2]
Question Analysis
Type
-
Requirements
Specific steps
Inferential – Clarify (in context)
“What is meant by”
“How might”
1 mark for explanation of “archival evidence”
- Refer to Paragraph 2 for answer
- Identify “archival evidence” in line 15
- Read line 15 and 16, infer the meaning of “archival evidence”
1 mark for explanation of how ‘dissemination’ of ‘archival evidence’ might
stimulate new interpretations of history
- Describe what is ‘dissemination’
- Explain the impact of this ‘dissemination’ of ‘archival evidence’
Similar Questions
2007 Q8
Explain what the author means by ‘gender education needs to
supplement mere sex education’ (line 74). [2]
Answer
Passage
Underline question words
Bold answers / context
Answer
Bold key words
Add your own notes
Technologies such as aerial mapping, carbon dating, thermal imaging
and deep-sea submersibles afford historians far greater opportunities to
recover the distant past than the crude shovels and diving bells of their
predecessors, Furthermore, the use of advanced technology to store,
catalogue and disseminate archival evidence more efficiently is
stimulating new interpretations of the history of our planet.
It means historical proofs or records that are kept and organised. [1]
The spread of ‘archival evidence’ to a wider range of audience will
generate more opinions and perspectives of history. [1]
2T05 2011
Yiying and Marilyn
Q3
What do the words ‘or indeed impose’ (line 18) tell you about human nature? [2]
Question Analysis
Type
Inferential - Clarify
- “What do the words … tell you...?”
- “or indeed impose”
Requirements
1 mark for correct identification of the nature of human
- Refer to line 18 for answer
- Look around line 18 for contextual clues
(a) “the most fundamental of human instincts...”
(b) “or indeed impose”
1 mark for re-expressing and elaborating on this nature
Similar Questions
2006 Q1
What does the word ‘rallying’ (line 1) tell you about the purpose of the
call? [1]
2006 Q2
What does the phrase ‘rung down the centuries’ (lines1-2) tell you about
the effect of the call? [1]
2007 Q7
What does the expression ‘brothers-in-arms’ (line 66) suggest about male
behaviour? [1]
2010 Q4
What does the author mean by ‘culinary diversity’ (line 40) and how is it
threatened? [2]
Answer
Passage
Underline question words
Bold answers / context
Answer
Bold key words
Add your own notes
'Interpreting’ the past is, in fact, the essential business of the historian,
who is responding to one of the most fundamental of human instincts: the
desire to discover - or indeed impose some kind of order on the
seemingly haphazard ebb and flow of happening.
Humans are orderly by nature and will seek to enforce some form of
structure [1] when faced with chaotic situations[1]
Note: No marks are to be awarded if candidates do not state the nature
of humans before elaborating upon it.
2T05 2011
Yiying and Marilyn
Q4
In paragraph 3, Anna Banatvala gives four possible explanations of history in a series of four
questions. Which explanation would support the idea of humans possessing free will? [1]
Question Analysis
Type
List clues
Requirements
Specific steps
Similar Questions
Need not be exhaustive
Direct – Identify
- “In paragraph 3...”
- “Which explanation...”
1 mark for the correct identification of explanation
- Refer to paragraph 3
- Identify the 4 possible explanations of history
- Pick the one which support the idea of humans possessing free will
2006 Q5
Which of the rights mentioned in lines 23-25 would the following deny?
(a) ‘censorship of views’ [1]
(b) ‘banning of demonstrations’ [1]
2010 Q8
Which aspect of the author’s argument in the last paragraph is reinforced
by the quotation from J. S. Mill? [1]
Answer
Passage
Is there a discernible movement towards an ever-improving condition of
the human race, which may be divinely planned or simply the inevitable
outcome of a material process of evolution? Has the course of world
events been primarily enhanced by the acts of gifted individuals, be
they ruthless conquerors or saintly visionaries, whose words and
deeds have changed the world map and inspired the beliefs and
daily lives of succeeding generations? Is our history determined for us
by climatic, topographical and economic forces which dictate what do and
what we are? Or is history an endless cycle of recurring —- and therefore
predictable events according to the dominance of negative, feminin, dark
Yin or its Yang opposite?
Answer
The second explanation supports the idea of humans possessing free
will.
Note: Not necessary to re-express. If the meaning of the answer
paraphrased is different from the original meaning, no marks will be
awarded.
2T05 2011
Amelia and Hanya
Q5
What do you understand by ‘the annihilation of distance’ in line 44? [1]
Question Analysis
Type
Inferential – Clarify (in context)
- “What do you understand”
Requirements
1 mark for explanation of “annihilation of distance”
- Refer to Paragraph 6 for answer
- Identify “annihilation of distance” in line 44
- Read line 42 and 44, infer the meaning of “annihilation of distance”
Similar Questions
2006 Q2
What does the phrase ‘rung down the centuries’ (lines 1-2) tell you about
the effect of the call?
Answer
Passage
Underline question words
Bold answers / context
Answer
Bold key words
Add your own notes
Technology is rapidly knitting the earth's inhabitants together more
intricately, but they remain far from united politically. We are still
strangers to each other in our local ways of life established before the
annihilation of distance. We must grow into something like a single family
or we will annihilate ourselves, and it is only by understanding our
various 'family' histories that we can learn to live together in tolerance
and mutual respect.
It means that geographical boundaries have been overcome / removed
/ reduced / eliminated. [1]
Cheng Yew and Soon Kiat
It means a shrinking world where everyone is more connected
through the use of technology [1].
2T05 2011
Qingjie and Kenji
Q7
“the only lesson to be learnt from history is that there are no lessons to be learnt from history”
(lines 7-8). Explain why this is a paradox. [1]
Question Analysis
Type
Inferential – Language Use – Irony
“Explain why this is a paradox”
Requirements
1 mark for showing the expected outcome and the
contradiction of the actual outcome
- Explain the expected outcome of learning from history
- Explain the contradiction of the actual outcome of learning
from history
Similar Questions
2002 Q7
Now that you have studied the whole article carefully, look
again at the opening headline. Explain what is ironic or
contradictory about the headline NO SINGLISH PLEASE, WE
ARE SINGAPOREAN. [1]
2010 Q5
Using your own words as far as possible, explain the irony
which the author describes in lines 54-55. [2]
Answer
Passage
Answer
Historians often claim that they look backward in order to show
the rest of us the way forward. Bunk! Paradoxically, the only
lesson to be learnt from history is that there are no lessons to
be learnt from history.
The expected outcome is that there should be lessons to be
learned from history. However, the irony is that the lesson is
that there is no lessons to be learned from history.
2T05 2011
Qingjie and Kenji
Q8
What kind of ‘natural happenings’ may Lee Min Yen be thinking of, and how do they support his
argument? [2]
Question Analysis
Type
Inferential – Clarify (in context)
- What kind… may Lee Min Yen be thinking of?
Direct – Identify and Re-express
- How do they support…
Requirements
1 mark for explaining the ‘natural happenings’
- Identify ‘natural happenings’ in the passage
- Infer what these ‘natural happenings’ refer to, providing as much
detail as possible
1 mark for selecting points from the passage that support the
argument
- Identify relevant idea that shows
- Re-express this idea
Similar questions
2003 Q8
‘the mentally- handicapped child or the clinically insane adult’ (line
28). Explain in your own words as far as possible, the two attributes
the author suggests both this examples of handicapped humans
lack. Explain how the examples are used to develop the author’s
argument.
Answer
Passage
The daily interactions of the billions of people on our planet - not to
speak of the equally unpredictable natural happenings on and over
its surface - produce an infinitely complex web of causes and effects
which are wholly unrepeatable.
Answers
“Natural happenings” may be the natural disasters such as
earthquakes and tsunamis.[1] Recurrence of such events cannot be
foretold. [1]
2T05 2011
Gerard Chio, Mark and Leonard
Q9
Explain in your own words as far as possible why Lee Min Yen thinks it unnecessary to “keep alive
the memory of former conflicts and atrocities” (lines 11-12). [2]
Question Analysis
Type
Requirements
Similar Questions
Direct- Identify and Re-express
-
“Explain in your own words”
-
“keep alive the memory of former conflicts and atrocities” (lines 1112)
2 marks for 2 different reasons
-
Refer to paragraph 2 for answer
-
Identify why Lee Min Yen thinks it is unnecessary
-
Identify 2 different reasons near respective quotes
-
Re-express the two different reasons
2006 Q3
Explain, in your own words as far as possible, why the author believes
‘There is no such thing as a totally free society’ [2].
2006 Q7
Using your own words as far as possible, explain why, in paragraph 5,
the author claims that paternity “solves the contradiction” (lines 60-61) of
the other two words of the clarion call. [2]
Answer
Passage
You often hear it said that we should keep alive the memory of former
conflicts and atrocities to prevent them happening again. I don’t think so.
The descendants of former aggressors and victims happily visit each
other’s countries with no feelings of guilt or resentment about their
ancestors’ history. As someone said: “The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.”
Answer
Lee Min Yen thinks it is unnecessary because harmony can still exist
even though there is enmity between their predecessors [1]. The people
in the present are not affected by the past because they have
changed. [1]
2T05 2011
Tian Yi
Lee Min Yen feels that history is unrelated to our modern times, as the
cultures can be contrasting [1]. Also, offspring of the previous afflicters
and the afflicted do not hold any grudges against one another or feel
remorse [1].
2T05 2011
Q10
Explain in your own words as far as possible how and why ‘every age, every country rewrites
history to suit its needs’ (line 26) [2].
Question Analysis
Type
Direct- Identify and Re-express
-
“ Explain in your own words”
-
“every age, every country rewrites history to suit its needs”
(lines 11-12)
-
Refer to paragraph 4 for answer
-
Identify why it is unnecessary
-
Identify the why and how answer near respective quotes
-
“Selection and omission. Justify current policies, suit the
prevailing climate of ideas”
Requirements
Re-express the two points
Similar Questions
2006 Freedom
In democracies, how are rulers (a) ‘chosen by’ and (b) ‘answerable
to’ (line 17) those they govern? [2]
Answer
Passage
All history is biased. Every age, every country, rewrites history to suit its
needs — at worst [1] by falsifying the record, as in the fictional world of
Orwell's book 1984 or the reality of the Nanjing Massacre, or by [2]
selection and omission to [3] justify current policies and [4] suit the
prevailing climate of ideas. This is harmless enough, but it becomes
dangerous when distorted and partial history becomes the basis of
propaganda to whip up nationalist or religious hatreds.
Answer
They do so by mentioning only certain facts and exclude those
unfavorable to them, at times distorting the complete truth [1], so that
their principles seems reasonable and can be accepted by the masses
[1].
2T05 2011
People change historical archives by misrepresenting information, or by
deleting certain extracts. [1] This is done so as to support government
schemes and match up to the dominant beliefs [1].
Note: Candidates must identify two methods for 1 mark and two reasons
for 1 mark. No marks are to be awarded for one method or one reason.
Passage 1
1
Everything that has ever happened is history — the past. It begins with the origins of our
solar system, the birth and physical changes of our planet and the evolution of life forms on its
surface, and extends to the headlines in this morningʼs newspaper, Perhaps it would be a little
presumptuous for historians to claim all this ʻpastʼ as their field of study. In fact, we are happy to
leave whole areas of it to the likes of astronomers, geologists and zoologists who investigate what
is sometimes called ‘naturaI' history while we contine our attention to ‘human’ history. Not
everyone is fortunate enough to be able to devote their lives to this study. But I firmly believe that
everyone should have some knowledge of the past, as members of a family, as citizens in a
community or as 21st century inhabitants of planet Earth.
2
There has never been a better time, and never a more urgent need, to explore our past than
exists today. Technologies such as aerial mapping, carbon dating, thermal imaging and deep-sea
submersibles afford historians far greater opportunities to recover the distant past than the crude
shovels and diving bells of their predecessors, Furthermore, the use of advanced technology to
store, catalogue and disseminate archival evidence more afhciently is stimulating new
interpretations of the history of our planet.
3
'Interpreting’ the past is, in fact, the essential business of the historian, who is responding to
one of the most fundamental of human instincts: the desire to discover - or indeed impose some
kind of order on the seemingly haphazard ebb and flow of happening. Is there a discernible
movement towards an aver-improving condition of the human race, which may be divinely planned
or simply the inevitable outcome of a material process of evolution? Has the course of world
events been primarily enhanced by the acts of gifted individuals, be they ruthless conquerors or
saintly visionaries, whose words and deeds have changed the world map and inspired the beliefs
and daily lives of succeeding generations? Is our history determined for us by climatic,
topographical and economic forces which dictate what do and what we are? Or is history an
endless cycle of recurring —- and therefore predictable events according to the dominance of
negative, feminine. dark Yin or its Yang opposite?
4
Whether or not we find a satisfying explanation of the past, our study satisfies another basic
need — curiosity, It is present in our desire to find out about our family and the place where was
live. According to how we spend our leisure, we might be interested in the histories of jazz, or of
football, or of food, Always we ask, "What came before this?” Put together, these various stories
amount to the cultural history of the particular society we live in. and this shared knowledge of what
our predecessors thought and did in their everyday lives is essential if we are to have a sense of
common identity.
5
Reassuringly, we discover that underneath superficial differences earlier generations were
very like ourselves, and it is this ccntinuity of human experience which is the basis of another of
2T05 2011
the benefits of history: given that similar causes produce similar results, it can teach us how to
avoid their mistakes and inspire us to emulate their triumphs. For the beneficial changes they
brought about teach us that we do noi have to put up with things as they are. and this gives us the
humility to recognize that our greater knowledge does not make us any wiser than our ancestors.
6
Technology is rapidly knitting the earth's inhabitants together more intricately, but they
remain far from united politically. We are still strangers to each other in our local ways of life
established before the annihilation of distance. We must grow into something like a single family or
we will annihilate ourselves, and it is only by understanding our various 'family' histories that we
can learn to live together in tolerance and mutual respect.
2T05 2011
Passage 2
1
Most people know two things about Henry Ford, He built the first mass-produced popular
car and famously wrote in 1916: ʻHistory is more or less bunk... we want to live in the present...'.
Though they would probably say ʻrubbishʼ instead of the slang word of Ford's time, his sentiments
would be echoed by generations of bored schoolchildren stuffed with dates and ʻsourcesʼ and
consider-the-causes-and-effects-of essays.
2
Historians often claim that they look backward in order to show the rest of us the way
forward. Bunk! Paradoxically, the only lesson to be learnt from history is that there are no lessons
to be learnt from history, The daily interactions of the billions of people on our planet - not to speak
of the equally unpredictable natural happenings on and over its surface - produce an infinitely
complex web of causes and effects which are wholly unrepeatable. You often hear it said that we
should keep alive the memory of former conflicts and atrocities to prevent them happening again. I
donʻt think so. The descendants of farmer aggressors and victims happily visit each ptherʼs
countries with no feelings of guilt or resentment about their ancestorsʼ history. As someone said:
ʻThe past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.’
3
The history of the very word ʻhistoryʻ is revealing. It originally meant the narrative of
mythical or allegedly factual events, but gradually changed to mean the subject of the narrative. Its
abbreviated form — story — is now used exclusively for fiction. As if there is any difference! The
further we get from the past, the more historians have to speculate and fill the gaps with
probabilities, theories, rhetoric and pure invention. Itʻs entertaining stuff but let’s not pretend that
history is anything more than stories based on facts. Even the details of events occurring within
living memory, such as the tragic deaths of Princess Diana and President Kennedy, are still hotly
disputed, despite the mass of evidence that has accumulated around them, and these facts are
subject to differing interpretations according to the prejudice of the commentator.
4
All history is biased. Every age, every country, rewrites history to suit its needs — at worst
by falsifying the record, as in the fictional world of Orwell's book 1984 or the reality of the Nanjing
Massacre, or by selection and omission to justify current policies and suit the prevailing climate of
ideas. This is harmless enough, but it becomes dangerous when distorted and partial history
becomes the basis of propaganda to whip up nationalist or religious hatreds.
5
Yesterday has happened – it’s a safe place to be. If you are a timid, cautious,
unadventurous sort of person, take up history. You can meander round museums, or ruminate in
ruins, and you won't get mugged or blown up. But life is not for the faint-hearted. We don't know
what will happen tomorrow: it may bring something dreadful, it may offer something exciting and
wonderful. But whatever it is, history won't help us to cope with it, In this extraordinary century,
which will be quite unlike anything that has gone before, we need to focus all our faculties on the
way ahead.