How should I organize my answer to Question 2 on IB History Paper 1

The key to any Paper 1 question is to organize your answer in a manner which makes you examiner feel like they're on cloud nine. Remember, your examiners go through a number of papers, which means that rather than forcing them to lookfor your answer, you serve it to them on a platter. 

Question 2 on Paper 1 asks you to compare and contrast views expressed by two sources. What an examiner does not want to see at 2 a.m in the morning is a one paragraph answer jumbled with the differences and similarities of both sources.

The key for you is to simplify the question. Before you begin writing in a heap of panic, put that pen away and get out those lovely highlighters your mum brought you for no apparent reason. Use one highlighter to go through both sources and identify similarities. Get a different colour highlighter to then identify differences. 

Now time for action. As the question is worth 6 marks you should seek to find 3 points of comparison and 3 points of contrast. In one paragraph, state your 3 points of comparison. These sentences dont have to be long and drawn out. You simply want 3 sentences, each highlighting a point. The same proccess is then applied for a paragraph highlighting 3 points of contrast.

Easy peasy. 

Answered by Taha H. History tutor

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