In the limited time frame that you have in your IB DP History exam, there are a number of things that you can do to construct persuasive arguments which are more likely to get you top marks. While many of the questions in an IB exam seemingly want to guide you in a certain direction, the most important thing to note is that any position in a historical debate can be debated effectively with the correct evidence.
Going beyond the syllabus
One thing that I did while studying for IB DP History which really helped me in getting the top marks in IB, was simply going to my school’s library. Before this, I picked the topics I enjoyed the most and found as many different books on these as possible. Armed with all of these resources from varied historians, I was able to skim through, collect key quotes and pieces of evidence ranging from economic to political facts. The next step after this was to go through the topics which I had chosen and construct essay plans using this evidence. In this way, when I entered the exam, I already had an idea of the types of arguments and evidence I would use in any of the potential topics which I chose to study.
When you first open the IB exam booklet
Use the first 15 minutes of your exam selecting the questions you feel most comfortable answering and write brief plans, divided along the lines of point, evidence and explain.
For example, in answering a question on the role of nationalism in causing WW1, you could argue the following:
Point – Balkan nationalism did cause WW1 due to the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
Evidence – assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand further resulted in the alliance system due to Russian nationalism that aimed to protect Serbia as “we shall do everything for Serbia” as once noted by Nicolas II of Russia.
Explain – Nationalism from Serbia, Austria and Russia meant that war was inevitable as neither side was able to accept the Austria’s ultimatum, causing an inescapable sequence of events.
This can then be followed be followed by more arguments in favour of this, but in different contexts, for instance, the impact of nationalism on internal Austrian-Hungarian politics.
Point – The multi-ethnic composition of Austria-Hungary caused serious weaknesses in the empire that were exacerbated by nationalism.
Evidence – 17 different languages were spoken in Austria-Hungary alone, most of whom from a Slavic origin, as these were repressed, they sought independence, resulting in violence within the empire. A war would thus boost a nationalistic spirit for the empire while distracting from societal problems, including the increasing rise of communism.
Explain – These difficulties within the empire meant that nationalism was an increasingly important threat to the internal politics of Austria-Hungary, a war would distract from this, meaning that nationalism did cause WW1.
However, it is important to provide counter arguments, to show that no, nationalism was not the most important factor that caused WW1.
Point – Nationalism was only a short-term cause of the war
Evidence – Revisionist historians argue that it was a combination of causes, one of them being Balkan nationalism which caused the war, this includes the alliance system and the polarization of Europe between the Triple Entente and Triple Alliance.
Explain – As a consequence of the alliance system, war as inevitable, with the presence of militarism in each of the countries, the two nations were confident that if a war occurred, that they could win. This along with the arms race between nations was a more important factor than nationalism.
Conclusion
As we have seen above, the structure of point, evidence and explain can be used as an effective building block to construct a wall of arguments that can result in high grades in IB DP exams. By briefly writing down structures for each of your essays in the initial 15 minutes of the IB exam, you can create compelling arguments with the use of evidence collected through sources which are outside of the IB DP History syllabus.