YEAR 7 -- SUMMER EXAMINATION
PREPARING FOR YEAR 7 HISTORY
EXAMINATION
Length : 1 hour
Format : There will be TWO
sections.
Section A will contain some
sources on King John. You will be given some sources and asked to answer
questions on these.
You will need to know how to
tell the difference between primary and secondary sources, be able to work out
what someone thinks about John from looking at the words or phrases used, and
you will be expected to be able to explain why people differ about John.
The last question on this
section will consist of a question and ask you to use your own knowledge and the
sources to answer the question.
ADVICE ON SECTION A
(a)
Make sure that you can talk about the difference between a primary and
secondary source
(b)
Make sure you are aware that an eyewitness is not always reliable – try
to think why this might be the case, e.g. what happened during John’s reign
that made monks hostile to John? Why might this affect what they said?
(c)
Make sure you know how to identify key words in a source – and how to
reach a conclusion about how you can work out the writer’s opinion from the
words used.
(d)
Make sure that you can answer any key question on John. The key questions
are:
(i)
What did John do during his reign that led people to
think he was a bad king? Think of murder of Arthur, taking hostages and what
happened, taxes, loss of France. Quarrel with Pope, no religious services etc
(ii)
Is there any evidence that John was not as bad as he
has been depicted? Monks’ accounts may not be reliable, good soldier, betrayed
by barons, travelled England giving justice etc
(iii)
Why did the barons oppose King John? Was it because he
was a bad king or was it for selfish reasons?
(iv)
Was Magna Carta really a charter of liberties for the
English people? What did it guarantee? Was this for the good of all or just the
barons?
Section B will consist of TWO
questions and you have to answer BOTH
Q2 will be on castles. You
will be expected to know the following:
(a)
Why were castles built?
(b)
What were motte and bailey castles – what do the terms mean? What were
they built of? Why were the first castles made of such materials?
(c)
How did defenders try to defend their castles against attack? Know about
6 or 7 methods, such as arrow slits, portcullis, drawbridge, moat, murder holes,
the keep, curtain wall
(d)
How did attackers try to attack a castle? Know about 6 or 7 methods, such
as siege towers, mining, battering ram, trebuchet, scaling ladders, besieging
the castle, fire arrows
(e)
Why were castles sited in certain places – so if you are given a
diagram and asked to decide where to site the castle, you could explain the key
features you would look for and then explain why you have chosen a particular
site, e.g near water supply, on high position, able to defend coast etc
Q3 will be on Thomas Becket.
You will be expected to know the following:
(a)
Why did Henry appoint Becket Archbishop? Why did he think Becket was the
right choice? Why did medieval kings want to control the church?
(b)
Why did Becket and Henry quarrel? What were Church Courts? What was the
argument about Philip? Why did Henry and Becket argue over the Clarendon Rules?
Why did Becket excommunicate the Archbishop of York?
(c)
Why was Becket murdered? What did Henry say? Did he mean it? What did the
monks do? Why did Becket not escape? How was he killed? What is a martyr? Who
witnessed it? Was he impartial?
(d)
How did Henry show his remorse? Why did people go to Canterbury to visit
Becket’s tomb?
You
will find revision notes on all the above topics on the departmental website :
http://www.geocities.com/ks3history/Y7ExamSummer2007Notes.html