Paper 1 source skills (Conquest)
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Question
What kind of exam is Paper 1?
Answer
A source exam. You get four sources on one case study (Conquest and its impact) and answer four set questions that test source skill, not recall.
Question
What do the marks 3-2-4-6-9 stand for in Paper 1?
Answer
The five parts in order: Q1(a) comprehension 3, Q1(b) message 2, Q2 OPVL 4, Q3 compare and contrast 6, Q4 judgement 9 — totalling 24 marks.
Question
What does OPVL stand for?
Answer
Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitations — the four-step method for the 4-mark value-and-limitations question.
Question
What is provenance in a source?
Answer
The small attribution line giving the author, date and type of source. It is free information and does half the OPVL work for you.
Question
Which Paper 1 question rewards your own knowledge of the conquest?
Answer
Only Q4, the 9-mark judgement. Q1–Q3 are answered purely from the sources in front of you.
Question
How do you answer Q1(a), the 3-mark comprehension?
Answer
State three separate points the source actually makes — each distinct point earns 1 mark. Stay inside the source; add no outside knowledge.
Question
What does Q3, compare and contrast, need that students often miss?
Answer
Both similarities AND differences, linked source to source — not two separate paragraphs that each discuss only one source.
Question
Why is a biased source (e.g. a conquistador's boastful letter) still useful?
Answer
Bias limits it on facts but makes it valuable evidence of attitudes — here, how Cortés wanted the king to see the conquest.
Question
OPVL example: a 1520 letter from Cortés to the King — one value and one limitation?
Answer
Value: first-hand insight into Spanish motives and how the conquest was reported to the crown. Limitation: written to win rewards, so it exaggerates his role and hides his Tlaxcalan allies and disease.
Question
For a Q4 asking if Spanish weapons won the conquest, what own-knowledge facts add balance?
Answer
Tlaxcalan and other native allies, smallpox devastating Tenochtitlan before 1521, and Pizarro exploiting the Inca civil war between Atahualpa and Huáscar at Cajamarca in 1532.
Question
How do the source-handling questions (Q1–Q3) differ from the judgement (Q4)?
Answer
Q1–Q3 stay inside the sources and reward technique (15 marks). Q4 uses sources AND your own knowledge, rewards both sides plus a verdict (9 marks).
Question
What are the three things a top-band 9-mark answer must contain?
Answer
Both sides argued from the sources, your own facts the sources omit, and an explicit verdict — never sitting on the fence.
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