Examiner’s Specific Advice

This question is testing several skills and also your knowledge of the topic. You are expected to know the main details, in this case the problems faced by the National Government between 1934 and 1940 and the policies put in place to deal with them. You are also being required to provide an historical explanation and make a substantiated judgement. 

As always with an essay-type question, relevance is the key – your answer should be as concise as possible while taking into account all the demands of the question and its specific wording. Accuracy and clarity are more important than elegance of style.  

The key thing is not to narrate and describe, but to keep the precise question in mind: to what extent did the National Government succeed in maintaining political and economic stability?

This means you should evaluate the extent of Britain's recovery from the depression and also the extent to which recovery was due to the National Government, rather than to other factors. If you feel other factors were more important then the balance of your answer would be rather different. Whatever your approach, do make a judgement and back it up with selected evidence.

Exemplar Question

1 (02) How successful was the National Government in dealing with the problems it faced in the years 1934 to 1940?
[24 marks]

Plan

• Introduction – the context of 1934–40 and the argument you are going to follow
• Long-term factors before 1934 and the problems facing the National Government
• What policies the government introduced and the extent to which they were successful or not
• Brief conclusion focused on assessment and evaluation

View Exemplar Answer 1

View Exemplar Answer 2