Examiner’s Specific Advice

This question is testing several skills and also your knowledge of the topic; in this case the effectiveness of the rulers of England between 1547 and 1558. You are also required to provide a balanced historical explanation and to make a substantiated judgement of the so-called Mid-Tudor Crisis.

As always with an essay-type question, relevance is the key – your answer can be selective rather than comprehensive as long as you address the precise question. There should be direct relevance to the key words of the specific question, backed by secure understanding of the overall context of political developments in these years.

The key thing is not to narrate and describe, but to use your knowledge purposefully in order to explain and evaluate. You should also think about the length of your answer – a shorter, more coherent and controlled answer is always preferable to a longer, more detailed answer that is unfinished or lacking in clarity and accuracy. The amount of detail you include should take this into account and it should be selected to match your assessments. You may feel, for example, that one particular ruler was markedly more effective than the others, in which case it would be right to cover this aspect in greater depth. But you need to maintain a focus on the period as a whole.

Exemplar Question - 1

1 (01) ‘There was no “Mid-Tudor Crisis”. During the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, royal government was capable and effective.’How justified is this view? [45 marks]

Plan

• Introduction: outline the argument that will be presented, showing an awareness of the context of political developments, 1547 to 1558
• Organised paragraphs to support a balanced judgement of the extent to which there was, or was not, a ‘Mid-Tudor Crisis’ and of the effectiveness of government under Somerset, Northumberland and Mary
• Conclusion: resolve the debate between various perspectives showing consistency with the arguments presented in the introduction
  

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