This circular is published to provide information about Scholarship

Format of the 2006 assessment in Scholarship History

30 June 2006 - SC2006/003

The 2006 Scholarship History paper will follow the structure of last year’s examination and the marking criteria will be consistent with last year’s marking schedule. The examination requires the candidates to construct an historical argument in response to a “key idea”. They must extract, analyse and critique the evidence that is provided for them in a source booklet and integrate this material with their own knowledge into a lengthy response.

The one essay response requires students to adopt a position in relation to a question from either Tudor-Stuart England 1558-1667 or New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century.

Candidates must critically evaluate historical narratives and make valid and perceptive judgements about the evidence on which their response was based. There will be fewer sources than in previous years.

Candidates are required to display an integration of each the six required skills in one piece of work rather than compartmentalise them into separate answers.

The six skills can be found in the Assessment Specifications

Each skill will be awarded a mark out of 8. The overall mark for the examination will be 48.

The 2006 History examination is to be conducted on Tuesday 5 December 2006.

The examination writing team

The examining panel in 2006 is a highly qualified and experienced group of secondary teachers, some of whom are also involved in the marking process.

The marking process

In 2005 three markers worked at the same venue to mark all the papers. Extensive check-marking of papers occurred throughout the marking process. A similar marking process will be used in 2006.

Over January, NZQA will work alongside the Scholarship Technical Advisory Group, comprising Professor Gary Hawke, Head of the School of Government at Victoria University, Professor John Hattie, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland and Professor Terry Crooks, Director of The Educational Research Unit, University of Otago, to determine the cut off points for the award of Scholarship. NZQA will be advised by the panel leader in this process.

The results of the 2006 Scholarship examinations will be distributed to candidates by mid February 2007.

Enquiries

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Previous circulars

• 2006-002 - 30 June 2006 - Format of the 2006 assessment in Scholarship English
• 2006-001 - 19 May 2006 - Eligibility to be awarded Scholarship in Visual Arts

Archive of previous circulars