NZHTA 3.5 essay question
NZQA has given some further clarification here that if they do ask for both (as indicated as a possibility in the 2.5 and 2.5 exam specs), it would likely be one cause and one consequence. As the NZHTA 3.5 exam was written before this clarification, please adapt this question if you wish. I have seen some good examples of this on the Facebook page.
Some additional feedback on this:
If the teaching and learning has covered causes and consequences of a significant historical event, then the students will be well prepared.
Having a clearly defined event allows clear definition and discussion of the causes and consequences.
Although no quantitative guides are given in the above EN2 statements beyond the use of plurals, asking for more than a total of two causes and/or consequences seems likely to result in a question not easily answerable in the suggested word counts, especially the comprehensive aspect in the ENs for Excellence in both standards.
Asking for multiple specific types (short term vs long term, immediate vs underlying, variations in significance, etc) seems unreasonable in terms of what the teaching and learning will need to cover for all plural possibilities. An important point to note is that short term and long term are not rigidly defined (and shouldn’t be), so short and long term are relative.
NZQA is not seeking to increase the volume of evidence produced by students and the subsequent load on markers.
