Ideal number of pages?

[jon123jon]

Im doing my paper 2 and 3 next week and im wondering whats the ideal number of pages i should write for each essay. Im left handed and i dont write really fast, also i write at least 10 words per line excluding crossouts. Ive never gotten really high marks in history, mainly around level 4s and 5s. Im concerned that its because im not writing enough or something, since some of my friends wrote like 6 pages for each essay and got a high 6. I know content is more important and ive already tried my best to cover all the events n stuff already, but i still keep getting mid 5s, which leads me to wonder if the amount you write is really that important.

Anyone here getting 7s by writing a few pages only for each essay?

[TykeDragon]

Quality > Quantity, so the ideal number of sides is the number of sides that concisely and accurately discusses the answer to the question by examining the factors!

I am a fast writer and usually write about 10 words per line like you, and I usually write about 3-4 sides for my essays.

It really is down to content, not how much you write - though I understand your concern that it may be the secret. You need to blend detailed historical knowledge with critical commentary. You could be able to list every event of every month in the time period you're examining and not score highly if it's just a narrative and not an analytical answer to a question.

Thus, what the IB takes into account is a focused and structured approach - resist the urge to shove in all of the impressive content you know, because lack of focus and tangents turns the examiners off - alongside critical analysis and evaluation: is the factor important?? Don't just say what happened, you're trying to prove whether that factor is or isn't important!

Statistics such as election percentages and historiography are not vital, just an impressive addition. Don't kill yourself trying to memorise those, they will add to a strong essay (eg push a 16 mark answer up to 17 marks) but are not as important for reaching 13/14 marks - and those are the marks you want in each essay for a level 7, alongside 19 or 20 marks for coursework and document paper.

[jon123jon]

I have a very bad memory and i simply cant remember a lot of dates at the same time, is it ok if i have 1-2 dates for important events and leave out the rest? Also i tend to repeat the same vocab a lot when im forced to write quickly, english isnt exactly my first language although grew up with it (international school). For example, i repeat the word "ultimately" a lot throughout the entire essay. Is that fine as long as make my point?

[alefal]

Short answer: There is no such thing as an ideal number of pages.

Basically, you should aim to write as many pages it takes you to answer the question in an effective and analytical manner. 2 pages of top notch quality is much better than 6 pages of pretentious nonsense. Don't worry about the length of your essay. I usually get 6 or 7 on my essays, and I write between 4 and 6 pages. Now, I normally fit around 6-8 words per line, so with your handwriting, it would be somewhat less. I once wrote an essay with a length of 2 pages, and received a 16/20, so it's not impossible to do well with only few pages.

Of course, writing only a page per essay don't leave your examiner with a very good impression. But, as long as the quality is good, you shouldn't worry too much.

Now, I realise that Tyke was a bit quicker than me to post this (had you just waited another five minutes, TykeDragon...! ), and it seems like he has covered the most important things, so I shall stop repeating him.

Some general tips:

• Write as much as you can for 45 minutes, and then start on the other essay.If you look at the time for the examination, you have about 45 mins per essay
• Also make sure you write two okay essays rather than one excellent and one horrible one. Two okay essays will give you a 6, one excellent and one horrible one 3 or 4.
• Additionally, make sure you actually analyse, and compare (in other words, write a comparative analysis). The question might ask you to evaluate a factor's importance in leading to a certain event. This indirectly asks you to compare that factor with other factors.

As for dates: you don't need exact dates, but reference to time is essential. If you can't remember the exact date, say 'in the start of the 1960's, in the end of the Second World War, in the middle of 1945.

Try not to use unnecessary adjectives and things that seem partial. For instance, do not call Stalin paranoid, Hitler naïve, the war stupid, the conflict inevitable, stuff like that. Your task is to be objective.
Other than that - this is not a test in your language capabilities. You don't miss out of a point if you repeat the same vocab. English is not my first language, and my time at the IB is the first time I had to use English actively.

Edit: added response to OP's last comment.

Edited May 4, 2013 by alefal

[jon123jon]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone!

Any quick tips or reminders that i must do if not im throwing away free points? I know how to structure an essay and stuff like that.

[psychologystudent501]

Quality > Quantity, so the ideal number of sides is the number of sides that concisely and accurately discusses the answer to the question by examining the factors!

I agree with this, and my teacher even gave us the mantra, "IN DEPTH HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE" and said we could write a load of pages but without details and examples, it's wasted effort and time. For example, rather than say "An example of German aggression is Weltpolitik", go on and give details, for example, "An example of German aggression is Weltpolitik, an example of which would be German naval expansion which revealed an open challenge to British naval supremacy"

And, by the way, good luck to all May 2013 candidates, I hope you all get the grades you want/need

[Yap]

Hahahah... fast writers...

I feel like a turtoise compared to my class mates, they however got shocked when I write sometihng like 10 words per line... They say they write about 5.

So if I end up with something like 4-5 pages they write 10 minimum.

I remember during mocks I wrote like... hmm 6 pages, I don't really remember and the one closest to me had 12 and many had up to 15... I mean wtf... I think it was paper 3. How the f*** can they write so quickly O.o...

[Lero]

Hahahah... fast writers...

I feel like a turtoise compared to my class mates, they however got shocked when I write sometihng like 10 words per line... They say they write about 5.

So if I end up with something like 4-5 pages they write 10 minimum.

I remember during mocks I wrote like... hmm 6 pages, I don't really remember and the one closest to me had 12 and many had up to 15... I mean wtf... I think it was paper 3. How the f*** can they write so quickly O.o...

Don't fall into the trap of assuming that your more condensed writing it of less quality. 3-4 sides of moderately condense writing is ideal for a 45 minute essay, although I prefer to think about it in terms of structure, an introduction, 4-6 body paragraphs and a conclusion should be the aim. The IB don't expect some literary genius, just a solid argumentative essay based on correct historical knowledge and backed up by historiography.

[Yap]

^
I guess so. Quite recently I found out that the way I usually execute essay writings is very simple. Depending on the question of course, I usually divide my essay in two to three main arguments. One argument usually only takes one page. The rest is for introduction and conclusion. O.o (Comparing them to my pre-IB essays: they pretty much had no structure at all and discussed everything at the same time, I feel this is good).

I sometimes feel I write too little, that I might fall out of details. But I want to believe that better structure > more details (Overall). If you have good details but poor structure you will never score high, but if you got less good details but adequate structure you will still be able to score decent.

But then again, history is not my strongest subject and I believe I will place myself around a 5, perhaps a weak 6 if I'm lucky.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Yap