HSC Ancient History Past Papers

Looking for HSC Ancient History past papers to practice your skills and apply your knowledge? You’ve come to the right place. Go straight to papers>>

In your HSC Ancient History course you’ve had the opportunity to learn how to apply your understanding of archaeological and written sources and relevant issues as you’ve investigated the ancient past. Through a core study, you’ve investigated the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and you’ve explored issues relating to reconstruction and conservation of the past. You’ve also studied the key features and sources of an ancient society, personality and historical period.

The HSC Ancient History Syllabus was updated in 2017, so doing past exam papers from 2017 onward will give you a good idea of what to expect in your final exams. We’ve however got HSC Ancient History past papers from 2002 onwards to help you.

We’ve organised the past papers by course and year, naming the links as accurately as possible. If you find any errors, please let us know.

Sometimes, there is only a marking guide available, in others, the marking guide contains sample answers as well. The table usually shows each question and the criteria with each mark or mark range.

3 Tips to Help you Prepare for Your HSC Ancient History Exam

• Be Familiar With Your Glossary of Terms. This refers both to the NESA glossary and your historical terms. Flashcard glossaries are an ideal way to help you revise terms. Being familiar with these terms will help you to demonstrate historical knowledge and understanding relevant to any question you’re asked to discuss in the exam.

• Prepare a Range of Sources to Use. The 2019 marking centre identified this as a key area for student improvement. This emphasises the importance of preparing sources on a range of topics and how doing so can strengthen your exam responses. A better response will mean you can incorporate a diversity of explicit examples as evidence and integrate them into the argument (for or against) instead of simply describing them.

• Be Familiar With What Has Been Asked Previously. The perfect place to do this is by checking HSC Ancient History Past Papers. Check for questions and topics that have come up before. They may not ask the same questions, but you may get some ideas about topics that come up again and again. They could simply change question words – from ‘describe’ and ‘how’ to ‘analyse’, ‘assess’, and ‘to what extent.’ And if there has not been a question on a certain topic for a few years, maybe it’s likely a question could appear this year.

3 Tips to Help you Ace Your HSC Ancient History Exam

• Be Precise With Your Responses. Ensure you are addressing the question clearly. Use keywords and terms from the question to help demonstrate this. As with other HSC subjects, make sure you are familiar with the verbs that are regularly used in questions. Once you know what the question requires, you can plan your response to ensure you answer the question accurately and logically. Also integrate relevant historical terminology into your response.

• Answer the Question in Section 2 That Relates to What You Studied in Class. You may be tempted to answer a different question for a topic that you might find interesting, but this is not advisable. While you may find it fascinating you will more than likely not be able to respond with the appropriate level of depth required. The key in this section is to use the rubric. This tells you precisely what the examiner’s marking criteria is based on. Choose the option that will best allow you to show your analysis of sources and historiographical issues.

• Integrate the sources into your argument. Don’t only describe sources. Also avoid being vague or providing a generalised response. State the source and then explain what it reveals/suggests about the question you’re answering. You also need to create a link between archaeological and written sources in your responses, while relating your answer to the question asked.

Looking for some extra help with HSC Ancient History?

Don’t wait till the last minute. Get help now. We’ve got a fantastic team of experienced HSC Ancient History tutors. They’re passionate about Ancient History and can help you prepare for and ace your HSC trials and finals.

We offer individual tutoring at your home. If you cannot or prefer not to receive face-to-face tutoring, we also offer an excellent online tutoring platform and many online tutors.

To learn more and start with an experienced tutor in Ancient History, get in touch today. Give us a call on 1300 312 354 or contact us here.

A local tutor can help with HSC Ancient History