In the exam you will be asked to compare a description of a modern aspect of society with Athens or ancient Rome for 10 marks. One of these questions will also appear in the literature paper where you will be asked to compare a modern description of one of the themes with an ancient text(s) you have read. What this means is that you will have to identify four points from the source that you can compare for similarities and differences with the ancient world.
The question is worth 10 marks. This is subdivided as follows.
Comparisons of similarities and differences = 8 marks. You can gain two marks for each relevant point you highlight from the source then make a detailed comparison with Athens/Rome/text.
Conclusion = 2 marks. These marks are awarded for making an overall relative judgment. The easiest way to do this is to state if there are more differences than similarities and then to describe them again. If you don’t have this relative judgment and only repeat your points again, you’ll only get one mark.
Let’s walk you through an example question and I’ll show you how to answer one of these questions and I’ll make comments on my thinking as we go through it. Below is a typical example of what one of these questions looks like.
Source B is from a modern writer.
In the UK today, every person over the age of 18, who has registered with the electoral commission and is a resident of the UK is eligible to vote. Every citizen in the UK is equal in the eyes of the law and voting nowadays, is not influenced by how wealthy a person is. Voters are able to attend polling stations on the day of the vote and these polling stations are set-up all over the country. The voters make their choice by placing a ‘X’ on the polling card for the candidate they feel best represents their values. However, many people in UK fail to cast their votes on the day of an election or referendum, many of whom claim that ‘they have no interest’ in politics and that ‘their vote won’t make a difference’.
Compare the description of democracy in the modern world with democracy in Athens in the 5th century BC.
Refer to the source and your own knowledge, making an overall conclusion about similarities and differences. 10
The first thing to do is read the source and decide which parts are similar and different to the aspect of ancient society the question is asking about. In this example you’re being asked to compare modern democracy in the UK with aspects of Athenian democracy. So here goes.
Step 1:
I’ve read the source and highlighted the areas I’m going to compare. Points of difference are highlighted in blue while points of similarity are highlighted in pink.
In the UK today, every person over the age of 18, who has registered with the electoral commission and is a resident of the UK is eligible to vote. Every citizen in the UK is equal in the eyes of the law and voting nowadays, is not influenced by how wealthy a person is. Voters are able to attend polling stations on the day of the vote and these polling stations are set-up all over the country. The voters make their choice by placing a ‘X’ on the polling card for the candidate they feel best represents their values. However, many people in UK fail to cast their votes on the day of an election or referendum, many of whom claim that ‘they have no interest’ in politics and that ‘their vote won’t make a difference’.
Step 2:
Now I need to make my detailed comparisons. Remember I need to make four comparisons worth two marks each. The most straightforward way to do this is to either quote from the source or paraphrase it and then make the detailed comparison: SOURCE + DETAILED COMPARISON. Make two points as your detailed comparison or a very full description otherwise you’ll only get one mark.
Here goes:
“The source says that in the UK every citizen is equal in the eyes of the law. This is different to Athens where women, metics and slaves were denied political and legal rights. Only male citizens over the age of 18 who were born to Athenian parents had democratic rights such as the right to attend the Asembly.” 2 marks
“The source says that voters make their choice by placing an x for the candidate they feels best represents their values. This is different to Athens which operated as a direct democracy where citizens made the laws themselves in the Assembly and voted in favour of a proposal by raising their hand in public. Anyone who was over 18 and a citizen could do this as there were no politicians to elect” 2 marks
“The source states that voting nowadays is not influenced by how wealthy a citizen is. This is similar to Athens as the vote of each citizen in the Assembly was worth the same as every other man’s regardless of wealth although the wealthy did have potentially more influence by using their power and money to sway voters and would likely be more confident at speaking due to their background and education.” 2 marks
“The source also claims that many people in the UK don’t vote because they have no interest in politics or that they can’t make a difference. This is similar to Athens as attending the Assembly was a very time consuming task particularly for those who lived far from Athens so the state had to introduce fines in order to coerce citizens into attending. Scythian archers would drag red dyed ropes through the agora to herd citizens up onto the pnyx in order to have sufficient attendees for meetings and those caught with dye on their clothes after the meeting had started were fined.” 2 marks
So is the above any good? Well, four relevant points from the source have been identified and then a detailed comparison with aspects of Athenian democracy has been made for each.
Step 3
Now we need to make our overall relative judgment as a conclusion. As previously mentioned, the easiest way to do this is to state whether there are more similarities than differences or vice versa and then summarise your points.
Here goes:
“Overall, there the same number of ore differences between modern democracy in the UK and ancient Athens as similarities. 1 mark relative judgment. The differences are that in the UK all citizens have democratic rights and that the UK is a representative rather than direct democracy. The similarities are that people in both the UK and Athens votes are equal regardless of wealth and that many people feel disengaged with politics.”1 mark summary.