How to do a response to stimulus exam
A response to stimulus exam provides you with a range of source material, both primary and secondary, and asks you to answer a series of questions.
These questions are meant to test you on all of the critical thinking skills but will most often focus on source analysis and evaluation. As a result, make sure you practice all of these skills in preparation for the exam.
On some exams, you may also be required to write an Extended Response, so ensure you are familiar with the requirements of this kind of question.
How to read a source
Furthermore, it is useful to understand the format of sources on the exam, as details provided in the format can help you in answering the exam questions.
An example source is provided below, with explanations about what each element of the is:
How to understand the questions
Short response questions use a variety of terms, and it is essential you understand what each of these mean if you are to answer properly. Here is a list of the most common terms and what they mean:
| Key Word or Phrase | Explanation |
| Account for | Give reasons why |
| Analyse | Examine to explain meaning, relationships, similarities or differences |
| Argue | Give reasons for or against |
| Assess | Determine the value or significance |
| Causes | What things led to or caused the historical event? |
| Change | What was different as a result of this event or person? |
| Compare | Examine and note similarities |
| Consequence | What happened as a result of the historical event or person |
| Consider | Judge and come to an opinion |
| Continuity | What continued unchanged, or stayed the same? |
| Contrast | Emphasise the differences |
| Discuss | Examine by argument, considering for and against |
| Explain | Offer reasons for |
| How | Explain the process, steps or key events |
| Motive | The reasons people provided for their actions |
| Significance | Why is it important? |
| To what extent | Quantify the importance (to a great extent? to a limited extent?) |
| Why | Explain the motives, reasons or causes |
How to write answers
Not only do you earn marks for having the correct answer to questions, often how you structure your answers can improve your final result. The easiest formula for writing an answer is to base it upon the wording of the question. If you follow this rule, you response is most likely going to answer the question fully.
For example, if an exam question asks:
What perspective of World War 2 is evident in Source 2?
Rather than simply writing 'Nazi', your response could be:
Source 2 demonstrates a Nazi perspective of World War 2.
Furthermore, make sure you answer everything that questions ask you. Some questions may have two parts, so make sure you have answered both.
For example, a two-part question may look like this:
What perspective of World War 2 is evident in Source 2 and is this perspective representative of a general populace in Germany at that time?
To ensure you answer all parts of the question, your answer could look like this:
Source 2 demonstrates a fascist perspective of World War 2. This is clearly seen in the source where ... Furthermore, this source is not representative of the general populace in Germany at the time. This can be deduced by ...
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