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Treating essay questions as causation questions regardless of the actual second-order concept
“A minority of candidates, often otherwise knowledgeable, wanted to focus on causes and engage in a main factor/other factors approach, even where this did not necessarily address the demands of the conceptual focus.”— 9HI0 Paper 1A, June 2023
How to fix: Before writing a word, identify which second-order concept the question targets: cause, consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, or significance. Every essay type has a different conceptual demand. A significance question requires you to establish criteria for judging importance — not to narrate causes. A similarity and difference question requires you to compare and contrast — not to list causes. Read the question carefully, identify the concept, and plan your essay to address that concept directly throughout.