Otherwise, you will not be answering the question, which requires direct point by point comparison of the two case studies to establish where/how far they are similar and where/how far they are different.Ĭheck that your first sentence (the ‘key’ sentence) of each paragraph of your essay is making a statement that directly and explicitly relates to a similarity or difference between the two authoritarian states or democratic states or wars that you are writing about.Īn example of an IB History student’s answer to a ‘compare and contrast’ questionīelow, you will see an IB History student’s essay on a question relating to authoritarian states:
Do NOT have the first half of your essay discussing one of your two case studies and the other half discussing the other case study. Structure your essay into paragraphs that directly examine either similarities or differences (obviously you need to look at both).
Do this instead of just thinking about what information you will include.
Make sure that when you spend the first few minutes of the exam planning your answer, you decide on what are the key similarities (compare) and the key differences (contrast) that you will structure your answer around.
