The document provides guidance on how to structure a response to an exam question that asks you to judge which of two events had a greater effect or was more important as a reason for something. It recommends using a SMACK structure: stating your judgment in the introduction, then discussing each event in separate paragraphs explaining what happened and why it was important, before weighing them up in the conclusion to overall judge which was most important.

2. What is the Examiner looking for? Factual knowledge, structure, an ability to measure the importance of two factors and to make an overall judgement

3. MARK SCHEME L1 – Description of the factors involved & doesn’t answer the qu. (1-2) L2 – Begins to explain one of the factors/ covers both factors but doesn’t begin to answer the question/ mainly description (3-5) L3 – A structured answer that covers both factors and begins to make a judgement based on what the qu. is asking for. (6-8) L4 – Same as level 3 but in much more depth (9-10)

5. Structure : SMACK the examiner in the face by answering the question in the intro. “ I think that the Soviet expansion into east and central Europe was the most important reason for the rivalry between the USA and the USSR during the years 1945 to 1949.”

6. Paragraph 2 : Write about the 1st bullet point . Specifically, WHAT were the results? WHY were the results important? Firstly, it is clear that the TD and the MP did have an important role to play to explain the rivalry in this period. The TD was the official idea that the USA had in order to prevent the spread of Communism. It promised to defend countries from communism. This was not a hidden plan, instead it was clearly announced to the world and this led to an increase in rivalry. The Marshall Plan was the way in which the USA tried to contain the spread of Communism. Although the USSR was offered money under the Marshall Plan they refused it. Countries were given this money in order to help them rebuild after the war, but mainly to stop the spread of communism. As a result of this , rivalry increased because both the USA and the USSR was trying to ‘out-do’ each other.

7. Paragraph 3 : Write about the 2nd bullet point. Specifically, WHAT were the results? WHY were the results important? Secondly, I think that Soviet expansion into east and central Europe was more important because the TD and the MP was a reaction to the spread of communism in this area. The USA saw this expansion as a massive threat. The USSR kept control of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary etc. I see this as the first step in explaining why such a rivalry existed during this period.

8. Conclusion Weigh up your points and decide which point was the most important/ had the greater effect. Begin with: ‘OVERALL,’ Overall , I think that the Soviet expansion into east and central Europe was more important than the TD or the MP. The TD and the MP would not have come about if it was not for the USSR’s expansion into Europe. They both played a central role but the USSR expansion outweighs the TD and the MP.

9. ‘ this led to’ ‘ as a result of this’ ‘ this was more important because’ ‘ this was slightly less important because’ ‘ Overall,’ Technique