"World War I was supposed to be 'the war to end all wars.' Instead, the punitive peace imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, combined with the economic devastation of the Great Depression, created the conditions that brought fascist regimes to power in Italy, Germany, and Japan — and led, just two decades later, to a Second World War that would prove even more catastrophic than the first."
— Adapted from a modern world history textbook
A
Identify ONE specific way the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the conditions that led to World War II.
✓ Model answer (earns the point)
"The Treaty of Versailles' 'war guilt' clause (Article 231) blamed Germany entirely for WWI and imposed massive reparations payments of approximately 132 billion gold marks, causing severe economic instability and national humiliation in Germany — conditions Adolf Hitler exploited in his rise to power during the 1920s and 1930s."
Why it scores: Names a specific treaty provision (war guilt clause / Article 231), specific economic impact (132 billion gold marks in reparations), and clearly links to the rise of Hitler. Specific, concrete, and causal.
B
Identify ONE specific example from the period 1900–1945 of fascist or authoritarian regimes coming to power amid economic crisis.
✓ Model answer (earns the point)
"Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, exploiting the Great Depression's massive unemployment (over 30%) and the broken political consensus of the Weimar Republic; once in power, Hitler abolished the Republic and consolidated dictatorial authority through the Enabling Act."
Why it scores: Names a specific person (Hitler), specific country (Germany), specific date (1933), specific economic conditions (Great Depression, 30% unemployment), and specific political mechanism (Enabling Act).
C
Explain ONE specific way World War II proved "more catastrophic than the first" — as the author claims — beyond simple casualty counts.
✓ Model answer (earns the point)
"World War II witnessed the Holocaust — Nazi Germany's systematic genocide of six million Jews and millions of others in industrially-scaled death camps like Auschwitz. This represented a new category of state-organized atrocity that prompted the creation of the United Nations (1945), the Genocide Convention (1948), and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), establishing the modern international human rights framework."
Why it scores: Identifies a specific atrocity (Holocaust, six million murdered), specific mechanism (industrial death camps like Auschwitz), and traces the legacy through specific institutions (UN, Genocide Convention, UDHR) — going beyond casualty counts as the prompt requires.
How to score points on SAQs
Be specific. "Religion was important" doesn't score. "Mansa Musa's 1324 hajj to Mecca" does.
Name names and places. Graders look for concrete proper nouns — empires, rulers, religions, regions.
Stay in the time period. Unit 6 is 1900–Present. Don't write about World War I or the Cold War — those belong to later units.
Answer the actual question. If it asks "identify," give an example. If it asks "explain," give an example PLUS a sentence connecting it to the prompt.
Keep it tight. 1–3 sentences per part is plenty. Long answers don't score higher; they just waste exam time.