These ten questions use invented material about the imaginary harbour town of Port Selan. None of it is real history, and none of it is taken from an exam paper. They run from easy to harder and cover all four lessons in chronology and historical context.
Write your answer on paper first, then open the worked answer. Read the “If you got these wrong” section at the end to see which lesson to revisit.
The sources
Source A (invented newspaper report, 20 October 1901): A storm struck the harbour overnight and flooded the east quay warehouses.
Source B (invented council minute, 12 May 1902): The council votes to build a seawall. “This wall will protect the town for generations.”
Source C (invented merchant’s letter, 2 January 1903): The builder signed the contract on 22 December.
Source D (invented harbour ledger, 15 August 1903): The wall is complete and the first ship docks beside it.
Source E (invented newspaper report, 3 February 1904): “The railway to the inland towns opened on Monday.”
Source F (invented harbour summary): Ship arrivals: 1903, 150. 1904, 210.
Questions
1. Easy: order. Put these events in date order: railway opens; council votes for the wall; storm floods the warehouses; wall completed.
Show answer
Storm (October 1901), council vote (12 May 1902), wall completed (15 August 1903), railway opens (early February 1904).
2. Easy: document date. Source C is dated 2 January 1903. What event does it describe and on what date did that event happen?
Show answer
It describes the signing of the builder’s contract. The event date is 22 December. The letter was written in January 1903 and refers back to the December just ended, so the year is 1902. The document date and the event date are different.
3. Easy: weekday. Source E is dated 3 February 1904, a Wednesday, and says the railway opened “on Monday”. What is the date of the opening?
Show answer
The Monday before Wednesday 3 February is two days earlier: 1 February 1904.
4. Medium: duration. How long was it between the storm in Source A and the council vote in Source B? Give the answer in months and weeks.
Show answer
From 20 October 1901 to 20 April 1902 is 6 months. From 20 April to 12 May is 22 days, which is just over 3 weeks. So it is about 6 months and 3 weeks, or just under 7 months.
5. Medium: fact, viewpoint or interpretation. Label each. (a) The wall was completed on 15 August 1903. (b) The council believes the wall will protect the town for generations. (c) A modern writer argues the railway mattered more to trade than the wall.
Show answer
(a) Established fact, supported by Source D. (b) A source’s viewpoint: the council’s own belief, shown in Source B. (c) An interpretation: a judgement built on evidence, which could be tested against sources and which other writers might weigh differently.
6. Medium: sequence or cause. A student writes: “Ship arrivals rose from 150 to 210 after the wall was finished, so the wall caused the rise.” Give two ways to improve the claim using the sources.
Show answer
- Point out the rival explanation: Source E shows the railway opened in February 1904, in the same year as the rise. 2. Say what evidence is missing: nothing here says ship captains chose the port because of the wall. A better claim: “The rise followed both the wall and the railway; these sources do not show which mattered more.” The rise itself is 210 − 150 = 60 arrivals, or 40% more.
7. Medium: context. A student says: “The council was wrong in Source B because a later storm in 1931 broke the wall.” (The 1931 storm is also invented.) What is the flaw?
Show answer
It uses hindsight. The council in May 1902 could not know about 1931. A better answer explains the claim from the writer’s situation: a recent flood, a budget and a need for public support. The 1931 event may be added later in a separate sentence marked as later evidence.
8. Medium: timeline check. The task is “timeline of the wall, 1902 to 1903”. A student includes the storm of 20 October 1901 and the railway of February 1904. Which check point fails, and what should the student do?
Show answer
Point 1, period. Both entries are outside 1902 to 1903. Remove them from the timeline. They can appear as background in a note outside the timeline if the question allows context.
9. Harder: disagreeing sources. Source D says the first ship docked on 15 August 1903. An invented memoir written in 1950 says it was “late September”. Which do you use for the sequence and how do you say so?
Show answer
Use Source D for the date. It is a ledger entry made the same day, so it is closer to the event. The memoir was written decades later and relies on memory. Write: “The ledger records 15 August 1903; a 1950 memoir gives late September; I use the ledger because it was written at the time.” Closeness does not prove accuracy, so the disagreement stays visible.
10. Harder: build and check. Use these new invented items:
- A letter dated 5 November 1902 says “the council will vote on the builder’s price in two weeks”
- A diary dated 23 December 1902 says “the builder signed yesterday”
- A ledger dated 1 January 1903 records a first deposit paid
Build a short sequence and label each date type.
Show answer
- About 19 November 1902: council due to vote on the builder’s price (planned, relative; 5 November plus two weeks).
- 22 December 1902: builder signs the contract (exact; “yesterday” from a diary dated 23 December).
- By 1 January 1903: first deposit paid (the ledger date; the payment may be earlier, so write “by”).
Check: all entries lie between November 1902 and January 1903, are in order and carry a date type. The vote is only a plan in the letter, so the sequence should not claim that the vote took place.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1, 2, 3, 4 or 10: revisit constructing a dated sequence from a bounded set of sources, especially the two-date table.
- Questions 5 or 6: revisit distinguishing a sequence from a causal explanation.
- Question 7: revisit explaining a source’s context without assuming later knowledge.
- Questions 8 or 9: revisit checking a timeline against its stated period.
When your weak spot is clear, return to the module page and read the traps again. A teacher in online one-to-one History tuition can then use your own set options and sources to practise the skill that still slips.