HAT Cheat Sheet for Teachers - Bringing the Best out of Oxford Applicants
Preparing students for the History Aptitude Test at Oxford carries with it its own set of challenges. This test is designed to be more difficult than the sort of primary sources that students are likely to encounter at A-levels. Additionally, the 1-hour time limit means that students are given very little time to read, and then formulate an analysis of the source.
Despite the claims that the HAT is supposed to test inherent abilities, and doesn’t require coaching or extensive preparation, practice is still crucial.
Students need to be made keenly aware of the need to: plan their essays, write thematically, and to make their introductions cogent and clear. Furthermore, they need to get used to reading and writing about the source within the time limit.
Fortunately, Oxford provides free access to all former HAT papers as well as the mark sheets, which students should be encouraged to read in detail.
For this blog, I’ll be using the 2013 HAT Source Question as an example, since it offers perhaps the clearest case of the advantages of the thematic approach, and how to analyse a source with those themes in mind.
To access the mark scheme, click here
The source, which describes the material possessions of missionaries in 17th century Iraq, is made up of 23 points and is full of extremely specific and sometimes confusing detail. So much so, that upon first reading students might be overwhelmed by the quantity of information provided. This HAT source is filled to the brim with some bizarre aspects of 18th century missionary work. The challenge then, is not finding something to say, but picking the ‘right’ thing to say from the abundance of information available.
The easiest way to read and analyse the source is to break it down. Read each point one-by-one and then attribute the point to a theme.
For instance, reading the source, most students immediately pick up on the theme of opulence, or in other words, the surprising degree of wealth that the missionaries appear to enjoy. This opulence constitutes a theme within the source, but the analysis must go further in probing the question of “why” are the missionaries so wealthy, and what does the wealth and its origin tell us about their lives.
Another important theme is the (non-religious) functions of the household. Again, students need to be prudent in selecting the appropriate evidence to illustrate their point. Excessive citation is not advised, but short phrases can be used if appropriate. For instance, students are likely to argue that the household performs the function of a guesthouse for European travellers from across the world. They might further use the substantial supplies of food as evidence for this purpose and/or argue, that such self-dependence suggests a degree of mistrust between the Missionaries and the locals. Some students might pick up on the Mosul household being “razed to the ground” as evidence of potential conflict.
Another theme might be the interests and pastimes of the missionaries. Students are likely to note the medical and mathematical instruments as indicative of their level of education and argue that they underline their self-dependence. Students are also likely to note the commercial aspect of their lives, indicating that the Mission also served as a market for exchange of goods, and that the Missionaries engaged in trade, and given the opulence of the household, benefitted from it. Another important hint is point 21 in which it is stated that Fathers had “passed away in this house”, implying that the Mission had been established long enough for a generation of Fathers to have lived and died there.
Students are also likely to discuss the connection of the Mission to the outside world, particularly its interaction with local Ottoman Culture and the French state. The perceived admiration with which the source describes the quality of the local goods (e.g. “very fine cloth of this country”) suggests that the Missionaries’ attitude towards to locals is multifaceted. Whilst on the one hand, the presence of the Mission carries with it hints of a civilising mission, the acknowledgement of the skill and the craft of the locals, is also by extension, an acknowledgement of the value of the culture that produced them.
The source also makes a point of the connection between the Mission and the French state, going so far as to suggest that it functions as a semi-official French representation in Iraq. It plays host to an official French representative, and the painting of King Louis XIV is equal in size to Virgin Mary — an acknowledgement of equal status that is perhaps surprising within the confines of a Catholic mission.
Students also need to find time to critically evaluate the source’s reliability and purpose (as they would do in a conventional A-level exam). How useful is this source and how far can we generalise from it? Why was it created? Is there anything in the source that might be missing but that we would expect to find there?
This is by no means an exhaustive list of possible interpretations and arguments, but it serves to show the ways in which the individual elements of the source can be grouped together thematically to advance an argument. Employing the thematic approach is crucial to show the students abilities to organise their thoughts and their writing clearly, and according to a transparent structure. It also allows for a cross-theme comparison, and for essays to be much shorter than if every point were to be analysed individually.
Let us know if you have any questions about this article or anything related to History at Oxford or History at Cambridge.
This article was written by Wojciech (Oxford - History & Politics).
If you find this content useful, please visit Wojciech's profile for further information on applying to Oxbridge. Alternatively, book support now with Wojciech, using the form below.
Author: Wojciech - Oxford
BA History & Politics
Since graduating I have acquired extensive experience in Mentoring for Oxbridge admissions. I have worked in person with students in London, Hong Kong and Budapest and taught A-level History and Politics at Akademeia High School in Warsaw.
