Exam Connection

🎯 Exam Connection

Frequency: This topic appeared in 5 out of 5 recent sittings (VERY HIGH). Understanding the causes of the Depression is essential for almost every America topic after 1929 — it underpins the New Deal, FDR's election, and the effects on American society.

Typical questions:

• "Describe two features of the Wall Street Crash" (4 marks)
• "Explain why the USA experienced an economic depression after 1929" (8 marks)
• "Describe two features of the effects of the Depression on American people" (4 marks)
• "How far do you agree that overproduction was the main cause of the Great Depression?" (12+4 marks)
• "How far do you agree that the Wall Street Crash was the main reason the USA fell into depression?" (12+4 marks)

For Level 3+ (7-8 marks on explain questions): Use the OSIAS framework to explain multiple connected causes. Show HOW each cause contributed — don't just list them. The trigger vs. cause distinction is key: "The Wall Street Crash was significant as the trigger, but it only caused a Depression because underlying weaknesses already existed, particularly overproduction and the credit-based consumer boom."

For Level 4 (10-12 marks on essays): The strongest essays will argue about which UNDERLYING cause was most important (not just blame the Crash), explain how causes linked together, and make a clear final judgement. A good argument: "While overproduction and speculation both contributed, inequality was the fundamental weakness — if ordinary Americans had earned enough to buy what factories produced, neither overproduction nor the collapse in spending would have caused a depression."