Self-assessment diagnostic test

Before taking the self-assessment test, please ensure that you are familiar with the entry requirements for the MA. This test is designed to help you evaluate the extent to which you are adequately prepared to take the MA in history. The qualification focuses on local history, which requires some core skills to study it successfully at postgraduate level, several of which are tested in this diagnostic exercise.

We do not wish to discourage you from doing the MA, but we would like you to be fully prepared for what being a postgraduate on this module entails. It is not in our interests or yours if you sign up to the module and subsequently find mastering its contents a time-consuming struggle. The MA represents a considerable investment of both time and money and you are strongly advised not to sign up for it until you are confident that you are ready for the challenges involved in academic history at this level. If you do not have a good first degree and/or have never studied history before, then the amount of time that you will spend studying could be considerably greater than average.

Take the self-assessment test

The entire self-assessment test can be downloaded as a single PDF file. There are three parts to this test:

Part one: Some basics in history study

Part two: Primary sources

Part three: Secondary sources

Each part of the self-assemement test is followed by feedbacks in order to compare your answers with those we’ve provided as exemplars. There is feedback on each section and also general feedback on the overall task.

Don’t worry if you don’t get every answer spot on, but do try to reflect on the way in which you answered the questions and why they diverged from the exemplars. That should enable you to make an honest judgment about your readiness for postgraduate study.