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Preparing for the exam

EXAM TIP✓Allow equal timefor each of the threesections.

This section will give you the opportunity to bring together all theskills that you have practiced so far, by applying them to a fulllength examination-style activity. Working through this activitymay raise questions about how to target your answers precisely tothe questions asked. We will look at possible strategies to produceeffective answers in the guidance to this section.

In the examWhat will the examination paper look like?The format of the questions asked on the exam paper may differfrom year to year. These will depend upon the type of disputechosen and the nature of the documents you are given to assess.However there are some things you can safely expect.

● You are likely to be given three or four documents of about two A4pages in total.

● These could relate to a dispute in one of many areas. Over time,these are likely to cover historic, scientific, environmental, medical,social, legal and artistic disputes.

● You will be asked to– assess the credibility of documents– assess the credibility of personal evidence– come to a reasoned judgement

Dividing up your timeYou will have one hour and 15 minutes to complete the exam(75 minutes). If you look at the mark distribution of the paper, youwill see that there are 75 marks in total (with 5 marks for quality oflanguage), and that the paper is presently divided into threesections which have roughly equal marks. If you use this as a guide,then you will need to give equal time to each of the sections.

However when you are working through activity 20 which followsat the end of this chapter, you may find that your priorities aredifferent. If some questions take you longer, make sure you adjustthe time you will give to each section in the exam.

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Reading the documents and questionsAllow time to read through the documents before you start toanswer the questions. This will help you to identify the dispute andbuild up an understanding of the nature of the sources and what isbeing claimed.

If you read through the questions and identify the judgment you areasked to make in the last section, this will help you to focus upon thedispute. You can then read through the documents and worktowards this judgment when you assess the evidence.

You could also find the two sources that you are asked to assess inthe second section regarding personal evidence and annotate theirevidence with RAVEN to help you later.

You might want to identify each separate source and highlight themwith one of two colours, so that it is clear which side of the disputethey support. This will help assess the balance and weight of evidence.

Knowing how much to writeYou will have an answer booklet in the examination in which towrite your answers. In this there will be prompts and an allocationof marks to guide your answers.

● The space left between the prompts can act as a guide as to whatlength of answer is required.

● The marks for each answer or part answer can also act as a guide.For example if only one mark is allocated, you would not beexpected to write as much as a paragraph.

● You might also look at the suggested answers in the mark schemesfor past examinations to guide you as to what is expected.

● Additionally you can use the guidance at the end of this section toidentify how much to write.

● In general, you can write using bullets or continuous writing.

However the important thing is not the length of your answer, buthow good it is. Some people write very succinctly, making theirpoints quickly and directly. Other answers get there in the end, butinclude much that is irrelevant or unfocused.

Five marks are available for the ‘quality of written communication’.The examiner will be looking for writing which is well organizedand in an appropriate style using specialist vocabulary, withaccurate spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Allow yourself 1�14� hrs to tackle activity 20 and then compare your

answers with those given in the guidance section. Note that thisactivity is not intended to be the same as an OCR exam paper. Itsimply offers questions on those areas that could be assessed. Youmight spend about 20 minutes on each section below.

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When you read thequestions:

● Find thejudgementrequired.

● Find the twomain sources toassess.

When you read thedocuments:

● Annotate the twopersonal sourcesusing the RAVENcredibility criteria.

● Highlight thesources supportingeach side.

EXAM TIPS✓

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Read the following documents about the alleged UFO incident at Rendlesham Forestin 1980 and then answer the questions that follow on page 65.

Document 1

ACTIVITY 20

Unexplained lightsEarly in the morning of 27th Dec 1980 (approx 03.00am) two USAF [United StatesAir Force] security police patrolmen saw unusual lights outside the back gate at RAFWoodbridge. The on–duty flight chief responded and allowed three patrolmen toproceed on foot. The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in theforest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular inshape. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object was hovering oron legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the treesand disappeared. At this time the animals on a nearby farm went into frenzy.

The next day, three depressions 1.5 inches deep and 7 inches in diameter werefound where the object had been sighted on the ground. The following night (29th

Dec 1980) the area was checked for radiation. Beta/gamma readings of 0.1milliroentogens were recorded with peak readings in the centre of the threedepressions and near the centre of the triangle caused by the depressions.

Later in the night a red sun-like light was seen through the trees. It moved about andpulsed. At one point it appeared to throw off glowing particles and then broke intofive separate white objects and then disappeared. Immediately thereafter, three star-like objects were noticed in the sky. The objects moved rapidly in sharp angularmovements and displayed red, green and blue lights. The objects to the northremained in the sky for an hour or more. The object to the south was visible for twoor three hours and beamed down a stream of light from time to time. Numerousindividuals, including the undersigned, witnessed the activities in paragraphs 2and 3.

extracts from: Unclassified memo 13th January 1981 from Lieutenant Colonel Halt, Deputy Base Commander,on US Air Force headed notepaper, to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

This was publicly released in the United States under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Document 2

The Rendlesham Forest UFO Case“UFO lands in Suffolk – and that’s official,”screamed the front page of the News of the

World. Their informant was a former US airman.The News of the World paid £12,000 for thestory. A subsequent book about the case, Sky

Crash by Brenda Butler, Jenny Randles and DotStreet, described it as “unique in the annals ofUFO history … the world’s first officiallyobserved and officially confirmed, UFO landingand contact.”

All that evidence, backed up by the word of theUS Air Force, could not possibly have a rationalexplanation. Or could it? I have my owndetective story about the Rendlesham ForestUFO. I went in search of local opinions aboutthe case. A forester, Vince Thurkettle who liveswithin a mile of the alleged UFO site [claimed],“I don’t know of anyone around here whobelieves that anything strange happened thatnight.”

So what did he think the flashing light was inRendlesham forest? “It’s the lighthouse” Thatlighthouse lies at Orford Ness on the Suffolkcoast, five miles from the forest. Thurkettleplotted on a map the direction in which theairmen reported seeing their flashing UFO, andfound they were looking straight into thelighthouse beam.

I visited the sight with a camera crew from BBCTV’s Breakfast Time programme. Sure enoughthe beam seemed to hover a few feet aboveground level, because Rendlesham Forestis higher than the coastline. The light seemedto move around as we moved. And it lookedclose – only a few hundred yards awayamong the trees. All this matched thedescription of the UFO. So startlingly brilliantwas the beam that the television camerascaptured it easily. The formerly skepticalcameramen were convinced.

The landing marks had long since beendestroyed when the trees were felled but I knewan eyewitness who had seen them: VinceThurkettle. He recalled for me hisdisappointment with what he saw. The threedepressions were irregular in shape and did noteven form a symmetrical triangle. Herecognized them as rabbit diggings, severalmonths old and covered with a layer of pineneedles.

The “burn marks” on the trees were axe cuts inthe bark, made by foresters themselves as asign that the trees were ready to be felled. I sawnumerous examples in which pine resin,bubbling into the cut, gives the impression of aburn. Additional information came from othereyewitnesses - the local police who were calledto the scene by the Woodbridge air base. Thepolice officers who visited the site reported thatthey could see no UFO, only the Orford Nesslighthouse. Like Vince Thurkettle, theyattributed the landing marks to animals.

What had made the airmen think that somethinghad crashed into the forest in the first place? Itelephoned Dr John Mason, who collects reportsof sightings [of meteors] for the BritishAstronomical Association. He told me that shortlybefore 3 am an exceptionally brilliant meteor,almost as bright as the full moon had been seenover southern England. Dr Mason confirmed thatthis meteor would have been visible to the airmenat Woodbridge as though something werecrashing into the forest nearby.

Finally I turned to the question of radiationreadings. I learned (from the UK’s NationalRadiological Protection Board) that readings likethose given in Col. Halt’s memo would beexpected from natural sources of radiation suchas cosmic rays and the earth itself. In short, therewas no unusual radiation at the site.

extracts from: The Guardian 5th Jan 1985 updated by its author Ian RidpathPosted on the debunkers’ website with the permission of the author.

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Document 3

UK opens up its own ‘X-file’The bizarre sighting is detailed in the governments’ restricted‘Rendlesham File’. The report, dozens of pages long, is only now beingreleased as part of an opening-up of the inner workings of the UKgovernment.

In the report, entitled “Unexplained Lights” a U.S. Air Force LieutenantColonel told how he witnessed an object emitting a ‘red sun- like light’moving through the trees in Rendlesham forest. The next morning, Haltand his men discovered three circular depressions, seven inches indiameter in the ground. Radiation measuring 0.1 milliroentgens wasrecorded in the depressions - a level 10 times higher than normalaccording to the file.

A Military of Defence memo included in the file shows some skepticismabout the sightings, although it said the department was “open-minded”about them. “No evidence was found of any threat to the defence of theUnited Kingdom, and no further investigations were carried out. Nofurther information has come to light which alters our view that thesightings of these lights was of no defence significance. No unidentifiedobject was seen on radar during the period in question, and there was noevidence of anything having intruded into UK airspace, and landed nearRAF Woodbridge”.

Before this week, the document has only been seen by about 20 peoplewho requested access to it through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

extracts from: CNN website, Nov 29th 2002

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QUESTIONS

Section A Assess the credibility of the documents.1 State three ways in which incidents concerning UFOs might

affect the credibility of the reports that are made about them.

2 Assess how far each document has provided a credible report.For each document you should make two points of assessment,each of which should:

● identify a relevant credibility criterion

● explain why this criterion is relevant

● support this with reference to the text

Section BAssess the credibility of personal evidence.1 Assess the credibility of the evidence of the Deputy Base

Commander (D) and the forester (F). For each person you shouldmake two points of assessment, each of which should include:

● how the claim is weakened or strengthened by relevantcredibility criteria,

● what you must suppose to be true to reach this assessment.

2 Give one reason why one source (D) or (F) is more credible thanthe other.

Section CCome to a reasoned judgement.Come to a reasoned judgement as to how likely it was that a UFOwas sighted at Rendlesham Forest in 1980. You should support youranswers by referring to the individual sources.

1 State two points of precise corroboration and two points ofprecise conflict. Support all claims with references from the text.

2 Identify the individual sources on each side of the dispute.Explain any sources that do not easily fit onto one side.

3 Explain the weight of evidence.

4 Assess the quality of evidence on each side of the dispute.

5 State your judgement as to how likely it was that a UFO wassighted.

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