# Social Sciences Grade 8 P2 November Mock 2026 Memo (English) > Grade 8 Social Sciences Paper 2 memorandum from the November Mock Exam 2026 (English), 7 pages. Read online or download the free PDF. - Page: https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-8-social-sciences-2026-november-mock-exam-memorandum-paper-2-history/65b8f91c-1a01-437c-afc8-d5cd0e7f3b36 - Updated: 2026-10-29 - Subject: Social Sciences - Grade: Grade 8 - Language: English - Document type: Memorandum - Year: 2026 - Exam period: November Mock Exam - Paper: 2 - Publisher: Hlayiso - Curriculum: CAPS - Pages: 7 Breadcrumbs: [Home](https://www.hlayiso.com/) › [Library](https://www.hlayiso.com/library) › [Grade 8](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-8) › [Social Sciences](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-8/social-sciences) › [Social Sciences Grade 8 P2 November Mock 2026 Memo (English)](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-8-social-sciences-2026-november-mock-exam-memorandum-paper-2-history/65b8f91c-1a01-437c-afc8-d5cd0e7f3b36) ## About this document Social Sciences · Grade 8 · November Mock Exam · 2026 · English. Memorandum, 7 pages. Read online or download the PDF. Read it free online on the page above; download the PDF from there. ## Matching paper and memo - [Grade 8 Social Sciences P2 (History) November 2026 Mock](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-8-social-sciences-2026-november-mock-exam-question-paper-paper-2-history/73826b30-6703-4cea-bf44-1b6b6ec13b59) — QP · 2026 · Eng ## Document text Text extracted from the PDF. Layout, diagrams and tables may not survive extraction. ### Page 1 Mock hlayiso mock exams Practice Series: Grade 8 Exam Preparation WWW.HLAYISO.COM SENIOR PHASE END-OF-YEAR EXAMINATION GRADE 8 SOCIAL SCIENCES P2 HISTORY NOVEMBER 2026 (MOCK) MARKING GUIDELINES MARKS: 75 These marking guidelines consist of 7 pages. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 2 Social Sciences/P2 2 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines NOTE TO MARKERS: • Accept alternative answers that are correct and relevant to the question, even if they are not listed here. Learners may use their own words. • (1 x 2) means ONE point worth 2 marks: give 2 marks for a complete, well-explained point and 1 mark for a partly correct or vague point. • (2 x 1) means TWO points of 1 mark each. Where a question asks for a number of points (e.g. TWO), mark only the first points given, in the order written. • Do not penalise spelling errors in names (e.g. Asantewa/Asantewaa, Bismark/Bismarck) if the person or place is clearly identified. • Opinion questions (2.1.6, 2.2.6, 5.2.3, 5.3.3): credit any reasonable view that is supported by a historically correct reason. • Cognitive levels are shown as [L1] (recall/extract), [L2] (explain/understand) and [L3] (interpret/evaluate). Paragraphs: L2/L3. • QUESTIONS 3 and 6 are marked with the paragraph rubric at the end of these marking guidelines. SECTION A: THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA QUESTION 1 1.1 1.1.1 C (1) (5 x 1) (5) 1.1.2 A (1) 1.1.3 B (1) 1.1.4 D (1) 1.1.5 B (1) [L1] 1.2 1.2.1 D (Congo) (1) (5 x 1) (5) 1.2.2 F (South West Africa) (1) 1.2.3 B (Angola) (1) 1.2.4 E (Libya) (1) 1.2.5 A (Algeria) (1) [L1] (Kenya, C, was a British colony and is not used.) [10] QUESTION 2 2.1.1 Their factories needed raw materials (e.g. cotton, rubber, palm oil, (2 x 1) (2) minerals) (1) They wanted new markets where they could sell their goods (1) Owning colonies made a country look powerful / gave prestige (1) [L1] [ANY TWO] 2.1.2 The race for land could easily lead to war between the European (1 x 1) (1) countries / to avoid conflict over African land (1) (Accept: to agree on rules for dividing Africa peacefully) [L1] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 3 Social Sciences/P2 3 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines 2.1.3 A country had to inform the other powers about its claim to African (1 x 2) (2) land (2) A country had to show that it really controlled (effectively occupied) the area it claimed (2) Ships of all nations could trade freely on the Congo and Niger rivers (2) (1 mark if the rule is only named without being explained) [L2] [ANY ONE] 2.1.4 Africa / the African continent (and its land and resources) (1) [L2] (1 x 1) (1) 2.1.5 Africans were not invited / were kept out of the conference while (1 x 2) (2) Europeans divided their land (2) Europeans decided the future of Africa without asking Africans / Africans had no say (2) The cartoonist criticises the Europeans for sharing Africa among themselves as if it belonged to them (2) [L2] [ANY ONE] 2.1.6 Not fair: No African ruler was invited or consulted; Europeans (1 x 2) (2) divided land that did not belong to them (2) Not fair: The new borders were drawn on maps in Europe and split communities / put enemy groups together (2) Not fair: It led to Africans losing their land, independence and resources (2) Fair: It prevented war among the European powers by setting rules (2) (Award 2 only if the reason is explained; an unsupported ‘fair’ or ‘not fair’ answer gets 0.) [L3] 2.2.1 Portugal / the Portuguese (1) [L1] (1 x 1) (1) 2.2.2 Yaa Asantewaa (queen mother of Ejisu) (1) [L1] (1 x 1) (1) 2.2.3 Gold (1) (2 x 1) (2) Ivory (1) Cocoa (1) Timber (1) Palm oil (1) (Do not accept slaves – the question asks for products.) [L1] [ANY TWO] 2.2.4 The Golden Stool was sacred / held the soul of the whole Ashanti (1 x 2) (2) nation (2) Not even the Ashanti king sat on it, so a foreign governor’s demand to sit on it was a great insult (2) Giving up the Stool would mean giving up their independence / accepting British rule (2) [L2] [ANY ONE] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 4 Social Sciences/P2 4 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines 2.2.5 The British had modern weapons such as rifles and the Maxim gun (2 x 2) (4) (machine gun) (2) The British had more soldiers / trained armies and money from a rich industrial country (2) Medicine such as quinine protected Europeans against malaria (2) Steamships, railways and the telegraph helped them to move troops and supplies quickly (2) The British removed / exiled African leaders (e.g. Prempeh I), which weakened resistance (2) African kingdoms were often divided / Europeans used one group against another (2) [L2] [ANY TWO] 2.2.6 Useful: It explains why the Golden Stool was sacred and shows (1 x 2) (2) that the Ashanti were angry enough to fight / that they hid the Stool (2) Limited: It is a summary written by an examiner much later, not the words of Ashanti people themselves; a historian would also need Ashanti accounts / oral histories (2) [L3] [ANY ONE] [22] QUESTION 3: PARAGRAPH QUESTION [L2/3] Relevant facts include (use the rubric at the end): • WHY: The Industrial Revolution – European factories needed raw materials (cotton, rubber, palm oil, gold, diamonds). • New markets were needed to sell factory goods; places to invest money. • Prestige / nationalism: colonies showed that a country was powerful; rivalry between Britain, France and Germany. • Missionaries wanted to spread Christianity; Europeans believed they had a duty to ‘civilise’ Africans (racist attitudes). • Explorers had mapped the interior; land for settlers; strategic places such as ports and the Suez Canal. • HOW QUICKLY: The Berlin Conference (1884–1885) set rules so that Europeans divided Africa without fighting one another. • Superior weapons – rifles and the Maxim (machine) gun. • Quinine protected Europeans against malaria. • Steamships, railways and the telegraph made transport and communication fast. • African states were sometimes divided; Europeans made treaties with chiefs or played groups against one another. • Example: the Ashanti were defeated in 1900 (War of the Golden Stool); by 1914 only Ethiopia and Liberia were independent. [8] TOTAL SECTION A: 40 Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 5 Social Sciences/P2 5 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines SECTION B: WORLD WAR I (1914–1918) QUESTION 4 4.1 4.1.1 C (1) (5 x 1) (5) 4.1.2 A (1) 4.1.3 B (1) 4.1.4 C (1) 4.1.5 D (1) [L1] 4.2 4.2.1 Allies (1) (5 x 1) (5) 4.2.2 Central Powers (1) 4.2.3 Allies (1) 4.2.4 Central Powers (1) 4.2.5 Allies (1) [L1] (Accept ‘Triple Entente’ for Allies. Do not accept ‘Triple Alliance’ for 4.2.4: the Ottoman Empire was not a member.) [10] QUESTION 5 5.1.1 Information that is spread (often one-sided, exaggerated or false) to (1 x 2) (2) persuade people to support a cause / to influence what people think (2) (1 mark for a vague answer such as ‘posters in the war’) [L2] 5.1.2 It says the friends of the reader are already fighting, so he should (2 x 1) (2) not be left behind (peer pressure) (1) The empty place ‘kept for you’ makes the reader feel he is expected / it is his duty (1) It uses patriotism: ‘Britain is calling’ / the flag (1) It shows a proud, smart soldier so that being a soldier looks attractive / heroic (1) It uses short, bold commands (‘Join the army today’) (1) [L2] [ANY TWO] 5.1.3 There was no conscription before 1916, so the army depended on (1 x 2) (2) volunteers (2) The war needed huge numbers of soldiers because of the many men who were killed or wounded (2) [L2] [ANY ONE] 5.2.1 Water / mud in the trench up to the knees; constant rain (1) (2 x 1) (2) Wet feet / trench foot (1) Rats (1) Lice (1) Lack of sleep / danger of being shot (1) [L1] [ANY TWO] 5.2.2 Soldiers had to cross open ground (mud, shell holes, barbed wire) (1 x 2) (2) where there was no cover (2) Enemy machine guns could shoot them down before they reached the enemy trench (only 15 of 40 came back) (2) [L2] [ANY ONE] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 6 Social Sciences/P2 6 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines 5.2.3 He did not want his mother to worry / he wanted to protect his family (1 x 2) (2) from the truth (2) Letters were censored (read by officers), so soldiers could not write everything / had to sound positive (2) He wanted to appear brave / show that he was doing his duty (2) [L3] [ANY ONE] 5.3.1 SS Mendi (1) [L1] (1 x 1) (1) 5.3.2 The government of the Union of South Africa had racist / (1 x 2) (2) segregation policies and treated black people as inferior (2) White leaders feared that black men who were trained and armed might later use weapons to fight against white rule (2) (Accept: coloured men could serve as armed soldiers in the Cape Corps, but black African men could not.) [L2] [ANY ONE] 5.3.3 The (white) government did not regard the black labourers as (1 x 2) (2) important / racism (2) Black SANLC members received no medals / were not honoured in the same way as white soldiers (2) The story was left out of history books until after 1994 (2) [L3] [ANY ONE] [17] QUESTION 6: PARAGRAPH QUESTION [L2/3] Relevant facts include (use the rubric below): • LONG-TERM: Militarism – the great powers built up large armies and weapons; arms race (e.g. the naval race between Britain and Germany, Dreadnought battleships). • Alliances – Europe was divided into two armed camps: the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia); a conflict between two countries would draw in their allies. • Imperialism – competition for colonies (e.g. the Scramble for Africa) and markets created rivalry and distrust (Germany wanted ‘a place in the sun’). • Nationalism – extreme pride in one’s own country; France wanted Alsace-Lorraine back; Slav nationalists in the Balkans (Serbia) wanted independence from Austria-Hungary. • SHORT-TERM: 28 June 1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated in Sarajevo (Bosnia) by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist. • Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and declared war on Serbia (28 July 1914); Russia supported Serbia. • Germany declared war on Russia and France and invaded Belgium; Britain declared war on Germany (4 August 1914). • Conclusion: the assassination was the spark (trigger), but the long-term causes (M-A-I-N) made a large war likely. [8] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 7 Social Sciences/P2 7 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 Senior Phase – Marking Guidelines Paragraph rubric (QUESTIONS 3 and 6) Level Descriptor Marks 3 Answers the question fully. Uses relevant, historically correct 6–8 evidence (at least FIVE facts) well. Written as an organised paragraph with an introductory and a concluding sentence. 2 Answers the question partly (e.g. only ‘why’ in Q3, or only 3–5 long-term causes in Q6). Evidence is mostly relevant (three to four facts). Basic paragraph structure. 1 Shows little understanding of the topic. Few relevant facts 0–2 (one or two) or evidence is mostly irrelevant. Little or no paragraph structure. Notes: A list of points (no paragraph) may not be placed above Level 2. Within a level, place the answer higher when the facts are accurate, explained and well linked; Level 3 requires BOTH parts of the question (Q3: why AND how; Q6: long-term AND short-term causes). Copying large parts of a source without explaining caps the mark at Level 2. 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