This topic required students to show knowledge of what constituted the role of the god-king and then to express an opinion about how Akhenaten’s reign compared to this role.

Many responses engaged with the idea that Akhenaten fulfilled some aspects of the role of god-king while also being unconventional. This was probably the best approach to take as it gave students the opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of ‘typical’ aspects of kingship as well as specific actions undertaken by Akhenaten. Exploring both of these strands naturally led to an argument of some kind in most essays.

Students organised their ideas well for the most part into cohesive and thematically focused paragraphs.