A KBAT answer states a claim, quotes a short piece of evidence, and then explains how the evidence supports the claim. Without the third step, evidence is only decoration.
This lesson builds on turning facts into developed explanations. The next skill is building a chronology.
What is the claim, evidence, reasoning method?
The claim answers the question in one sentence. The evidence is a short phrase from the source or a fact from the topic. The reasoning links the two: “this shows that…” or “this suggests…”.
The method works for any KBAT question, because it forces you to show why you believe what you wrote.
Worked example with a source summary
The source below is a short summary in our own words of what historians record about the Malayan Union, not a verbatim quote from a document. In an exam, the source will be given to you. 1
“Under the Malayan Union plan, the Malay rulers gave up their powers to the British Crown, except in religious matters. At the same time, citizenship was made easy to obtain for people who had settled in Malaya.”
Question: “Suggest one reason Malays opposed the Malayan Union. Support your answer.”
- Claim: Malays opposed the Malayan Union because it weakened the position of their rulers.
- Evidence: The source says the rulers “gave up their powers” to the Crown “except in religious matters”.
- Reasoning: This suggests the rulers kept only a religious role, so Malays who saw the rulers as symbols of their community would feel their position was threatened. 2
Notice the reasoning links the evidence back to the claim and explains why it mattered to Malays.
Opinion against evidence-based judgement
| Answer | Why it scores low or high |
|---|---|
| “The Malayan Union was bad because people did not like it.” | No evidence, and “did not like it” repeats the claim |
| “The source says the rulers “gave up their powers”, which suggests Malays saw the plan as weakening their rulers.” | Claim, quoted evidence and reasoning all present |
The mistake that costs marks
The two frequent errors are quoting without explaining and claiming more than the source says. The source above does not say when the plan ended, so a claim about its date would be unsupported by the source.
Stay within what the source shows. If you want to go beyond it, add a fact from your textbook and label it as such. For example, the plan began in April 1946 and was replaced in February 1948. 3
Check yourself
Using the same source, answer: “Suggest a second reason Malays opposed the Malayan Union.” Write claim, evidence and reasoning.
Answer
Claim: Malays opposed the plan because it made citizenship easy for immigrants.
Evidence: The source says citizenship “was made easy to obtain” for people who had settled in Malaya.
Reasoning: This suggests many Malays feared losing their special position in their own land if large numbers of new citizens gained equal status. 2
What to study next
Continue with building a chronology. The evidence-to-explanation planner lets you practise the three steps.
For a teacher to question your reasoning, see online one-to-one Sejarah tuition.