This question was a straightforward one but not very popular with the candidates. The (a) part of the question was well tackled by candidates i.e. feudalism as a socio-economic system in which ownership of land was
hierarchically structured from the lords to the Serfs. However, the (b) part of the question was difficult for the candidates. Majority of the candidates scarcely identified up to three merits of feudalism. This accounted for the low performance of candidates in this question. In order to score high marks in this question, candidates were expected to identify some of the following merits of feudalism:
encouraging self-reliance;
provision of land;
promotion of agrarian economy;
the lords protecting the serfs; etc.