Hi Lyn,
The examination specifications on page 80 of the Ancient syllabus say that in Section II: Ancient Societies 'each question will consist of four or five parts' so I guess the examiners were implementing the four-part option. The BOS Support Document for the 2006 exam (i.e for revised syllabus) on the Board's website (page 3) gives an example of a possible 4-part structure.(http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/anc_history_support.pdf
Now that I look at page 80 of the syllabus again, I note that the Personality question (Section III) 'will be in two or three parts' - an option that might well be taken up in future papers , i.e a three-part question again.