Group for those who do OCR A2 Philosophy & Ethics [Post Exam Discussion]

What mark did you get last year? I got 99/ 100 and 96/100. Was just wondering if your marks were comparable to this so I can know what grade I would need to get an A. thanks

i used tiger woods as an example in the extramarital sex question LOL

Love it. I used a Sirius Black analogy (Harry Potter, for those of you who aren't quite as obsessed) as part of my argument for Soft Determinism...

It made sense and was completely relevant, but I still couldn't quite believe that I was writing about Azkaban and so on... in an A2 exam.

Aha that's awesome! I used the history boys in my psychology exam :P

Oh God, for my emotivism example I did 'Hitler, therefore, can be seen by Ayer as saying boo Jews and by Stevenson as boo Jews and you should boo along with me'... I know

I'm including my ethics from this year since I did it in January so best not to base it on mine. You need 80% for an A so that's 320/400 UMS. Since you've got 195, you only need 125 more out of the 200 UMS this year. So you can get 62/63 UMS in each test this year and still come out with an A. Low 60s is a low C in each. That's my understanding of it anyway, feel free to correct me anyone. Well done on last years, that's pretty awesome!

I basically limited myself to talking about virtue ethics, natural law and utilitarianism to get a nice contrast. I basically argued that Nat law was too limiting, whilst utilit could promote sexuality in a damaging way, whereas virtue seemed to present a happy medium.

Also i've heard ocr basically award a mark for like every good point. so if you use the 'posh' terminology like non-cognitive and cognitive language then that counts as a mark ! so even if you have made that little mistake as long as you know you've put some other good stuff in there it won't count against you getting a good mark on the whole

The questions on the paper weren't that tricky in themselves as they had been before, so I felt the need to actively go and say "look at me, I've been stretched and challenged!" in the questions whether or not it was actually useful lol

I think my favourite area is probably the philosophy of language or epistemology, but I tend to think more in terms of favourite philosophers, which top of the list for me is Hume, who rocks. I'm a big fan though of the phenomenological approach which I reckon has been ignored too much by analytic philosophy and has made it pretty dry in some areas, which is where existentialism has its strength I guess (sorry if that's a completely wrong view lol). Psych I reckon is pretty closely linked to philosophy in some areas as well, though I'm too tired to make out how :P My mum did psych at uni and is a Jungian psychologist so for me it's just been 'what my mum does' and it's only recently through Phil & Eth that I've studied it and actually realised it's quite interesting (plus she's a good revision source :P)

yeahh i guess you're right ! well i put that hick\s replica theory for the soul question was the thing about london and new york, which i don't think is right at all, and i had like no time left so i hardly explained the example and how it helps the question, so i doubt it made sense :/ but i know i put some other could stuff in there to make up for it !

and ohh what did hick say ? or was it just you put him down for bliks instead of hare ? i don't think so they'll know you were under pressure in the exam. Also i've heard ocr basically award a mark for like every good point. so if you use the 'posh' terminology like non-cognitive and cognitive language then that counts as a mark ! so even if you have made that little mistake as long as you know you've put some other good stuff in there it won't count against you getting a good mark on the whole

This isn't true, sadly. If you look at the mark scheme, marks are not necessarily given for every fact you write down. They give you a mark out of 35 based on the getting relevant facts, giving relevant information and being critical. In a language essay you could write the meanings of 35 key words and their meanings, or 35 philosophers and their idea, but unless it directly relates to the question you get no marks.
I thought the same as you until recently when I spoke to an examiner about it. The key to high marks is making your answer relevant

Hi,
Im such an idiot!
i quickly rushed into the free will question (on the ethics paper) - critically access we are responsinble for our own evil actions- and did an essay on CONSCIENCE based on it.
I related the essay to the question but i did it on conscience!
Does anyone think i will still get any marks on it or if thats ok???

If it was relevant enough you'll get credit! I brought conscience into mine too, granted I would have struggled to make 35 marks on it, but I'm not saying it can't be done!
As long as it linked to responsibilty to evil, there's no need to worry in my opinion

Thanks for your opinion..but the mark scheme they are given for the question, i rekon will only give an answer reffering to a free will/determinism answer.
therefore, if they dont mention conscience in the mark scheme they might reward me with no marks.

Thanks for your opinion..but the mark scheme they are given for the question, i rekon will only give an answer reffering to a free will/determinism answer.
therefore, if they dont mention conscience in the mark scheme they might reward me with no marks.

however, i didnt use any reference to free will just conscience.
So do you think they will accept my conscience essay as a legitamate answer for the question even though it was based on free will??