The Student Room Group

Possible to self-teach Pre-U philosophy and theology?

^ title.
I looked at the course and it really appeals to me; but my school only does A levels as a rule (a few EPQs here and there) so I don't think they would go to any hassle for one student (me). The most they'll probably do is enter me for the exam and have me sit it at school, so I'll have to do the work by myself. Is this a good idea? I'm well-motivated and reading a lot is no problem for me, but I'm not sure if time with a teacher is necessary. Could anyone give their opinion on this?
Thanks :biggrin:
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Reply 2
I did this with sociology and am about to start doing religious studies in the same way. definitely possible, you just have to put the work in, use the forums as your support/study advice, and make sure you read all the recommended books. I also did many many practice essays over the course of the year. good luck.
Reply 3
Original post by _splinter_
I did this with sociology and am about to start doing religious studies in the same way. definitely possible, you just have to put the work in, use the forums as your support/study advice, and make sure you read all the recommended books. I also did many many practice essays over the course of the year. good luck.


What resources do you use? and where can you find books that can use to self teach the course?

Many thanks
Reply 4
If you looked at the syllabus you'll find a bibliography of the required texts in the specification. Either your school library should have the books (there's about 15 or so in total that are required) or you can check on Amazon. They are fairly cheap and not numerous in pages, a good couple of days worth of dedicated reading. If you have a philosophy/theology teacher or someone of that background then be sure to make full use of them. I honestly don't understand how the syllabus is meant to cover an entire two years worth of understanding.
Reply 5
Original post by LucyTheWeird
^ title.
I looked at the course and it really appeals to me; but my school only does A levels as a rule (a few EPQs here and there) so I don't think they would go to any hassle for one student (me). The most they'll probably do is enter me for the exam and have me sit it at school, so I'll have to do the work by myself. Is this a good idea? I'm well-motivated and reading a lot is no problem for me, but I'm not sure if time with a teacher is necessary. Could anyone give their opinion on this?
Thanks :biggrin:


Some facts about Pre-U Philosophy & Theology:

1) It encourages independent research. It is 'Pre-U', after all - it's meant to be a taster for University life. We have two philosophy teachers. One teachers half the lessons and teaches us paper one material in a traditional way. The other half of the lessons are taken by our resident expert in Philosophy, and she doesn't 'teach' us in the conventional sense. We go off to the library, go read books etc. whilst she works with AQA students. We then have tutorials with her once a week where we talk her through an essay we've done, something we've discovered etc. In that respect, you can certainly teach yourself the course, but please please PLEASE make sure you have someone who knows about philosophy there to give you some guidance. Else you'll be going blindly into the dark.

2) It's hard. The hardest of my seven subjects by far. Anyone who says Philosophy is easy has not tasted pre-u D1 level standard yet. Philosophy is many times harder than Further Maths, Economics, Physics and all the other subjects I do. And this is coming from someone who reads at least 4 hours philosophy a day and has done for a year.

3) DON'T let that put you off. A D1 (A**) is probably the best achievement anyone can make at our age qualification wise. I knew people who reapplied to Cambridge for Philosophy with D1's, and he literally waltzed in there. D1 is the best of the best.

I'm currently in my second year of Pre-U. If you need any help or advice with it, just PM me.


EDIT: I've just seen this thread is from a few months ago. I hope you've gone ahead and chosen to do the course. If not, it's not too late - and I bet I can convince you to do it :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by theholonym
Some facts about Pre-U Philosophy & Theology:

1) It encourages independent research. It is 'Pre-U', after all - it's meant to be a taster for University life. We have two philosophy teachers. One teachers half the lessons and teaches us paper one material in a traditional way. The other half of the lessons are taken by our resident expert in Philosophy, and she doesn't 'teach' us in the conventional sense. We go off to the library, go read books etc. whilst she works with AQA students. We then have tutorials with her once a week where we talk her through an essay we've done, something we've discovered etc. In that respect, you can certainly teach yourself the course, but please please PLEASE make sure you have someone who knows about philosophy there to give you some guidance. Else you'll be going blindly into the dark.

I think the RE department would be willing to help if they have any free time, and I can always email them I suppose.
Original post by theholonym

2) It's hard. The hardest of my seven subjects by far. Anyone who says Philosophy is easy has not tasted pre-u D1 level standard yet. Philosophy is many times harder than Further Maths, Economics, Physics and all the other subjects I do. And this is coming from someone who reads at least 4 hours philosophy a day and has done for a year.

I wasn't under the illusion that it was going to be easy; rather that it's something I could really get into. It kind of lessens the effect of the difficulty of a subject if you really enjoy it, I suppose. :smile: of course there are probably ideas that I will struggle with etc. but I think my enjoyment of the subject will win out. That and hopefully some teachers will help me!

Original post by theholonym

3) DON'T let that put you off. A D1 (A**) is probably the best achievement anyone can make at our age qualification wise. I knew people who reapplied to Cambridge for Philosophy with D1's, and he literally waltzed in there. D1 is the best of the best.
I'm currently in my second year of Pre-U. If you need any help or advice with it, just PM me.

EDIT: I've just seen this thread is from a few months ago. I hope you've gone ahead and chosen to do the course. If not, it's not too late - and I bet I can convince you to do it :smile:

Well, I will try and get that D1 (fingers crossed!!) if the school ends up entering me for the exam - if not I suppose I'll have to pay (£200 pounds I believe. Argh!)
By the way, when is the deadline for entry to the exam?

Also - here is my blog (which hasn't been updated in months, unfortunately)
http://thisstatementisnottrue.wordpress.com/
it's primarily about philosophy, but with some maths/physics too. Also, I warn you: most of it is probably bull**** :biggrin: but tell me what you think
^-^
Reply 7
Do your RE teachers know about philosophy in enough detail though? You need ideally someone who has a degree in Philosophy or Theology. In my case, one of my teachers did Philosophy and Theology at Oxford. She tells me when I'm wrong, when I'm working at a undergrad level, when I'm onto something unique or interesting, and also when I'm spouting out rubbish! This is the level of people you should be referring to.

If you don't think they're up to scratch, don't fret - it's entirely possible to do well without any teacher support at all. But it makes life so, so much easier if you find someone - anyone - who has at least a degree level of knowledge in the subject. Even if the person is out of school. Ask around - surely you can get in contact with Philosophy graduates on here :smile:
Reply 8
Original post by theholonym
Do your RE teachers know about philosophy in enough detail though? You need ideally someone who has a degree in Philosophy or Theology. In my case, one of my teachers did Philosophy and Theology at Oxford. She tells me when I'm wrong, when I'm working at a undergrad level, when I'm onto something unique or interesting, and also when I'm spouting out rubbish! This is the level of people you should be referring to.

If you don't think they're up to scratch, don't fret - it's entirely possible to do well without any teacher support at all. But it makes life so, so much easier if you find someone - anyone - who has at least a degree level of knowledge in the subject. Even if the person is out of school. Ask around - surely you can get in contact with Philosophy graduates on here :smile:

I'm not sure what kind of qualifications the RE dept have; my school does have a few Oxbridge grads but I'm not sure whether RE has any (physics has an Oxford grad, which is pretty cool, and we also have a guy with a phD!) .. but that's not philosophy haha :biggrin:
I think the school has a staff list, so I'll check. :smile:
Reply 9
Original post by A-Dog
What resources do you use? and where can you find books that can use to self teach the course?

Many thanks
i bought the textbooks for the exam board i was sitting with (AQA) and followed advice on this forum, and used general internet research.
Hello, I want to take the Pre-U Philosophy and Theology in 2016, which will involve a lot of self-teaching. Considering this thread's been going on a while, has anyone successfully completed, or self-taught, the course? Any recommended reading (text book?)? Any other advice?

I've been studying the AQA Philosophy A-Level, but the stupid new syllabus and negative marking irritates me, so I'd much rather take the Pre-U instead.

I'm learning everything in Paper 1, Epistemology for Paper 2 and Philosophy of Mind for Paper 3 (feel free to contact me directly [personal details removed]
(edited 8 years ago)