Self-teaching the Philosophy and Theology Pre-U

Is this a good idea? The course really appeals to me and I am prepared to work hard for it, but I doubt that I would be taught at school at all; it only offers A levels so teaching me a different course would just be too much hassle for the teacher. The fact that the course is linear is, I think, good on the front of self-teaching as you have more time to focus on the topics and research them in-depth. However, I am wondering if it will harm my chances of getting a good grade (D3-D1) if I have no tuition.
Does anyone have any advice? Thanks

How are you going to self teach. There aren't any pre-u textbooks are there?

There is a reading list on the syllabus, though. Anyway I don't think it's going to happen because the school hasn't said anything since we started after the summer. :I

A d3 is about 120 marks out of 175, d2 is 28/27 marks from that point, d1 is anywhere in-between the rest of the marks so you may want to make sure you know it entirely before you sit it. It is advisory to seek out someone who knows the subject a lot more in depth as the syllabus does not always tell you everything, ideally in your school. Start doing it now and finish it at the end of your second year if you really want to do it. I don't know your ability but D1-D3 is clearly meant to be reserved for the higher end of the spectrum and I hope you're prepared to maintain that same standard over 7 hours or so, in one sitting.

Is there? I had a lot at the syllabus and couldn't find any reading lists. Can you send me a link? It says that there is a CIE teachers website with resources on it but your school has to be CIE registered to use it, so I can't get on it. Why do you want to self teach philosophy? I think it will be nearly impossible to do it by yourself and take the exam too, because this subject requires critical thinking and debate, which can only be developed so far by reading, and really needs other people to debate with and bounce ideas off. I don't want to officially take the exam, but I want to do it as I am interested in the subject, and Pre-U's are harder than A levels.

I remember reading about someone that got an A* on an A-Level but only a P1 on their Pre U. I wouldn't be so sure about a D1 as the grade thresholds seem to indicate that it's set by the examiner, so who knows. Seeing as it is also undefined by UCAS it's treated the same as an A* when comparing A-Level to Pre Us (if I remember the guidance correctly), so offers no more edge than an A*.

Have you compared the raw marks to UMS to raw marks to grading from A-Levels to Pre U? Not to be discouraging but 80 UMS for 50%, as an example is quite different to D3 for 70% raw marks marked to a higher standard. Also, that is considering a 6 hour exam in one sitting compared to 4 or 6 one hour sittings? I don't know anything about A-Level humanity subjects, just getting started in my delve into humanities for Pre-U at the moment whilst I cover the sciences.

Also, as I'm sure you know that the GLH (time spent in classroom delivering content) is 380 for a Pre U - for self-study I'd be more inclined to spend triple or quadruple that time in a single academic year going over the content as, for me, there is a lack of reference points thus it is on my own intellect to determine whether or not I understand it sufficiently. Fortunately for yourself you probably have a whole department willing to help you, if you can try and get after-school help as well.

I agree that the syllabus will not tell me everything; but I am optimistic that my general interest in the subject and 'further reading' would give me some valuable knowledge come exam-time. Also, I think the RE department would be willing to help out if they have some spare time when I come to them with a question. I might be thinking too optimistically, but that's what I'm thinking.
I know that D1-3 are hard to get, and in fact that D1 is a higher grade than an A*, but I'm predicted straight As (2AS, 1 A level). Hopefully this means I have a chance of getting a D1-3, especially as essay subjects are my strongest. Not to mention I decided I wanted to do the Pre-U because the exam questions looked amazing and the mark schemes looked so much better than, say, those of AQA sociology... in the Pre-U you are given some freedom with your answer and you are even credited for extra knowledge. Now that's my kind of exam!

Pages 11 - 19 in the syllabus include some reading, and you can look at past papers and specimen papers you you get an idea of what you need to know and how you need to argue it. There is also plenty of resources on the internet that are well worth using; for example Youtube houses many videos on philosophy.
I want to self-teach philosophy because it wasn't offered as an A level option and it is something I am extremely interested in. How I wanted to do it was basically just read loads of philosophy and then write about it in my blog so I could get feedback on my analytical/reasoning skills. I agree that to learn philosophy you need to learn how to debate it, and that's why I joined the debating club at school. Debating on forums etc would be an option too so I don't think it would be too hard to develop that. A few books on critical thinking have been published too, and you can't forget the Oxford TSA papers as some practise.
I'm sure there are loads of people available for debate, for example I have a Buddhist friend with whom I debate issues of morality and religion. Going on the forum of a political party could also be a way to go; I'm sure a few heated debates could be sparked off there!
Not that it won't be difficult, but I don't think it will be impossible.
I suppose if you don't want to do the exam, you might as well just read as many books on philosophy as you can! May I recommend Nietzsche?
The reason I wanted to do Pre-U in the first place was because the exam looked amazing! XD

Hey I agree it looks amazing, but the books listed won't really help as these are the set texts. I meant, that there is not "official textbook" like you get with A levels, so it is going to be hard. Debating with your Buddhist friend won't be enough
We really need some resources from CIE

I'm sure there's a way around there not being a textbook; books for other courses would probably help and of course reading around the subject will always help too. I know debating with my friend won't be enough, he's just an example XD
I suppose writing essays on each topic will improve debating skills a bit, but obviously not as much as debating someone in person.
It would be very helpful if CIE would publish some resources, I agree. I guess the best we can do though is work with what we've got.

I remember reading about someone that got an A* on an A-Level but only a P1 on their Pre U. I wouldn't be so sure about a D1 as the grade thresholds seem to indicate that it's set by the examiner, so who knows. Seeing as it is also undefined by UCAS it's treated the same as an A* when comparing A-Level to Pre Us (if I remember the guidance correctly), so offers no more edge than an A*.

Have you compared the raw marks to UMS to raw marks to grading from A-Levels to Pre U? Not to be discouraging but 80 UMS for 50%, as an example is quite different to D3 for 70% raw marks marked to a higher standard. Also, that is considering a 6 hour exam in one sitting compared to 4 or 6 one hour sittings? I don't know anything about A-Level humanity subjects, just getting started in my delve into humanities for Pre-U at the moment whilst I cover the sciences.

Also, as I'm sure you know that the GLH (time spent in classroom delivering content) is 380 for a Pre U - for self-study I'd be more inclined to spend triple or quadruple that time in a single academic year going over the content as, for me, there is a lack of reference points thus it is on my own intellect to determine whether or not I understand it sufficiently. Fortunately for yourself you probably have a whole department willing to help you, if you can try and get after-school help as well.

There are resources, but its on the CIE teachers site, so we can't access them

Do you think we could fake being a teacher? Although I suppose that would involve registering a school too..

We could try Does your school do IGCSE? that is also by cie so they will be able to access resources

No, my school doesn't go IGCSE :Y the local private school might though... I'll ask.

I went on the resource centre but the only textbooks recommended there are for chemistry... helpful XD

Some limited resources here:
http://www.cie.org.uk/cambridge-for/learners-and-parents/study-resources/


And you can order things from this:
http://www.cie.org.uk/images/125366-cambridge-publications-catalogue-september-2013.pdf

Ok thanks. We'll let me know if you find anything, I'm going to try a few things too, and I'll let you know if I get anywhere.