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Edexcel religous studies 12 markers

Can anyone recommend the best structure for a 12 marker on Edexcel exam board, at the moment my teacher has recommended I do something like 1 strength and 2 weaknesses ( or vice-versa) and then a conclusion. Is this the best method or are there better alternatives?

Reply 1

inboccaallupo

I'm also doing A-Level (I'm presuming this is what you're referring to) Religious studies so I hope I can help you out.
The structure depends on the wording of the question. Often they will be 'Assess the strengths of the ____________' or 'Assess the weaknesses of the __________'. In this case I'd give 3 strengths or weaknesses, and then evaluate them, rather than list a strength than a weakness.
ie One strength of the design argument is its basis in a posteriori evidence that anyone is able to see. Yet a drawback of this is that when we see evidence of bad design in the world (ie natural evil - disasters, cancer etc) we inevitably have to conclude a poor designer. Similarly, as HUME points out, we have no knowledge of creating a universe so how would we understand if it was well designed. Therefore this is a poor strength of the teleological argument......' vs one strength is ___. One weakness is_____

You may also got questions such as 'Assess the idea/significance of____'. In this case you could use 1 strength/2weakness. Sometimes there may be multiple ideas so you could create a point out of each. Why not, for a significance question, assess the significance of an event to different groups of people. This method is especially good for NT studies when assessing the significance of indivudal signs/miracles in Johns gospel. Ie theological significance vs significance to the crowds at the time.

My structure would probably be:

Point 1 and Explain:
Critique.
(Counter critique)

Point 2 and Explain:
Critique.
(Counter critique)

Point 3 and Explain:
Critique.
(Counter critique)

The generic marking pricinples for a L3 answer (9 to 12 marks) are as follows:
- A wide range of knowledge, specialist language and terminology are carefully selected and used appropriately, accurately and sustained throughout (AO1).
- Critically deconstructs religious information/issues leading to coherent and logical chains of reasoning (AO2).
- Constructs coherent and reasoned judgements of the full range of elements in the question (AO2).

Thefore a one sentence conclusion wouldnt necessarily go amiss but a introduction and conclusion are not explicity needed. Edexcel recommend around 20 minutes to write this