RS A level OCR

Does the exam board repeat themselves as in what topics they pick??

What are the most common topics that they choose and have come up in the past??

Thank you.

Reply 1

ihatedctinrs

8

Original post by Marysia W-Smith

Does the exam board repeat themselves as in what topics they pick??

What are the most common topics that they choose and have come up in the past??

Thank you.

hello! yes they do repeat themselves unfortunately.
for philosophy the most common is:
plato and aristotle (4 times in the past 5 years)
arguments based on observations (4 times in the past 5 years)
the nature or attributes of god (3 times in the past 5 years)
the rest of the topics have all been asked at least once except for soul mind and body.

for ethics its tricky because of the applied ethics as the 4 main theories could be used in the question but:
euthanasia (3/5)
business (3/5)
meta-ethics (4/5)
conscience (4/5)
sexual ethics (3/5)
situation ethics and utilitarianism are the 2/4 main theories that have never been asked about on their own- without having to apply one of the applied ethics.

for dct, the topic is so big (12 topics!!!) so theres not really one that really stands out except for knowledge of gods existence which has been asked 3/5 times. death and the afterlife, person of jesus christ, moral action, religious pluralism and society, gender and theology and secularisation have all been asked 2/5 times. the rest have only been asked once.

hope this has helped sorry about the structure theres no easy way of writing all that lol

Reply 2

Marysia W-Smith

OP

12

Original post by ihatedctinrs

hello! yes they do repeat themselves unfortunately.
for philosophy the most common is:
plato and aristotle (4 times in the past 5 years)
arguments based on observations (4 times in the past 5 years)
the nature or attributes of god (3 times in the past 5 years)
the rest of the topics have all been asked at least once except for soul mind and body.

for ethics its tricky because of the applied ethics as the 4 main theories could be used in the question but:
euthanasia (3/5)
business (3/5)
meta-ethics (4/5)
conscience (4/5)
sexual ethics (3/5)
situation ethics and utilitarianism are the 2/4 main theories that have never been asked about on their own- without having to apply one of the applied ethics.

for dct, the topic is so big (12 topics!!!) so theres not really one that really stands out except for knowledge of gods existence which has been asked 3/5 times. death and the afterlife, person of jesus christ, moral action, religious pluralism and society, gender and theology and secularisation have all been asked 2/5 times. the rest have only been asked once.

hope this has helped sorry about the structure theres no easy way of writing all that lol

Thank you so so much!!! This really does help!!!

Reply 3

alevelstudent090

17

hi good luck with your exams this year :smile:

im currently self studying a level religious studies and im currently having a five minute break. how can i improve on my essay writing and does it get harder in yr13? im currently in first year and im literally studying 'religious language' atm (i started in jan) do you think im behind or do you think i'll be able to complete the subject in time?
do you have any tips too?

Reply 4

ihatedctinrs

8

Original post by Marysia W-Smith

Thank you so so much!!! This really does help!!!

i’m glad!

but i have just realised that plato and aristotle has come up 3 times and soul mind and body has come up once, i got them confused!!

Reply 5

Marysia W-Smith

OP

12

Original post by alevelstudent090

hi good luck with your exams this year :smile:

im currently self studying a level religious studies and im currently having a five minute break. how can i improve on my essay writing and does it get harder in yr13? im currently in first year and im literally studying 'religious language' atm (i started in jan) do you think im behind or do you think i'll be able to complete the subject in time?
do you have any tips too?

Thanks!! For the essay writing it can be quite hard to do but I think its doable. My tutor who is an examiner for OCR told me to do it in this way.

Intro- should consist of any basic definitions, eg: what cognitivism and non-cognitivism is. The thesis should be strong and structured like 'this essay will argue that...'
Always do about 3 paragraphs on every essay.
Each paragraph should start with a little intro sentance as to what you're gonna and linking back to title/thesis.
Then u would go into your content. Beginning with AO1, against is evaluation which is AO2 and then depending on which side you agree with you repeat your thesis at the end, eg: 'therefore, Wittgenstein is more convincing than Ayer because....' and then bring it back to thesis as well. If u want to defend the AO1 then u have to do a defence which is also AO2.
For most topics it is in this format but for some like Problem of Evil, Business ethics etc you would do a block AO1 at the beginning of everything you will say about that topic and that should get you full marks.
For example- Problem of Evil- Block AO1 of Mackie's logical problem, Block AO1 of Hume's evidential problem. Then if you're using Augustine then do block Augustine AO1 and then go onto the AO2 arguments, and same for Iranaeus/Hick.
Remember to always have a clear thesis!! And bring it back to the question!! Also, do good detail but don't waffle or get repetition.
Conclusion- repeat thesis and briefly explain everything you just said very much of a mini overview and nothing massive.

I hope that helps!! Good luck with your studying!! Keep on grinding and I'm sure you'll make it it is a very hard subject but it's doable I believe!!

Marysia :smile:

RS A level OCR

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