Philosophy essays

Hi, I'm studying (AQA) philosophy A-level and am consistently getting around 15-16 marks for the 25 mark essays, my teachers say I need to add more detail and I am mostly getting near top marks for the 3,5 and 12 mark questions but I cant seem to increase my grade. I am aiming for an A/B so ideally need to be getting a few more makes on the essays, any tips/advice would be appreciated.

Reply 1

Invy

Original post by ,study,

Hey there , you got help?

Reply 2

,study,

No, I’m not sure how to do better on the essays I just keep getting 15-16 out of 25

Reply 3

Joe312

You need 3 paragraphs of this structure:

Argument
counter
evaluation

and to get above 15/16 you have to do:

Intent
Integration
Weighting

Are you doing all those things? See here for more info:

https://alevelphilosophyandreligion.com/philosophy/how-to-write-a-top-band-essay/

I could send you an essay plan illustarting all this if you want - name a topic and i'll post the essay plan for it.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 4

,study,

Thanks for this, its definitely helped give me better understand how to approach the essays and what the examiners will be looking for. Much appreciated :smile:

Reply 5

Joe312

Original post by Husssssss

Do you have Russel & Copleston loll 😅

Is that for the Edexcel exam board?

Reply 6

miameni

Original post by Joe312

You need 3 paragraphs of this structure:
Argument
counter
evaluation
and to get above 15/16 you have to do:
Intent
Integration
Weighting
Are you doing all those things? See here for more info:
https://alevelphilosophyandreligion.com/philosophy/how-to-write-a-top-band-essay/
I could send you an essay plan illustarting all this if you want - name a topic and i'll post the essay plan for it.

hey, i know this thread is around a month old, but do you have an essay plan for antirealism ?

Reply 7

Joe312

Original post by miameni

hey, i know this thread is around a month old, but do you have an essay plan for antirealism ?

Yeah I'll upload one on my website soon. However you don't need a special plan for antirealism - you can have one essay plan for meta-ethics that includes both realism and anti-realism.

Reply 8

miameni

Original post by Joe312

Yeah I'll upload one on my website soon. However you don't need a special plan for antirealism - you can have one essay plan for meta-ethics that includes both realism and anti-realism.

oh really? our skl has made two plans for us

Reply 9

Joe312

Original post by miameni

oh really? our skl has made two plans for us

Moral realist theories being true makes moral anti-realism false, and vice versa.

So, they are relevant to each other and can be combined into one essay plan.

It is quite long though and tbh I haven't managed to put it into 3 paragraphs - i've made it 4 but in the exam you should only do 3 of them.