A level philosophy aqa or ocr religious studies

I chose classics lit and rs for my a levels initially, but just recently changed rs for philosophy due to the problem that I wouldn't be able to to play for the football team that's training takes place the same time as the only rs class. Therefore, I changed to philosophy but feel like I should switch back whilst I can as rs seems a lot easier and I feel like sticking with philosophy would be making things uneccesarilly harder for myself as I don't haven't read any philosophy or anything in the past and I don't feel like it's the best option for me any advice?

Reply 1

bibachu

Universities Forum Helper

13

Original post by Ishaaq Saeed

I chose classics lit and rs for my a levels initially, but just recently changed rs for philosophy due to the problem that I wouldn't be able to to play for the football team that's training takes place the same time as the only rs class. Therefore, I changed to philosophy but feel like I should switch back whilst I can as rs seems a lot easier and I feel like sticking with philosophy would be making things uneccesarilly harder for myself as I don't haven't read any philosophy or anything in the past and I don't feel like it's the best option for me any advice?

As someone who studies AQA philosophy currently, both RS and philosophy are hard, but for different reasons. The content in philosophy is minimal but complex. To do well, you will need to understand the concepts on the specification well. The exams themselves are not hard; you’ll be given two 3 hour papers with two sections on each paper adding up to 100 marks per paper. The paper 1 topics are epistemology (knowledge) and moral philosophy. The paper 2 topics are metaphysics of God (arguments for God’s existence, attributes of God, religious language and meaning) and metaphysics of mind (whether the mind/soul exists independently or within the body). 60/100 marks in each paper will be compromised of AO1 (knowledge and understanding). You’ll be given two 25 mark essays, in which, 20 of the marks are for AO3 (essentially analysis, evaluation, critical thinking, reasoning and persuasive argument). You do not need any knowledge of philosophy before starting. Mine was certainly minimal. RS is different because of the added religious component, which is what makes the workload heavier. Look at the specifications for each subject, the resources and exam format and see which subject you prefer. If you love RS and want to study it, then that may just mean giving up your football practice (which I’m aware may be a big sacrifice). Ultimately, you won’t do well in a subject you don’t enjoy. If you have any more questions about philosophy, I’d be happy to answer them :smile:

Reply 2

misanthrope07

6

I do OCR RS and it's split into 3 different papers; Philosophy of Religion, Ethics and Developments in Reiligous Thoughts, with 4 forty mark questions and 3 being answered for the exams. I think what seperates RS from Philosophy is the added religion component and your studying the philosophy of religion, you'll be learning about arguments for the existence of God, the problem of evil and etc. One thing to note is that in OCR philosophy of religion, the 1st topic is the Understanding of Reality, which is not a topic is AQA RS.

Reply 3

Ishaaq Saeed

OP

2

Original post by bibachu

As someone who studies AQA philosophy currently, both RS and philosophy are hard, but for different reasons. The content in philosophy is minimal but complex. To do well, you will need to understand the concepts on the specification well. The exams themselves are not hard; you’ll be given two 3 hour papers with two sections on each paper adding up to 100 marks per paper. The paper 1 topics are epistemology (knowledge) and moral philosophy. The paper 2 topics are metaphysics of God (arguments for God’s existence, attributes of God, religious language and meaning) and metaphysics of mind (whether the mind/soul exists independently or within the body). 60/100 marks in each paper will be compromised of AO1 (knowledge and understanding). You’ll be given two 25 mark essays, in which, 20 of the marks are for AO3 (essentially analysis, evaluation, critical thinking, reasoning and persuasive argument). You do not need any knowledge of philosophy before starting. Mine was certainly minimal. RS is different because of the added religious component, which is what makes the workload heavier. Look at the specifications for each subject, the resources and exam format and see which subject you prefer. If you love RS and want to study it, then that may just mean giving up your football practice (which I’m aware may be a big sacrifice). Ultimately, you won’t do well in a subject you don’t enjoy. If you have any more questions about philosophy, I’d be happy to answer them :smile:

Thanks for the advice. To me, especially as someone who struggles with time management the rs papers seem easier to get through as there's only 3 essays, iv also heard from other college students that have studied both, all of them telling me that rs is definitely easier and iv also.heard that philosophy is extremely difficult. Another problem with philosophy is that apparently you get marked down for redundancy. I would also like to ask about writing technique for rs as when looking at a past paper I saw a question about the sanctity of life argument and euthanasia and for gcse we were taught and able to use quotes such as 'do not take a life which God made sacred', for a level rs would is still be able to use quotes from the bible to back up my answers like I'm used to or would I just have to explain and contrast arguments then come to my own conclusion

Reply 4

Ishaaq Saeed

OP

2

Original post by bibachu

As someone who studies AQA philosophy currently, both RS and philosophy are hard, but for different reasons. The content in philosophy is minimal but complex. To do well, you will need to understand the concepts on the specification well. The exams themselves are not hard; you’ll be given two 3 hour papers with two sections on each paper adding up to 100 marks per paper. The paper 1 topics are epistemology (knowledge) and moral philosophy. The paper 2 topics are metaphysics of God (arguments for God’s existence, attributes of God, religious language and meaning) and metaphysics of mind (whether the mind/soul exists independently or within the body). 60/100 marks in each paper will be compromised of AO1 (knowledge and understanding). You’ll be given two 25 mark essays, in which, 20 of the marks are for AO3 (essentially analysis, evaluation, critical thinking, reasoning and persuasive argument). You do not need any knowledge of philosophy before starting. Mine was certainly minimal. RS is different because of the added religious component, which is what makes the workload heavier. Look at the specifications for each subject, the resources and exam format and see which subject you prefer. If you love RS and want to study it, then that may just mean giving up your football practice (which I’m aware may be a big sacrifice). Ultimately, you won’t do well in a subject you don’t enjoy. If you have any more questions about philosophy, I’d be happy to answer them :smile:

Another problem for me is that i have no history of reading philosophy books and studying their opinions, I also don't want to make things uneccesarilly hard for myself and as someone who studies philosophy I would like to ask how hard is it? and it seems like rs really isn't that different at a level anyway apart from the religion unit which I think would be good

Reply 5

bibachu

Universities Forum Helper

13

Original post by Ishaaq Saeed

Thanks for the advice. To me, especially as someone who struggles with time management the rs papers seem easier to get through as there's only 3 essays, iv also heard from other college students that have studied both, all of them telling me that rs is definitely easier and iv also.heard that philosophy is extremely difficult. Another problem with philosophy is that apparently you get marked down for redundancy. I would also like to ask about writing technique for rs as when looking at a past paper I saw a question about the sanctity of life argument and euthanasia and for gcse we were taught and able to use quotes such as 'do not take a life which God made sacred', for a level rs would is still be able to use quotes from the bible to back up my answers like I'm used to or would I just have to explain and contrast arguments then come to my own conclusion

You do get marked down for redundancy, but if you struggle with time management, surely two 3 hour long exams as opposed to three 2 hour exams is a better idea. I have no knowledge of RS as an A level subject and I did not study it at GCSE, so I can’t tell you anything about the content or exam format (other than the basics). Philosophy can be tricky in terms of understanding, but I wouldn’t say that it’s incredibly hard. Keep in mind that different people will find different things difficult at different levels, so anecdotal evidence probably won’t help much. I struggled more with nailing the exam technique than anything, but worked my way up from a D to an A* steadily throughout Year 12. You don’t need any knowledge of philosophy or philosophical concepts to study philosophy. The only introduction I had to philosophy before starting my A levels was the Netflix sitcom ‘The Good Place’. You don’t need to read any philosophical works to do well at A level (at least I don’t) and the theories and arguments you will study will be taken from very small sections of a philosopher’s works. There is no expectation to be able to recite Kant’s “Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals” or to have read Plato’s “The Republic” from cover to cover (although, it is a good read). Philosophy may sound incredibly complex when you look at it at a glance, but once you begin to grasp the nature of the subject (which is arguably more logical than theoretical for the AQA specification), the odd Greek words thrown into the mix become seemingly normal vocabulary. Again, I have no experience with RS at both GCSE and A level, but from what I can tell, it seems to be very content heavy in comparison. The content itself may be easier to grasp, but as someone who is studying a content heavy subject with minimal complexity (psychology), I’m glad I chose philosophy alongside it. I think it’s quite nice to give your brain a break from simply regurgitating information, but to each their own.

(edited 2 months ago)

A level philosophy aqa or ocr religious studies

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