A Level Religious Studies - exam review and tips for students
04 September 2020
Hints and Tips - 5 minute read
Ewan Brady, OCR Religious Studies Subject Advisor
We want to support A Level Religious Studies (RS) students preparing for exams in the autumn or next summer and in my blog I’ll be discussing the previous exam series, sharing exam tips and more.
The 2018 and 2019 exams
This new A Level Religious Studies course was first taught in 2016 with the first A Level exams sat by candidates in 2018 and a second series in 2019.
The 2018 exams
In the 2018 exams there was much that went well for candidates, but there were some significant issues, as discussed in the examiner reports written by the principal examiners:
What went well:
- Some candidates wrote very high-level responses, and most were able to write three full essays with the time spread evenly.
- Many responses showed knowledge from other topics and across the specification illustrating the holistic nature of the A Level.
- Better responses focussed on evaluation with a sustained line of reasoning throughout and engaged in the discussion of arguments.
- There was evidence of wider reading – but the best responses were precise and characterised by thoughtful and direct engagement with the question.
What was less successful:
- A significant number of candidates struggled with timing and wrote only two answers or a short third answer.
- There were also candidates who got very different marks for their three essays – suggesting they had a much better knowledge of some topics.
- Some candidates wrote what seemed to be pre planned essays without specific reference to the question – general topic answers rather than a focussed response.
- Some essays were dominated by AO1 despite the new weighting of 40% of marks for AO1 and 60% for AO2. Just comparing scholars is not evaluation - candidates need to reach a conclusion.
Things that went well in the 2019 exams
2019 was the second year of exams in the new specification and in their reports the examiners talked about the improvements they had seen.
Timing was much better – more candidates wrote three complete essays than in 2018 where this had been an issue for some students.
Candidates were able to get excellent marks at Level 6 without using additional answer booklets.
Exam Tips
Here are 5 tips for the upcoming exams based on what our examiners have seen:
- Focus directly on the question being asked and engage with it – the best responses answer the question.
- Develop a clear line of argument and embed the evaluation throughout the essay.
- Write an introduction to show where you are going with your argument.
- Write in clear paragraphs starting with the question to develop your argument.
- Write a conclusion which develops from your argument and brings it to a close.
Ideas for improvement
Here are a further 3 ideas from our examiners for developing your technique:
- Plan your essays before you begin writing on the question papers or answer booklets.
- Focus on the argument not the general topic – remember 60% of the marks are for analysis and evaluation.
- Make economical use of AO1 knowledge and understanding to support AO2 analysis and evaluation.
Scholarly views
When dealing with scholarly views it is important to note that evaluation rather than comparison or juxtaposition is key in the best responses.
Going further
On our website we have a range of resources that are designed for teachers, but students can also use them to help in preparing for their exams, each contains:
- the specification
- question papers and mark schemes
- examiners reports
- candidate answers with commentaries.
The specification explains the aims and learning outcomes of the qualification. It details what students should know, understand and be able to do. The specification lists the content in detail and provides suggested scholarly views, academic approaches and sources of wisdom and authority.
Students can access assessment materials from the 2018 exam series – these include the question papers, mark schemes and examiners reports. The mark schemes give what we call indicative content – the answers that we expect students might give. Alternative answers can be given credit. The levels of response are used to mark the questions.
The examiner reports are written by the principal examiners following feedback from all the examiners. They discuss the papers in general, ways in which candidates were successful and areas where there were issues. They also discuss most questions in detail. The reports are well worth reading for tips.
We have also published exemplar answers with commentaries from the 2018 exams. These are real answers written by real candidates that achieved high and medium scores on their papers. The commentaries are written by the principal examiners.
This blog is based on our Summer Highlights report from 2019 and the Examiners Reports from 2018 and 2019. There is also a command words resource available that you may find useful. These can all be found with the assessment materials.
All the best with your studies.
Stay connected
If you have any questions about any aspects of this blog you can email us at religious.studies@ocr.org.uk, you can also follow us @OCR_RS.
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About the author
Ewan Brady, OCR Subject Advisor
Ewan Brady joined OCR as a subject specialist in June 2014. Since joining OCR Ewan has been responsible for a number of subjects including Law, Government and Politics and Sociology. Ewan led the redevelopment of our new AS and A Levels in Law for first teaching in 2017. He took over responsibility for Religious Studies as Subject Advisor in 2017.
Ewan taught for 16 years in Scotland and England and has eight years of leadership experience in humanities, teaching subjects including history, law, politics, citizenship and religious studies.
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