A-LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Transcription

1 A-LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES RST3H World Religions 2: Christianity OR Judaism OR Islam Report on the Examination 2060 June 2016 Version: 1.0

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3 RST3H World Religions 2: Christianity OR Judaism OR Islam General Comments The majority of entries were on Islam, with a very small Judaism entry and an even smaller on Christianity. Overall, each question presented equal challenge and produced excellent responses. In questions with two triggers, such as outline and explain, the emphasis was frequently on the outline element and this reduced the marks that students were able to attain. It was clear that many schools and colleges, particularly those studying Islam, did not teach the whole specification, which disadvantaged their students. Section A: Christianity Question 1 Origins and development of Christian vocation and service There were very few Christianity papers so only small numbers of students answered each question. Part 01 was well answered with most students able to identify the differing importance of ordained and lay ministries. The best were able to explore a range of denominational practice. Part 02 was well answered. Question 2 Christology There were no responses to this question. Question 3 Christian action There were very few responses to part 05 and these struggled to find a range of actions to write about. As these students had not discussed government in part 05 they struggled to do so in part 06. Question 4 Christian spirituality This was the most popular Christianity question with all of the students entering this section answering it. There were some good discussions of spirituality and the many ways in which it is expressed in part 07. Most answers to part 08 gave a balanced response to the statement and included some pertinent points. 3 of 6

4 Section B: Judaism Question 5 Origins and development of Zionism Part 09 was answered with varying degrees of success. While most students knew about the origins of political and religious Zionism, they found it more difficult to apply them to Jews living in Israel today. Some answers to part 10 were excellent, looking at why Zionism is important for many Israeli Jews. However, some students ignored the word the and answered that Zionism was a central belief but contrasted it with other, mainly religious, beliefs. Question 6 Holocaust issues and theology Part 11 was the most popular Judaism question with almost every student answering it. It was a broad question that elicited a range of answers, most of which were good. Students had clearly been taught about various Holocaust theologians but found it difficult to show how the Holocaust challenged the idea of the covenantal relationship. Some did not seem to understand what the covenantal relationship was at all. Part 12 was disappointing in many cases. While the question broadened out the area of study to Jewish beliefs some students focused on the covenantal relationship and did not add in the many other aspects that they could have done. Question 7 Bar/bat mitzvah, marriage and divorce Part 13 was a fairly popular question. Most students were able to explain the views of the Orthodox, although some answers became a list of practices. Explaining the differing views, by comparing and contrasting to Reform, was less well done. Most students gave two sides to part 14 but did not really go into the necessary depth to access the higher levels. Question 8 The Hasidic traditions There were no responses to this question. 4 of 6

5 Section C: Islam Question 9 The Shari a and the Muslim way of life Part 17 was a popular question with most students able to discuss the various parts of Shari'ah including some scholarly references. However, many of the contemporary issues discussed were about coffee (decided in the 16th and 18th centuries) or women's dress (decided at the time of the prophet). The best answers considered truly contemporary issues like IVF or saviour siblings and had detailed discussions of the role of qiyas and ijtihad. Part 18 was answered better with most students looking at a range of ways to discover the will of Allah, one of which was the Shari'a. Weaker answers talked about the Qur an without mentioning that the Qur an is the major source of Shari'a. Question 10 Shi a Islam Part 19 was also a popular question and produced some excellent answers, but the majority were little more than a description of the martyrdom of Husayn, the Battle of Karbala and how Ashura is celebrated. As suffering and martyrdom is a unique point in the specification, the number of students who were unable to discuss the importance of these two concepts was extremely disappointing. Many answers talked about Ashura and said that 'this shows the importance' of suffering, when they had done no such thing. On the whole, part 20 was well answered with most students contrasting the martyrdom of Husayn with the Night of Power, or the election of Abu Bakr as the first Rightly-Guided Caliph. A small number referred to the establishment of the theocracy in Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini as the most important event. Question 11 God and humanity This question proved more popular than had previously been the case and resulted in some exceptional answers. While most answers to part 21 tackled predestination and human free will separately, some students considered the two together and this was credited as long as they did not stray into the debate that formed the AO2 question. The best answers looked at different approaches from different Muslim sects including Shi'a and those students who had not studied the Shi'a topic did not produce such good responses. This should serve as a reminder of the importance of studying the whole specification rather than simply selected topics. While weaker students just reproduced the facts from part 21 in response to part 22, most students produced creditable evaluations of whether it is possible to believe in both. Question 12 Women and family life Part 23 was the most popular question on the whole paper. Most students seemed to have wanted a different question about the roles of family members. Those that said that the nature of the family in Islam is that family members take distinct but separate roles were able to make their discussion of roles creditworthy but not all did so. There was some confusion over the meaning of nature and of purpose with some students including under nature what was clearly purpose and vice versa. Part 24 wanted the students to consider the nature and purpose of the family and whether it could be seen as a model for all people. Most answered this as to why it should be a model for all Muslims, not all people. Those that tried to consider the wider society focused mainly on homosexual couples and working women. 5 of 6

6 Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 6 of 6