AS-LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES RSS10 World Religions 2: Christianity OR Judaism OR Islam 1 The Way of submission Report on the Examination 2060 June 2016 Version: 1.0
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RSS10 World Religions 2: Christianity OR Judaism OR Islam 1 The Way of submission General Comments There were about the same number of entries as in previous years. As in previous years, the vast majority of entries were for Islam. There were some exceptional papers, showing that many students had been well prepared for the examination. This was particularly true of AO2 questions. Few students were able to access the highest levels on AO1 and several found questions which contained more than one command difficult. There are still some students who do not read the whole question, particularly at AO1, this prevents them from accessing the higher levels. Schools and colleges are reminded that outline is a lower level demand and that where this will appear, in combination with explore or examine, the outline will always be the smaller part of the answer and the weight of the response should be on the explanation or examination. Section A: Christianity Question 1 Some beliefs about God: Trinity and salvation Part 01 was a popular question among the small number students tackling this section. Some answers did not answer both parts of the question or did not refer to more than one creed or any creeds at all, which limited the levels that they could achieve. The examination of beliefs about Jesus was stronger than that of the Holy Spirit and, while they did not have to produce equal amounts, there was significant imbalance in some answers. Part 02 was mostly completed well with students arguing both sides of the view. Some answers contrasted the importance of the Holy Spirit with the Trinity in general, which gave strong answers. Question 2 Christian scripture: nature and purpose As usual, this was the least popular Christianity question although more students answered this question than on previous papers. There were no top level answers with most students struggling to answer the two parts of the question. Some students did not recognise the difference in demand between the outline and explain parts of the question. In such a question, an outline is all that is required in the outline, but the explain part requires further unpacking. Too many students simply produced lists in the explain part, without going into more depth. The best answers included attitudes to the scriptures as the word of God or as inspired by God. Part 04 was answered better than the AO1 part, with most students able to give one strong argument. However, some students failed to address the demands of the question and make an appropriate evaluation of the importance of scripture for Christians today. 3 of 6
Question 3 Aspects of Christian worship There were extremely good answers to part 05 with most students balancing the outline against a more detailed examine section. A few students focused on description of Eucharistic practices rather than examination of the different beliefs. The word 'different' implied that they should include a range of beliefs from several denominations but not all students included more than one set of beliefs. Most students argued both sides of part 06 effectively, but some failed to focus on the Eucharist as the 'centre' of all services which meant that they failed to access the higher levels. Question 4 A Christian way of life: initiation, marriage and death This was the most popular Christianity question with most students understanding the beliefs and practices of believers baptism. There were some students who did not appear to understand the difference between believers' and infant baptism, although it is on the specification. Students found part 08 harder with many not exploring what is meant by true baptism at all or separating different kinds of baptism. Some students answered the question by exploring the nature of belief rather than comparing and contrasting infant and believers' baptism and this approach was credited, and, in fact, these formed many of the better answers. Section B: Judaism Question 5 God and his people Students did not find part 09 easy despite the fact that it is on the specification. This was one of the most popular questions but many students did not address the part of the question about the Psalms. While examiners did not require students to quote specific psalms by number, some reference to the psalms and the ideas within them was expected. Absence of references limited answers to the lower levels. There were no top marks for this question. Part 10 resulted in a range of responses; from extremely good answers which honed in on the ideas about God found in the psalms and their relevance, to those answers which had not focused on the psalms in AO1 and so did not do so in the AO2. A few students attempted to answer a completely different question in its place. Question 6 Scripture Part 11 was not a popular question, but there were some good answers which explained separately how each of the Tanak and the Talmud were the word of God. Most answers were better on the Tanak than on the Talmud. Part 12 was a basic issue about authority but some students did not grasp the difference between the oral and the written law despite it being specified on part 11. Some of the answers were simplistic and did not analyse the issues. 4 of 6
Question 7 Aspects of worship and festivals: Shabbat, Yom Kippur and Pesach Part 13 was a popular question with most students. The strongest answers appreciated that the word ways in the question required them to include some diversity and they compared and contrasted different types of Jews in terms of their Shabbat observance at home. Some got off the question and included aspects of synagogue observance. Weaker answers became descriptive lists of home observances with little or no examination. Again part 14 elicited a range of responses from very strong, comparing home and synagogue observance, with some also including communal aspects like being invited for Shabbat dinner to simplistic assessment of home observance with little comparison or contrast. Question 8 Styles of Judaism: Orthodox and Reform beliefs and practices This was not the most popular question and many students struggled to distinguish between Reform and Orthodox views in part 15. There were a number of students who drifted off the point into a question about Jewish status rather than the land of Israel. There were some excellent responses to part 16, particularly disagreeing with the statement. Students brought in a range of points to support their contention that Israel was important to many Jews in the Diaspora. The responses about Israeli Jews were less good. Section C: Islam 1: The Way of Submission Question 9 The Qur an This was the second most popular question on the whole paper and gained a range of responses. There were a small number of top levels achieved, but many answers did not explain the importance of both hadith and sunnah and too much of their answers focused on the outline section. A small but significant number of students were either unable to define either the hadith or the Sunnah or mixed them up which reduced the strength of their answers. Part 18 was well-answered with most students looking at the need for Hadith and Sunnah as well as Qur'an. Some students did not address the notion of necessity. Question 10 The Five Pillars This was the most popular question on the paper. Some students struggled with the two skills required and found it difficult to outline what was meant by the ideal Muslim character and either went into too much detail for an outline or made simplistic statements that just said 'The Prophet' was the ideal Muslim character. Some answers became a description of the five pillars, not using the example of Sawm to answer the question. Part 20 was answered well, with most students looking at reasons why somebody might be unable to fast and incorporating reasons for fasting. Some students became confused in their consideration of what is a good or bad Muslim rather than relating it to fasting. 5 of 6
Question 11 The doctrine of God This was the least popular Islam question and students found it difficult to complete the two halves of the question. Some answers were really about Tawhid whereas others focused on the relationship with humanity and hardly mentioned Tawhid. Students did not link the two parts together as required by the question. Again, students struggled with part 22 finding it difficult to go into depth about the difference between the relationship with God as individual Muslims and that of the Muslim Umma. Question 12 Key beliefs There was a range of quality of answers to part 23. The best answers integrated ideas of authority with those of the seal of prophets. Weaker answers focused on the authority of prophethood or on the seal of prophets but not both. Most answers to part 24 contrasted belief in prophets as one of the six pillars of Iman with the practicality of believing in 124,000 unnamed prophets. 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