GCSE (for first teaching in 2009) Religious Studies: Philosophy and Applied Ethics - J621

Structure

• For a full course learners study four units and those completing over two years can sit examinations over two summer sessions and a January session if they wish
• Short course learners study two units and those completing in one year can sit examinations in January and June
• learners completing a short course can top up their learning with the two remaining units to achieve a full course
• Short course in Philosophy and Ethics can be combined with short course in World Religions to achieve a full course GCSE in Religious Studies.

• The approach remains topic-based.
• The distinction between the Philosophy content and the Ethics content is maintained.
• Equal number of topics (6) available for Philosophy and Ethics.

Content

• Two new faiths have been added (Buddhism and Sikhism). A possible six faiths can be chosen from.
• Two new topics have been added to the choice of ten previously available; the new topics are:
  • Religion and Revelation
  • Religion and the Media
• The addition of the new topics means learners can choose four topics from six for a short course in pure Philosophy or pure Ethics and have a choice of eight topics from twelve for a full course.
• 'The Nature of God' is now called 'The Nature of Deity'.

• The ten topics on the current specification remain and have been updated where necessary, they are:
  • The Nature of Deity (formerly The Nature of God)
  • Religious Experience (formerly The Nature of Belief)
  • Good and Evil
  • The End of Life (Death and the Afterlife)
  • Death and the Afterlife
  • Religion and Science
  • Religion and Human Relationships
  • Religion and Medical Ethics
  • Religion, Poverty and Wealth
  • Religion Peace and Justice
  • Religion and Equality.

Assessment

• There is no coursework/controlled assessment
• All examinations are 1 hour
• There are two assessment objectives instead of three
• The allocation of marks to questions has changed to reflect the 50/50 weighting of the assessment objectives
• The full course is now four examination papers instead of two
• The short course is now two examination papers instead of one
• Learners will be asked to complete two questions from a choice of three
• Unit B603 is available for assessment in January and June.

• Total examination time remains the same.
• The look and feel of the examination questions will be familiar
• There will be one examination question on each topic in the specification and learners will continue to have a choice as to which questions they answer
• Each examination question will be set in the context of each of the six faiths covered in the specification.
• Learners will be required to answer the same number of questions
• The Part C question includes a prompt.