Religious Studies

Religious Studies

Information

A Common Entrance paper has 3 sections:

1) Old Testament Stories & Contemporary Issues (4 questions on paper)

2) New Testament Stories & Contemporary Issues (4 questions on paper)

3) World Religions (30 questions on paper)

You have to answer ANY 2 questions from sections 1 and 2. This means you can now answer 2 questions from the Old Testament part and none from the New Testament, or vice versa. Or you can answer one question from each. The might affect your revision! You might like to just revise one of the testaments.....

Each question in sections 1 & 2 has four parts to it and are marked as follows:


(a) 2 marks – usually asking you to define a word such as 'parable'. Try to give two pieces of information.


(b) 6 marks – these questions ask you to describe part of the story. Be thorough and include as much detail as you can.


(c) 6 marks – these questions ask you to explain the theology behind something – it might be something someone said, or a concept, like ‘loyalty’ or ‘leadership’. This is the trickiest part and you need to include background information and examples.


(d) 6 marks – discussion of a contemporary moral issue based on the Bible story. You need to either write a balanced argument (for / against / conclusion) and you must give examples to support the points you make. Try to use linking phrases like 'some people might say', 'on the other hand', 'others' believe''

 

After all that you then need to answer ANY 4 questions from the World Religions section - that means you can mix and match! However, you have only studied Sikhism and Islam so please don't be tempted to try questions from another religion. That includes Christianity! We do not study it as a religion and you do not have sufficient information to answer the questions properly! World Religions questions are each worth 5 marks and you just need the facts!

 

 

We can never be sure what is going to come up on a CE paper, but looking at this year's past papers we are guessing that the following topics might come up in the Bible sections:

Good luck!

 

Revision

Dreading exams? Use our revision notes to get you started!

Once you're up to speed on the facts, try some CE practice questions:

You will also need to read through the original texts from the Bible.

 
Revision Tips
  • Trying summarising the story/topic by putting it into bullet points.
  • Learn the ‘Key Ideas’
  • Brainstorm what you know about a topic then use the information you have to fill in any gaps
  • Do timed practice questions – then mark them yourself later and try to see what needs improving
  • Write out essay plans THEN do the essays
  • Do you KNOW the story?  Do you UNDERSTAND the story?  Can you APPLY the story to today’s world?
  • Think about the history and context of a Bible story
  • Write out a vocabulary list for each religion and learn it

 
Websites
Here are a few websites that might be useful!
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