The coursework title is structured in exactly the same way as an examination essay. The first part asks you to describe. It is testing whether or not you know the relevant facts and can organise them in a logical way. The second part asks you to explain. The examiner is checking that you can make links between what people believe and what they do. Students most frequently lose marks on this section because they give a description of what people believe followed by a description of what they do but fail to make clear links between belief and practice. The third part asks you to evaluate. You are always given a statement with which you have to agree or disagree, making sure that you refer to the religion you are studying in your answer. You are also expected to consider different points of view. Your ability to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of different points of view and to argue in a reasoned and logical way are the skills being tested here. The easiest way to lose marks is to jump in straight away with your own opinion. Candidates who do this are less likely to include different points of view, remember to mention the religion or to provide reasons for their opinion. The secret of success is to conclude your answer with your own point of view.

The obvious differences between coursework and an exam answer is that you are not writing under time pressure and from memory. To get a good mark in your coursework you will be expected to use and refer to different sources. You will lose marks rapidly if it is clear that you have only read the course text book or if you copy chunks directly from any source. Remember that your work will be marked by three examiners all of whom are familiar with the sources you are likely to find!

The word limit for this work is 1500 words. That may sound a lot but once you begin writing you will realise you have a lot of material and it will be hard to keep within the limit. You must word process your coursework and keep a copy on disk. This makes it easy to redraft and edit later on. Keep a copy of your final coursework until you have received your GCSE result.

Any work that you hand in to your teacher for comment or final marking must be a hard copy and not on disk.

Your coursework must be handed in with the following information:

Centre number

Your candidate number

Your name

The Specification Code and Title: Religious Studies B (Philosophy and Ethics) 1931 B

Coursework Title.

The pages of your coursework must be numbered and bound together in a flat card file.