Why students fail : Or tips for exam success from the chief examiner

• Remember exams are positively marked. You are marked for what you get right rather than penalised for what is wrong. However there are marks for selecting information so do select the right things for each question.
• Questions will require you to think rather than simply reproduce revision notes – learning notes will not be enough if you can’t adapt them to the question.
• Detailed medical knowledge or personal knowledge of the philosophers is not required.
• Limit your answer to what is relevant
• Try to use your own expressions to convey meaning rather than just expressions from others. Attribute ideas you do use i.e. “Slippery Slope”
• Do not spend along time defining terms – there are no marks for this.
• Do not assume your examiners will share your religious, philosophical or ethical view points. Your religious beliefs are probably not relevant either.
• Do not generalise – you need to be accurate in what you say. This is an academically rigorous subject and needs to be treated that way.
• Plan – brainstorm for a few minutes. Write down and number ideas. The plan is not marked so should not take too long although it might be glanced at if you run out of time.
• You are not expected to give brilliant original thinking at A level so be modest in your responses. Rehearse other people’s responses and attribute them accordingly.

The Chief Examiner’s 10 Top Tips:

1. Know your subject matter
2. Remember this is not a knowledge test
3. Read the question and answer it
4. Explain your arguments clearly and support them as thoroughly as you can
5. Do not waste time telling the examiner what they don’t need to know
6. Do not presume or assume knowledge or a particular standpoint
7. Do not generalise
8. Do not over plan
9. Remember – examiners are trying to find out how good you are at dealing with the material and answering the question – not trying to catch you out!
10. More is not necessarily better

A2 Exam Advice

• Include both AO1 and AO2 in your answer
• Include both an explanation of the key ideas and a critical discussion of them.
• You need to answer two questions. Each question should take 45 minutes

For AO1:
? Select and demonstrate relevant material
? Use evidence, examples and correct language
? Answer the question that is asked
? Express your ideas clearly
? Explain examples, relevant scholar’s views and sources. Say why it is relevant to the question.

For AO2:
? Critically evaluate ideas – saying why or why not something is good/bad, strong/weak
? Justify each view
? Construct an evaluative argument
? Demonstrate an informed point of view – why you like/don’t like an argument
? Show understanding of different points of view
? Use accurate language and write in a fluid style.
? Don’t waffle – be concise

Mrs Haig’s Additional Tips

• Plan for success – plan as many essays as possible and learn these plans to help you begin quickly in the exam.

• Know your key words and philosophers inside out. It looks sloppy if you get this basic knowledge wrong. Use general philosophical terms such as intrinsic, a priori etc

• Bring in knowledge from across the course – don’t just write whatever we had in our notes for a particular topic

• Personality – Show who you are in your writing. The examiner has to mark many scripts so make yours stand out. Don’t be rude (you don’t know what opinions they may hold) but firmly give a point of view and back it up with evidence.

• Make your conclusion inevitable. Everything in the essay should lead you to reach that conclusion