Specifications that use this resource:

Switching to AQA from OCR

To save you time and help you compare our A-level Religious Studies with the OCR specification, we’ve created some comparison tables.

These tables highlight the content and requirements side by side, so you can make the right choice for your students.

Let us know if you’d like to hear from us, we’ll send you everything you need to get started.

For further information and resources, head to the subject pages of our new
A-level Religious Studies specification.

Mandated similarities

According to the Department for Education and Ofqual, all GCSE Religious Studies specifications must include assessment comprised of 60% AO1 and 40% AO2. They should also meet the requirement for students to:

  • Study three of the four approaches: Systematic study of one religion, Philosophy of religion, Religion and ethics, Textual studies (this includes the content specified for each approach).
  • Acquire and develop knowledge and a critical understanding of: religious thought, belief and practice and the different ways in which these are expressed in the lives of individuals, communities and societies; how religious texts and/or other relevant sources of wisdom and authority are interpreted and applied; major issues, challenges and questions within and about the study of religion (for example, the role of tolerance, respect and recognition and interreligious dialogue, methods of study, relevance to contemporary society) and responses to these; the causes, meanings and significance of similarities and differences in religious thought, belief and practice within and/or between religion(s).
  • Demonstrate critical awareness of: questions, issues and arguments posed by scholars from within and outside religious traditions; social, religious and historical factors that have influenced developments in the study of religions and beliefs; connections between the various elements of the area(s) of study.

Assessment structure

Paper 1

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

Philosophy of religion and ethics

Philosophy of religion

Written exam

Written exam

3 hours

2 hours

100 marks (50% of A-level)

120 marks (33.3% of A-level)

Paper 2

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

Study of religion and dialogues

Religion and ethics

Written exam

Written exam

3 hours

2 hours

100 marks (50% of A-level)

120 marks (33.3% of A-level)

Paper 3

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

Developments in religious thought

Written exam

2 hours

120 marks (33.3% of A-level)

Subject content

Paper 1

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

Section A: Philosophy of religion

  • Arguments for the existence of God
  • Evil and suffering
  • Religious experience
  • Religious language
  • Miracles
  • Self and life after death
  • Ancient philosophical influences
  • The nature of the soul, mind and body
  • Arguments about the existence or non-existence of God
  • The nature and impact of religious experience
  • The challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil
  • Ideas about the nature of God
  • Issues in religious language.
  • Ancient philosophical influences
  • The nature of the soul, mind and body
  • Arguments about the existence or non-existence of God
  • The nature and impact of religious experience
  • The challenge for religious belief of the problem of evil
  • Ideas about the nature of God
  • Issues in religious language.

Section B: Ethics and religion

  • Ethical theories
  • Issues of human life and death
  • Issues of animal life and death
  • Introduction to meta ethics
  • Free will and moral responsibility
  • Conscience
  • Bentham and Kant
 

Paper 2

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

Section A: Study of religion

For each faith option (2A–2E) the following topics are covered:

  • Sources of wisdom and authority
  • God/gods/ultimate reality
  • Self, death and the afterlife
  • Good conduct and key moral principles
  • Expression of religious identity
  • Religion, gender and sexuality
  • Religion and science
  • Religion and secularisation
  • Religion and religious pluralism
  • Normative ethical theories
  • The application of theory to two contemporary issues of importance
  • Ethical language and thought
  • Debates surrounding the significant idea of conscience
  • Sexual ethics and the influence on ethical thought of developments in religious beliefs.
  • Normative ethical theories
  • The application of theory to two contemporary issues of importance
  • Ethical language and thought
  • Debates surrounding the significant idea of conscience
  • Sexual ethics and the influence on ethical thought of developments in religious beliefs.

Section B: The dialogue between philosophy of religion and religion

How religion is influenced by, and has an influence on philosophy of religion in relation to the issues studied.

 

Section C: The dialogue between ethical studies and religion

How religion is influenced by, and has an influence on ethical studies in relation to the issues studied.

Paper 3

AQA A-level Religious Studies

OCR A-level Religious Studies

  • Religious beliefs, values and teachings, their interconnections and how they vary historically and in the contemporary world.
  • Sources of religious wisdom and authority.
  • Practices which shape and express religious identity, and how these vary within a tradition.
  • Significant social and historical developments in theology and religious thought.
  • Key themes related to the relationship between religion and society.

In the context of one religion chosen from Christianity (03), Islam (04), Judaism (05), Buddhism (06) or Hinduism (07).

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