Following feedback from teachers and examiners, we are replacing the 6-mark combined assessment objective questions in GCSE Religious studies J625 and GCSE (short course) Religious Studies J125. These changes will make our assessment more straightforward for students, teachers and examiners. We have also made a minor change to a level of response descriptor in the mark scheme. These changes will be introduced for the 2020 exam series.

What has changed?

GCSE Religious studies J625:

• For Components 01–05 (Beliefs and teachings and Practices) the 6-mark question which was previously assessed using a combination of AO1 and AO2, is being replaced by a 6-mark question which will be assessed using AO1 only.
• For Components 06–10 (the religion, philosophy and ethics papers) there are two 6-mark questions. One will continue to be assessed using AO1, and the other which previously used a combination of AO1 and AO2, will now be assessed using AO2 only.
• In our levels of response descriptors we have changed ‘adequate but underdeveloped’ to ‘satisfactory’.
• We haven't changed 15 mark questions which are assessed using a combination of AO1 and AO2, or made any changes to the specification content.

GCSE (Short course) Religious Studies J125:

• The 6 mark questions in Section A and Section B, which were previously assessed using a combination of AO1 and AO2, are being replaced. There will now be a 6-mark question in Section A assessed by AO1, and a 6 mark question in Section B and Section C assessed by AO2.
• In our levels of response descriptors we have changed ‘adequate but underdeveloped’ to ‘satisfactory’.
• We haven't changed 15-mark questions which are assessed using a combination of AO1 and AO2, or made any changes to the specification content.

How are we supporting you?

We have updated the sample assessment materials to reflect these changes for ‘Christianity Beliefs and teachings and Practices’ J625/01, 'Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a Christian perspective’ J625/06, and GCSE Short Course J125/01 so you can see what our new question papers and mark schemes will look like. These can be found under the assessment tab on the GCSE Religious Studies qualification pages. We will update the sample assessment materials for the remaining components ready for teaching in September 2019.

In September we are hosting a webinar which will add further clarification to this update, and answer any questions which this might raise. Look out for more information on how to book your space on this in the next few weeks.

In September we will also provide a candidate exemplar resource, which will provide more details about these changes to help your students become familiar with the knowledge and skills needed in our qualification.

If you would like further information please contact the Religious Studies Subject Advisor on 01223 553998 or email religious.studies@ocr.org.uk.

Qualification

• Religious Studies (9-1) - J625, J125 (from 2016)