On 5 July we announced some changes to our assessment. From the 2020 exam series we are replacing the 6-mark combined assessment objective questions in GCSE Religious studies J625 and GCSE (short course) Religious Studies J125.

At the time, we 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 could see what our new question papers and mark schemes will look like.

We have now updated the remaining sample assessment materials for GCSE Religious Studies components:

• ‘Islam Beliefs and teachings and Practices’ J625/02
• ‘Judaism Beliefs and teachings and Practices’ J625/03
• ‘Buddhism Beliefs and teachings and Practices’ J625/04
• ‘Hinduism Beliefs and teachings and Practices’ J625/05
• ‘Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a Muslim perspective’ J625/07
• ‘Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a Jewish perspective’ J625/08
• ‘Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a Buddhist perspective’ J625/09
• ‘Religion, philosophy and ethics in the modern world from a Hindu perspective’ J625/10

You can find these under the assessment tab on the qualification pages.

We have also published a candidate exemplar resource, which will provide candidate style answer and commentaries to help your students become familiar with the knowledge and skills needed in our qualification.

We are also hosting a free webinar this month which will add further clarification to this update and answer any questions you might have. To book your place on this event please visit the professional development page of our website.

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)