Revision and exam technique
Islamic Studies · GCSE · The School
Quotations by theme
Organise revision by theme — beliefs, worship, family, justice — with three or four short sources per theme, each with a line on what it shows. Short is better: a phrase you can recall exactly beats a long passage you half-remember, and an examiner cannot credit a quotation that is wrong.
Marks tell you the length
A 1–2 mark question wants a fact, not a paragraph. A 4–5 mark question wants explanation with a source. The 12–15 mark evaluation wants: the view, reasons for it, reasons against it, and a justified conclusion — usually four paragraphs. Writing a long answer to a short question is time taken from where the marks actually are.
The evaluation question
It typically gives a statement and asks you to discuss it. Plan two arguments for, two against, then a conclusion that actually decides something and says why. Use religious sources on both sides where you can. Practise planning ten of these rather than fully writing two — planning is where the thinking is, and it covers far more of the specification per hour.
STATEMENT: "Religious believers should never fight in a war." AGREE: pacifist traditions, life is sacred, the harm to non-combatants. DISAGREE, from within Islam: 22:39 permits fighting for those wronged; the conditions of a just cause; self-defence and the protection of others. CONCLUSION, justified: which side has the stronger evidence and why. Four lines of plan, both sides, a decision — then write. The plan is what earns the top band.