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Welcome back to a new school year and a new season of the RE Podcast. Over the summer, I have recorded a series of episodes to support GCSE RE - specifically AQA Islam and Christianity. If you are a student of GCSE RE, or a teacher of GCSE RE who is new to teaching GCSE, or new to AQA, or you are a teacher from another subject teaching GCSE for the first time, then I hope these episodes are really helpful to you to consolidate learning, or prepare for exams if you are a student, or to help you feel more confident if you are a teacher.

This episode offers an overview of Paper 1 - Religious Beliefs and practices, looking at the structure of the exam, how to do the different exam questions as well as some top tips for the exam. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A COPY OF A NEW STYLE EXAM PAPER TO HAND

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/religious-studies/gcse/religious-studies-8062/assessment-resources?secondaryResourceType=Question+papers%3BMark+schemes%3BAnswers+and+commentaries&limit=50&q=2026

Each episode after that will offer an overview of the main content and apply them to some key exam questions.

Copies of the exam questions used in the episode are below.

Give one Muslim belief about angels. [1 mark]

Answer 1

Muslims believe that the angel Jibril revealed the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the night of power.

Answer 2

They are made of light.

Explain two ways in which the problem of evil and suffering influences Christians today. [4 marks]

Answer 1

One way is by trying to reduce as much evil and suffering through being good people. This is because they believe evil and suffering is caused by humans. Another way is by being hopeful of an afterlife. This is because they believe that in heaven there will be no more evil and suffering.

Explain two different ways in which Christians work for reconciliation

Explain two different ways pilgrimage is experienced in Iona

Explain two different religious practices Muslims could perform during Ashura

Explain two different ways in which Muslims may perform Salah

Explain two Christian beliefs about sin. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer

[6 marks]

Answer 1: 3/6

Christians believe sin is bad for us. It affects people negatively.

Christians believe original sin was the first time God was disobeyed. Adam and Eve ate from the tree. ‘The Lord God sent him out the Garden of Eden.

Answer 2: 6/6

One belief is that sin damages the relationship between God and humans. By disobeying God, Christians get further away from God because sin separates God and humans. In the Bible it says; ‘The Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden’. This shows the separation between God and Adam caused by his sin.

Another belief is Adam and Eve committed the original sin – eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil from which God had told them not to eat. All Christians are now born with original sin.

Explain two Muslim beliefs about prophets. Refer to sacred writings or another source of Muslim belief and teaching in your answer

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