How to write GCSE RS Mini-Essays

Writing GCSE mini-essays is not easy!

Whether marked out of 12 (AQA, the most popular GCSE RS exam board), or out of 15 (OCR, Edexcel and Eduqas), the mini-essay always represents 50% of the marks available for each question (and so for the GCSE as a whole) and assesses the same attainment objective.

AO2: Analyse and evaluate aspects of religion and belief, including their significance and influence.

NB: This AO was set by OfQual and the same for all exam boards.

Students are presented with a statement and are asked to discuss or evaluate it, in under 15 minutes – after answering a range of shorter-answer questions designed to test AO1 knowledge.

Examples of questions set as part of the Christianity: Beliefs and Teachings papers might be…

  • ‘For Christians, what the Bible says about creation is true.’ Evaluate this statement. [12] AQA 2022
  • “The three Persons of the Trinity make it easy to understand God.” Evaluate this statement considering arguments for and against. [15] EdExcel (B) 2022
  • ‘Christian beliefs about life after death mean that a funeral should never be a sad occasion.’ Discuss this statement. [15] OCR 2022
  • ‘For Christians, the resurrection of Jesus is the most important belief.’ Discuss this statement showing that you have considered more than one point of view. Eduqas 2022

The type of questions is the same for the other papers, whether on practices, other religions or themes.

Mark schemes, such as the simplest one below from AQA, look for students to argue a case that is well supported by chains of reasoning, which refer to and make judgments about evidence that both supports and challenges them. Top marks are reserved therefore, for mini-essays which are clearly structured and packed with detailed knowledge about religion which has been understood and used to support a line of argument.

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Self-evidently, time pressure frequently prevents even some able students from getting all that they know and can do onto the page, making the competition for a Level 9 more a speed-writing contest than a test of a more relevant ability. Nevertheless, however unfair, this is not something we can do anything about!

So how are GCSE teachers, already stretched to cover the ambitious content of the specifications, supposed to support students to do all this. How can we get (more and more) of them over this extremely high bar, especially when grade boundaries edge up and up… and ended up well above 2019 levels in 2023, despite the disruption the cohort experienced?

My solution is to start teaching relevant skills early, building them from Year 7.

By this I do NOT mean that I assess students using GCSE style questions though KS3 – a practice which has been rightly condemned by OfSted in their 2021 research review

Rather, I see developing an academic argument as one attainment objective for our KS3 curriculum and ensure that this skill is taught, assessed, and progress tracked, through from Year 7 to Year 9.

  • In Year 7 students start by making a reasoned judgement in response to a statement and writing a single paragraph stating their view and outlining reasons and evidence in support. We then share these paragraphs in class, showing that there are a diverse perspectives on the statement, each supported by reasoning and evidence. We practice responding to another point of view respectfully, explaining why you disagree with more supporting reasons and evidence, orally.
  • In Year 8 students do more practice orally, presenting and responding to arguments using evidence. They also begin to write mini-essays, writing a paragraph which states their view and supporting reasons and evidence and then a second which explains another view and why their disagree with it, with evidence.
  • In Year 9 students begin to use TRADE C, writing three-paragraph essays. The first paragraph begins with a formal Thesis, written in the third person and using the wording of the statement, and outlines supporting Reasons and evidence, including Authorities (Scripture, Religious Teachings). The second paragraph begins with a counterclaim (Disagreeing argument), which is then Evaluated and rebutted. Finally, the third paragraph begins “In Conclusion”, repeats the thesis and the best reasons and makes a call to action. This structure is what they then use for GCSE.

All we then have to do for the good number of students who choose A Level is to expand TRADE C into a standard 5 paragraph argumentative essay… IntroT, RA, RA, DE, C. We don’t have to confuse them by teaching a different structure, just help them to extend what they already do.

Nevertheless, it is possible to start teaching TRADE C at any point… and it really will help your students to earn better marks.

  • The brightest students don’t feel hamstrung by TRADE C – stating the thesis at the beginning of the essay is good practice [avoids running out of time, forgetting to argue etc. ] and they can experiment with the order of and expand the number of body paragraphs.
  • Middle-ability students are forced to argue and can’t be tempted to describe, which will lose them A LOT of marks. I find that TRADE C lifts middling students from band 2 to band 3 of the mark-scheme above like nothing else.
  • Lower-ability students will struggle to decide on a thesis, but with practice, saying what they think and why then who disagrees and why they reject this is accessible to the vast majority. They may not score top marks for a lack of detailed evidence… but that would also be the case with any other structure!

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Here is a free sample video from my GCSE masterclass to give you a better idea of what I mean by TRADE C and what the rationale for students using it is…

Here are some model answers to GCSE style questions… written by me (not a 15 year old!), but to give an idea of what TRADE C is like in practice and to the length expected for a Level 8-9.

Student Support

To support your students in writing GCSE mini-essays, why not sign them up for Charlotte’s online course?

LATEST MODEL ESSAYS USING TRADE C