OCR Religious Studies A Level: 40/40 Arguments Based on Observation full essay plans

These notes provide everything you need to get an 40/40 or a high A in Arguments Based on Observation questions. The plans are clear, easy to read and colour-coded so you can see AO1 and AO2. I’ve been tutoring OCR RS A Level for over a decade, and I have a degree in Theology from Cambridge.

These aren’t textbook-style notes explaining the thinkers. Don’t download if you don’t understand the main thinkers already! These notes cut straight to the point and give you 40/40 essays for all possible questions on argument for God based on observation for the OCR A Level. As with all OCR RS topics, there are a limited number of possible questions from the specification, and this document gives you A Grade essay for all possible question, including on the tricky questions on “logical fallacies" and “chance”.

These plans use a structure of six shortish paragraphs, with two AO1 and four AO2. You could, instead, have paragraphs that mix AO1 and AO2. Whatever you do, two thirds of your essay should be two thirds AO2 because two thirds of the marks are AO2.

There are many other strengths and weaknesses of these theories, this is just one way of writing 40/40 essays. You may have to adapt a plan to the exact wording of the question set, but in OCR RS there are a small number of possible question themes and these plans cover all those themes, if not the exact wording of every possible question.

Provided are exemplar, detailed plans for:
Question theme 1: A posteriori arguments for God are more persuasive than a priori arguments.
Question theme 2: Can the teleological argument be defended against the challenge of chance? / evaluate the teleological argument.
Question theme 3: Does the cosmological argument simply leap to the conclusion of a transcendent creator?
Question theme 4: Is the cosmological argument persuasive?
Question theme 5: Do the a posteriori arguments for God have logical fallacies that they cannot overcome?