AQA Philosophy A level guide & essay Structure
Version for the school year starting 2025
General guidance
The good thing about the philosophy A level is that there is a straightforward way to prepare/revise for whatever grade you might want. There is a way to make sure you are ready for whatever questions they ask you. So, as long as you are preparing in the right way, the grade you get will pretty much just reflect how hard you worked.
There are two papers, each of which has two sections:
Paper 1: 3 hours
Section A: Epistemology and
Section B: Moral philosophy
Paper 2: 3 hours
Section A: Metaphysics of God
Section B: Metaphysics of Mind
Each section has a 3, two 5’s, a 12 and a 25-mark essay question. You should spend an hour and a half on each section
How long to spend on essay questions in the exam.
You get 25 marks for your essay question, and a total of 25 marks for the lower mark questions if we add them together. However, this doesn’t mean you should split your time equally and spend 45 mins on each. For a 3 mark question, you can get 3/3 in one sentence. 25 / 3 = 8.3. A 25 mark essay takes way more than 8.3 sentences to get full marks. So, you should be spending longer on the essays than the lower mark questions.
If possible, do the 3, 5’s & 12 mark questions in 30-35 mins. This gives you 55-60 mins for the essay question. However, don’t rush the lower mark questions. They are the easiest marks to get in terms of word count required. So, it’s good to do them faster, but you need to get as many of those ‘easier’ marks as possible, so don’t rush them. (if you get extra time, add your % increase to these recommendations).
Revision advice
The lower mark questions (3, 5 & 12) test your AO1 knowledge of the specification. The 5 & 12 mark questions can only be asked about the bullet points on the specification. See my ‘revision checklist’ here: https://alevelphilosophyandreligion.com/philosophy/aqa-philosophy-revision-checklist/
25-mark essay questions mostly test your AO2 evaluation skills. The essay questions themselves tend to be quite general and straightforward. The only difficulty is we don’t know which topic the 25-mark question will be set on for each of the four modules.
Overall, this means there are two main projects when it comes to effective revision for this A level:
- For the AO1 questions, you need to learn content for all the bullet points on the specification. The 5-mark questions could be on any of them, and the 12-mark question could be on any combination of them. You should expect to pick up what you need for the 3 mark questions in this process.
I’ve created model 5 mark answers for almost all of the bullet points. You could focus on understanding and learning those, or make/combine with your own. - For the 25-mark essay questions, you need to learn a very detailed essay plan written and memorised for every topic (there are around 25 in total).
I’ve created model essay plans for almost all the topics. Again you could focus on understanding and learning those, or make/combine with your own.
To get an A*:
- Memorise 5 marks worth of content for every bullet point on my revision checklist.
- Memorise a detailed essay plan for every topic (there are around 25 essay plans for the whole A level).
- These two things are essential for A*. You will then be ready for any lower mark question and any essay question. You could use my essay plans, your own, or creatively edit mine. But use mine as a benchmark and guideline for structure and quality.
- You really have to know every single bullet point and have a great essay plan memorised for every topic to securely get an A*. It’s not easy but with constant revision every week people manage it. There is a finite number of bullet points and essay topics so if you have the determination and discipline, you can just do what it takes to get an A* revision-wise.
- It’s not necessary to do extra reading around the subject for essays to get an A*. I’ve had some students get 25/25 without doing any, and loads get in the top 21-25 band. You simply need to understand the mark scheme criteria really well (explained later). Extra reading can help you write and understand philosophy better though.
To get an A:
- You can do a less intense version of the A* requirements. For example, focusing more on the essay plans, since they will overlap with most of the revision checklist, even though the content isn’t written in the exact lower mark question format.
- You could then make sure to learn notes for the bullet points in my checklist that are not covered by your essay plans.
To get a B or below:
- I would use my essay plans as inspiration alongside your teachers notes, text books etc, for making your own essay plans in your own words.
- Same goes for the bullet points not covered by your essay plans.
Revision strategy
There is a lot to memorise!
To some degree everyone is different when it comes to revision. The only universal rule is that you should not be revising absent-mindedly, or in ways that allow for daydreaming. For most people this means more than simply reading is required!
I recommend a version of the ‘blurting’ revision method. A good practice to revise one topic is:
- Read notes for one topic (either 5 mark bullet point notes or essay notes).
- Write them from memory, one essay paragraph or bullet point at a time.
- Compare what you wrote to the notes and do corrections. Then repeat, writing the next paragraph or bullet point.
This makes sure your revision involves practice of what you will actually be doing in the exam.
Essay structure
The mark scheme criteria
Here are the mark scheme criteria for the 21-25 band mark range:
- The student argues with clear intent throughout and the logic of the argument is sustained.
- The student demonstrates detailed and precise understanding throughout.
- The conclusion is clear, with the arguments in support of it stated precisely, integrated coherently and robustly defended.
- Arguments and counter-arguments are stated in their strongest forms.
- Reasoned judgements are made, on an ongoing basis and overall, about the weight to be given to each argument. Crucial arguments are clearly identified against less crucial ones.
- Philosophical language is used precisely throughout.
The essay structure
Introduction
- Explain the theory/argument in the question. Treat this section as a 5 mark ‘explain’ type question.
- State your intent (what your essay is going to argue).
- g. “This essay will argue….”
Strength
- State a strength of the/a theory/argument in the question.
Three paragraphs of this structure:
- Point: an argument that has a view on the question, either for or against the question. This could be a strength, argument for, criticism/weakness of or opposing theory of the thing in question.
- Counter: A direct counter-argument to the point.
- Evaluation: Your judgement on whether the counter succeeds or fails.
Conclusion
- A summary of the evaluative mini-conclusions reached by each paragraph and showing how they justify your answer to the question (your intent).
Doing three paragraphs will ensure that you consider a broad set of issues.
Doing argument, counter and then evaluation will ensure that you have considered multiple points of view, that the arguments are “robustly defended”, and that you come to your own evaluative judgement on all of the arguments considered.
Take a look at my model essay plans on my website and you’ll see paragraphs are written in this point – counter – evaluation format.
If you do this structure, you will get up to around15/25, depending on how well you do the paragraph content itself. A grade usually starts around 16/25.
If you want an A or A*, you’ll have to properly understand and include integration and weighting, which are explained next. But even if you want a B grade, to be on the safe side you should try and do weighting/integration a little bit, in case your paragraph content itself isn’t perfect.
Intent, Integration & weighting
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