Olivia is a current Year 12 student. For all things HSC SOR, check out this!
Studies of Religion is usually considered a ‘bludge’ subject to many. Nevertheless, HSC SOR is a great subject that can scale you up if you do well in it, especially those doing one unit. So here are some ways for you to survive Studies of Religion.
Using the Syllabus
The syllabus is very straightforward; it tells you what you’re going to be assessed on and gives you an idea as to what types of questions the exam may ask you. The verbs in each dot point essentially tells you how you should answer exam style questions. These verbs range from ‘describe,’ ‘analyse’ or ‘explain.’ Know the difference between these verbs because it ensures that you’re actually addressing and answering the question.
Speaking of verbs, using these syllabus dot points as practice questions is a great way to study for SOR. Essentially, you should be preparing for exams by gathering as much information about the syllabus dot point but when you approach a short answer question, select at least one to two components from the information – of course, it depends on how many marks the question is worth since it determines how long your response should be.
Aligning the Content with the Syllabus
Considering how straightforward the syllabus is, it should be an indication as to what information you need and don’t need. However, Googling some of the syllabus dot points may make it difficult as to what information you need to filter out, considering the vast number of sources out there. The best way to sift through this information is to reword the information in your own words in dot point form. Once you’ve summarised the information, refer back to the syllabus and see if you can answer the syllabus dot point. For example, for syllabus dot points that ask you to explain, see if your information has a clear cause and effect relationship. This becomes really helpful when doing practice responses.
Writing Short Answer Responses
The structure for short answer responses is almost like an essay, except on a smaller scale. Your first sentence should be where you establish your stance by directly answering the question, similar to when you had to answer in full sentences when doing simple comprehension in primary school. The only difference is that your opening sentence needs to be able to capture the attention of the marker. Start of with a strong opening sentence – usually, I would approach it by starting off with the significance of the person or practice, or mention the importance of ethics.
The length of the response depends on how many marks the question is worth. However, the rest of my response is essentially me elaborating on my first sentence. If I mentioned the significance of a person, I would continue by discussing why the person is significant. If I mentioned how ethics is important to a religion, I would discuss the beliefs in regards to the development of ethics. Usually, for four to six mark questions, I would add a quote from a religious text.
Your final sentence should be where you reassert your point, perhaps on how their significance has become the basis of the religion – usually, your final sentence alludes to how impactful the person or practice is in your religion.
Essay-Writing
Just like any other essay, your thesis should be in your first sentence. However, the difference is that your thesis is whether you’re agreeing with the question or not. Here’s a sample response from my essay:
Question: ‘So Allah gave them the reward of this world, as also an excellent reward of the next; and Allah loves those who do good.’ Qur’an 3:148
You have studied THREE areas of Islam:
Significant Person – Khadijah
Significant Practice – Hajj
Ethics – Bioethics
With reference to the quote, critically analyse how TWO of the areas you have studied guide adherents to live their lives according to Islamic beliefs.
Example: The foundation of Islamic beliefs can be derived from the its historical roots, emphasising the significance of these beliefs. The importance of Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid and the Hajj exemplify this notion as both Khadijah and the Hajj are underpinned by the principle beliefs; Khadijah’s support for Muhammad and material wealth has become the foundation of one of the pillars of Islam.
Notice how my opening sentence tells the marker the direction of my essay since I emphasised on the historical roots. From here, I elaborated what I meant by ‘historical roots’, being Khadijah’s contributions and the Hajj. The rest of my introduction follows the ‘one sentence per paragraph’ structure before using the quote to reinforce my thesis.
For my arguments, I used your standard PEEL structure. Using the same question, I had one paragraph discussing Khadijah’s contributions to Islam and another paragraph discussing the importance of the Hajj. My third body paragraph involves my analysis of both Khadijah and the Hajj its importance. All three paragraphs must relate to the notion of Islamic beliefs being developed to provide a guide for adherents and aspects of the quote. I usually view each body paragraph as a short answer response. The only difference is that I need to include quotes in my paragraphs.
I have seen people on the ATAR Notes Forums ask about quotes and whether they’re compulsory. Personally, I don’t think quotes are compulsory but they can enhance your response. Quotes from sacred texts or any other external sources (for those who are doing Islam, the Islamic Jurisprudence) shows that you’ve done your research. Plus, they’re really useful if there were to be an essay question addressing sacred texts or principal beliefs- quoting from a sacred text can reinforce the notion of how texts can determine beliefs or ceremonies.
Studying for HSC SOR
The set up for my SOR notes are exactly the same as my humanities notes: syllabus dot points in italics and information in dot point for underneath. Makes life easier when I want to revisit. However, tables are also useful for organising your information. I used tables in the ethics and the steps in the Hajj component of the syllabus so I can visually see how principal beliefs apply to bioethical issues or clearly see the steps of the Hajj and discuss the importance of each step. Here’s what my table looks like:
So here are a few ways you can survive Studies of Religion. My main emphasis on HSC SOR is the syllabus – not saying the syllabus isn’t important in other subjects, but the SOR syllabus essentially gives you a sneak peek as to what kind of short answer questions you can get. It’s also an indication of what kind of essay questions you may get, except the question may be a bit broader and may require you to refer to a quote.
For study motivation, get around @studywithlivia.
