HSC Studies of Religion Question Thread

[elysepopplewell]

HSC STUDIES OF RELIGION Q&A THREAD

To go straight to posts from 2018, click here.

What is this thread for?
If you have general questions about the HSC Studies of Religion course or how to improve in certain areas, this is the place to ask! 👌


Who can/will answer questions?
Everyone is welcome to contribute; even if you're unsure of yourself, providing different perspectives is incredibly valuable.

Please don't be dissuaded by the fact that you haven't finished Year 12, or didn't score as highly as others, or your advice contradicts something else you've seen on this thread, or whatever; none of this disqualifies you from helping others. And if you're worried you do have some sort of misconception, put it out there and someone else can clarify and modify your understanding! 

There'll be a whole bunch of other high-scoring students with their own wealths of wisdom to share with you. So you may even get multiple answers from different people offering their insights - very cool.


To ask a question or make a post, you will first need an ATAR Notes account. You probably already have one, but if you don't, it takes about four seconds to sign up - and completely free!

OTHER STUDIES OF RELIGION RESOURCES

CLICK ME!

* Free Studies of Religion notes
* HSC Studies of Religion Question Thread
* SOR Wide Research Resource List
* Last Minute Preparations: Studies of Religion
* 40 hours until the Studies of Religion Exam
* Stimulus Incorporation in Studies of Religion
* 5 Mistakes that HSC Studies of Religion Students Make
* SOR Essay Guide (Tips for Success)
* HSC Revision Videos: SOR

Original post.

.Hey there!

I graduated in 2015 with my equal highest scoring subject being SOR 1. I've made this thread as a public Q&A. I want you to ask me whatever questions you have about the topic, and I will answer them below to the best of my ability. Even better yet, you guys can help each other as we go too. I imagine that by the end of 2016 this thread will be fairly full. So my aim is to be 100% on top of efficient and effective replies.

I studied SOR 1 because my school didn't offer 2 unit. However, my mum is a high school SOR 2 teacher. You've found yourself on a pretty stable thread. I studied Islam and Christianity as my in depth studies. In Islam, I studied Sexual Ethics, Friday Prayer and A'isha. For Christianity I studied Paul of Tarsus, Bioethics and Baptism.

I want you to ask any question that you want an answer to. Although I don't know the answer to absolutely everything off the top of my head, if I don't know the answer I will research until I can provide you with awesome feedback. The quickest replies from me will come from the core or the areas I studied. Any time where I fall short (although I hope I don't), I hope the peers on this thread can help out and together we will be one happy ATAR Notes HSC family.

If you don't feel comfortable posting your question here, please private message me and I will answer that way. However, I do urge you to speak openly because if you are having an issue with something, the chance is that someone else is too!

More resources to come, stay tuned on the forums

[Oliver789]

Hey man!

Thanks a lot for the help you are offering!

I am actually studying the exact same in depth studies,

Was hoping if you could provide me any of your notes?

Let me know, thanks

Also, would you mind replying to me by email? I have problems with accessing this page

[email protected]

[Happy Physics Land]

Hey Elyse:

I have worked on a Religions in Australia post-1945 question that I found in 2014 HSC Exam. When you are available, would you mind just having a brief look at my response and give me an estimation of what I would receive out of 5? Thank you very much!

For some Australians, God is no longer important. Religion does not seem attractive as the country is becoming increasingly secular.

With reference to the statement, account for the current religious landscape in Australia

Australia is a multi-faith society that consists majorly of Christian followers (61.7%), with majority of these believers being Anglican (17.1%) or Catholic (25.3%), as recorded in the 2011 Census data. Such a large proportion of Christian followers is an outcome of the post-WWII migration from southern European countries such as Italy which is dominated by Catholicism and Britain which majorly consists of Anglican believers. Another reason is the conflict in Middle East which would have resulted in the increase in the amount of Lebanese Catholic migrants. This statistic in 2011 however, has decreased by around 20% compared to 87% in 1947. This is due to the dramatic increase in the number of atheists (no religion) from 0.3% in 1947 to 22.3% in 2011. The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to the rising popularity in the scientific belief of Big Bang Theory which has provided a more reliable explanation of the creation of universe. This consequently undermines God’s creation of the world as described in Genesis. In addition, the rising of New Age Religions such as astrology and fortune-telling have also contributed to the decline in Christian followers and increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society. Other religions, such as Buddhism, has become the second largest religion in Australia (2.5%) whilst Hinduism has become the fastest growing religion. This is a direct consequence of mass Asian migration over the recent years to seek for more advanced education and job opportunities. Because Asia is dominated by the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, the increasing number of asian migrants has inevitably led to the prospering of these foreign religions.

Best Regards
Happy Physics Land

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey HPL! Elyse may want to add to this, but here is some feedback from me:

Holistically, your response isn't bad at all. However, it isn't (at least in my opinion) effectively addressing the question at hand. This section:

The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to .... increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society.

Or about 25% of your response was actually talking about secularism, the focus of the question. The rest was discussing (quite effectively, I might add) religious diversity, which is a separate point of discussion. You also didn't reference the statement, which was specifically requested in the question. I've annotated your response below.

==============================================================

Australia is a multi-faith society that consists majorly of Christian followers (61.7%), with majority of these believers being Anglican (17.1%) or Catholic (25.3%), as recorded in the 2011 Census data. Absolutely excellent use of data, though a little off topic. Try and start your response with a topic/lead in sentence, however simple. Such a large proportion of Christian followers is an outcome a result of the post-WWII migration from southern European countries such as Italy which is dominated by Catholicism and Britain which majorly consists of Anglican believers. Awesome statement, super effective explanation, but off topic. Watch your sentence structure also, make it easy for the marker to understand. Another reason is the conflict in Middle East which would have resulted in the increase in the amount of Lebanese Catholic migrants. Another awesome inclusion, I wish this were a religious diversity question! This statistic in 2011 however, has decreased by around 20% compared to 87% in 1947. This is due to the dramatic increase in the number of atheists (no religion) from 0.3% in 1947 to 22.3% in 2011. The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to the rising popularity in the scientific belief of Big Bang Theory which has provided a more reliable explanation of the creation of universe. I'm nitpicking, but watch wording here, Big Bang Theory is not a belief (definitely not in SOR terms anyway). However, the idea is spot on. Perhaps try: "lost its force of attraction due to an increasingly scientific view of the universe, popularised by new theories such as the Big Bang Theory." This consequently undermines God’s creation of the world as described in Genesis. In addition, the rising of New Age Religions such as astrology and fortune-telling have also contributed to the decline in Christian followers and increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society. VERY IMPORTANT: Maintain a distinction in your mind between New Age Religions and secularism: New Age Religion is still religion. However, you can absolutely discuss that these new age religions do not impact on the lives of their adherents. to the extent that traditional religions do. Other religions, such as Buddhism, has become the second largest religion in Australia (2.5%) whilst Hinduism has become the fastest growing religion. This is a direct consequence of mass Asian migration over the recent years to seek for more advanced education and job opportunities. Because Asia is dominated by the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, the increasing number of asian migrants has inevitably led to the prospering of these foreign religions.

===============================================

Let me be clear that you clearly know your stuff, I just don't think you are engaging with the question as effectively as you could be. I would personally give this 3/5, you had some good stuff in there, but the fact that it wasn't the focus of your response detracts from the quality.

To improve:

• Work on engaging with the question. If it wants a reference to a quote, reference it, be very direct.
• Work on concise, direct responses. 274 words is a little too high for a 5 mark SOR response, you should be more in the range of 150 (or whatever one very solid paragraph is). This will keep you focused and eliminate irrelevant fluff.
• Be careful with sentence structure and word choice, make your information easy for a marker to interpret.

Cheers for sharing HPL!! Elyse and I would love to give more feedback, to you or anyone who would like a helping hand.

If you want detailed feedback on your SOR 5 marker (they are the easiest way to lose marks in the SOR paper), simply make an ATAR Notes account here. Once you've done that, post away to get some top quality feedback!

[Happy Physics Land]

Hey HPL! Elyse may want to add to this, but here is some feedback from me:

Holistically, your response isn't bad at all. However, it isn't (at least in my opinion) effectively addressing the question at hand. This section:

The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to .... increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society.

Or about 25% of your response was actually talking about secularism, the focus of the question. The rest was discussing (quite effectively, I might add) religious diversity, which is a separate point of discussion. You also didn't reference the statement, which was specifically requested in the question. I've annotated your response below.

==============================================================

Australia is a multi-faith society that consists majorly of Christian followers (61.7%), with majority of these believers being Anglican (17.1%) or Catholic (25.3%), as recorded in the 2011 Census data. Absolutely excellent use of data, though a little off topic. Try and start your response with a topic/lead in sentence, however simple. Such a large proportion of Christian followers is an outcome a result of the post-WWII migration from southern European countries such as Italy which is dominated by Catholicism and Britain which majorly consists of Anglican believers. Awesome statement, super effective explanation, but off topic. Watch your sentence structure also, make it easy for the marker to understand. Another reason is the conflict in Middle East which would have resulted in the increase in the amount of Lebanese Catholic migrants. Another awesome inclusion, I wish this were a religious diversity question! This statistic in 2011 however, has decreased by around 20% compared to 87% in 1947. This is due to the dramatic increase in the number of atheists (no religion) from 0.3% in 1947 to 22.3% in 2011. The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to the rising popularity in the scientific belief of Big Bang Theory which has provided a more reliable explanation of the creation of universe. I'm nitpicking, but watch wording here, Big Bang Theory is not a belief (definitely not in SOR terms anyway). However, the idea is spot on. Perhaps try: "lost its force of attraction due to an increasingly scientific view of the universe, popularised by new theories such as the Big Bang Theory." This consequently undermines God’s creation of the world as described in Genesis. In addition, the rising of New Age Religions such as astrology and fortune-telling have also contributed to the decline in Christian followers and increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society. VERY IMPORTANT: Maintain a distinction in your mind between New Age Religions and secularism: New Age Religion is still religion. However, you can absolutely discuss that these new age religions do not impact on the lives of their adherents. to the extent that traditional religions do. Other religions, such as Buddhism, has become the second largest religion in Australia (2.5%) whilst Hinduism has become the fastest growing religion. This is a direct consequence of mass Asian migration over the recent years to seek for more advanced education and job opportunities. Because Asia is dominated by the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, the increasing number of asian migrants has inevitably led to the prospering of these foreign religions.

===============================================

Let me be clear that you clearly know your stuff, I just don't think you are engaging with the question as effectively as you could be. I would personally give this 3/5, you had some good stuff in there, but the fact that it wasn't the focus of your response detracts from the quality.

To improve:

• Work on engaging with the question. If it wants a reference to a quote, reference it, be very direct.
• Work on concise, direct responses. 274 words is a little too high for a 5 mark SOR response, you should be more in the range of 150 (or whatever one very solid paragraph is). This will keep you focused and eliminate irrelevant fluff.
• Be careful with sentence structure and word choice, make your information easy for a marker to interpret.

Cheers for sharing HPL!! Elyse and I would love to give more feedback, to you or anyone who would like a helping hand.

If you want detailed feedback on your SOR 5 marker (they are the easiest way to lose marks in the SOR paper), simply make an ATAR Notes account here. Once you've done that, post away to get some top quality feedback!

Thank you Jamon for reviewing my work, I will improve on my work and if possible may I please re-submit it? Thank you so much jamon!

Best Regards
Happy Physics Land

[elysepopplewell]

Hey Elyse:

I have worked on a Religions in Australia post-1945 question that I found in 2014 HSC Exam. When you are available, would you mind just having a brief look at my response and give me an estimation of what I would receive out of 5? Thank you very much!

For some Australians, God is no longer important. Religion does not seem attractive as the country is becoming increasingly secular.

With reference to the statement, account for the current religious landscape in Australia

Australia is a multi-faith society that consists majorly of Christian followers (61.7%), with majority of these believers being Anglican (17.1%) or Catholic (25.3%), as recorded in the 2011 Census data. Such a large proportion of Christian followers is an outcome of the post-WWII migration from southern European countries such as Italy which is dominated by Catholicism and Britain which majorly consists of Anglican believers. Another reason is the conflict in Middle East which would have resulted in the increase in the amount of Lebanese Catholic migrants. This statistic in 2011 however, has decreased by around 20% compared to 87% in 1947. This is due to the dramatic increase in the number of atheists (no religion) from 0.3% in 1947 to 22.3% in 2011. The increasingly secular society is because for some Australians, God seems to be no longer important and religion has lost its force of attraction due to the rising popularity in the scientific belief of Big Bang Theory which has provided a more reliable explanation of the creation of universe. This consequently undermines God’s creation of the world as described in Genesis. In addition, the rising of New Age Religions such as astrology and fortune-telling have also contributed to the decline in Christian followers and increase in secularism in the contemporary Australian society. Other religions, such as Buddhism, has become the second largest religion in Australia (2.5%) whilst Hinduism has become the fastest growing religion. This is a direct consequence of mass Asian migration over the recent years to seek for more advanced education and job opportunities. Because Asia is dominated by the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, the increasing number of asian migrants has inevitably led to the prospering of these foreign religions.

Best Regards
Happy Physics Land

Hey there! So Jamon is pretty well spot on the money. The other thing I will add is that if someone is identifying as "no religion" it doesn't necessarily mean that they are atheist. These people can be agnostic, or identifying as "No religion" because they actually take on the doctrines of various faiths yet there isn't a categorical name for this. So be careful not to use "no religion" and "atheism" synonymously in SOR.

Definitely send back your work as a resubmission. That's what this is all about! Just take your response, rake it back with the feedback and resubmit. Sometimes, things that existed originally come to light in a positive or negative way once you have adjusted the work. So that's why resubmission is important, we can then look at the work all fresh and new and work on a 5/5 response again. Thanks for posting

[thebosscollins]

Hey,

Just wondering, for the Religious depth study short answer, how much would you be expected to write for a 2,4,5,6,8 mark question?
In every subject I do, the amount expected for the relevant mark is different.

So confusing!!

Thanks.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey,

Just wondering, for the Religious depth study short answer, how much would you be expected to write for a 2,4,5,6,8 mark question?
In every subject I do, the amount expected for the relevant mark is different.

So confusing!!

Thanks.

Hey there! This is a difficult question to answer. My normal default answer is 1 sentence per mark, but it totally depends on the question, and more specifically, the verb used. A 5 Mark Analyse question will require more lines than a 5 mark Describe question, for example (although I doubt any description would be worth 5 marks).

Rather than looking for length of response in SOR, you should write as much as you need to in order to get the level of detail you need. Figure out how much time you want to allocate to the short answer section (I normally allocated about 20-25 minutes), and then divide your time proportionally. In general, I would give the following guidelines:

1 Mark - A sentence/dot point
2 Marks - One or two detailed sentences
3 Marks - A short paragraph with a topic sentence only, no conclusion
4 Marks - A moderate length paragraph with a topic sentence only, no conclusion
5 Marks - A detailed paragraph with a topic sentence and conclusion
6+ Marks - Multiple paragraphs as necessary.

Again, totally depends on your writing style and the question at hand. It takes some practice to get a feel for it, I recommend doing some practice questions and seeing if what you think is enough detail is on track. I'd be happy to do some marking for you, just upload any responses to this thread! 

[thebosscollins]

Hey there! This is a difficult question to answer. My normal default answer is 1 sentence per mark, but it totally depends on the question, and more specifically, the verb used. A 5 Mark Analyse question will require more lines than a 5 mark Describe question, for example (although I doubt any description would be worth 5 marks).

Rather than looking for length of response in SOR, you should write as much as you need to in order to get the level of detail you need. Figure out how much time you want to allocate to the short answer section (I normally allocated about 20-25 minutes), and then divide your time proportionally. In general, I would give the following guidelines:

1 Mark - A sentence/dot point
2 Marks - One or two detailed sentences
3 Marks - A short paragraph with a topic sentence only, no conclusion
4 Marks - A moderate length paragraph with a topic sentence only, no conclusion
5 Marks - A detailed paragraph with a topic sentence and conclusion
6+ Marks - Multiple paragraphs as necessary.

Again, totally depends on your writing style and the question at hand. It takes some practice to get a feel for it, I recommend doing some practice questions and seeing if what you think is enough detail is on track. I'd be happy to do some marking for you, just upload any responses to this thread! 

Thanks so much!!! 

[Alyssapensini]

Hey

So I'm in Prelim 1 unit Religion and before this year, I've never done any religion before this so...!

Can you please tell me the four main characteristics of religion?
Can you also tell me why religion is seen to have a 'worldwide view'?
And, What's the difference between a religious tradition and a religious variant?

Thank you so much!

Alyssa

[liiz]

Hi 
I was just wondering if you could please help me out with my essay question:
“But those who believe and work righteousness, and humble themselves before their Lord, will dwell in the garden as companions” (Quran 11:23) With reference to the above quotation, explain how ONE significant person and ONE significant practice of Islam assist adherents in achieving the distinctive Islamic requirement of submission
My significant person is Rabi'a al-Adawiyya and significant practice is Hajj but I'm just not sure how I should be structuring my body paragraphs? My teacher said pick out 3 common threads and discuss both Hajj and Rabi'a in each, but I'm stuck on seeing the "threads" if that makes sense? Thanks so much

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi 
I was just wondering if you could please help me out with my essay question:
“But those who believe and work righteousness, and humble themselves before their Lord, will dwell in the garden as companions” (Quran 11:23) With reference to the above quotation, explain how ONE significant person and ONE significant practice of Islam assist adherents in achieving the distinctive Islamic requirement of submission
My significant person is Rabi'a al-Adawiyya and significant practice is Hajj but I'm just not sure how I should be structuring my body paragraphs? My teacher said pick out 3 common threads and discuss both Hajj and Rabi'a in each, but I'm stuck on seeing the "threads" if that makes sense? Thanks so much

Hi Liiz!

Totally understand your question, it is something I struggled quite a bit with in my HSC. The issue being, "How do I draw links between a person and a practice?", and perhaps even tougher, "How do I tie THAT to the question I've been asked?" It's a difficult skill and something which takes practice and experience.

My advice when drawing links between the three "branches" of each Religious Depth Study is to go back to your Preliminary work. Your work on the nature of dynamic religious traditions, which if you remember, contain four key elements:

- Beliefs/Believers
- Sacred Texts
- Ethics
- Practices

There is one of these which can be a very powerful tool for linking different parts of the syllabus. Beliefs. Think about it, everything about a religious tradition is ultimately meant to re-enforce the key beliefs of said tradition. Significant persons sought to clarify and educate adherents about the beliefs, among other things. Ethics are based on the beliefs. Significant practices are undertaken so the adherent can re-enforce their beliefs. The beliefs (in your case, The Six Articles of the Islamic Faith) are central.

Without answering the question for you, I would suggest trying to tie the two parts together using some of the key beliefs of Islam. Think about which beliefs link to submission and will allow you to tie to the question (Tawhid is an obvious one here). This is a really versatile way in which you can create integrated responses, as the beliefs can be applied to almost any question 

There are other tangents you could use of course. Perhaps looking at specific impacts on the adherents, teachings, history, try and separate the impacts on adherents into distinct areas. This is perhaps a little easier, but it definitely is a question-by-question strategy. It won't always work 

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey

So I'm in Prelim 1 unit Religion and before this year, I've never done any religion before this so...!

Can you please tell me the four main characteristics of religion?
Can you also tell me why religion is seen to have a 'worldwide view'?
And, What's the difference between a religious tradition and a religious variant?

Thank you so much!

Alyssa

Hey Alyssa! Sure, here is a quick run down of your questions.

The four main characteristics of a religious tradition are:

- Beliefs and Believers: A set of key faiths or truths which all the "members" of a religion take as true. For example, Christians believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, more formally expressed as the Belief in the Divinity and Humanity of Christ.
- Sacred Texts: A text or texts which contain teachings or beliefs.
- Ethical Teachings: A set of "rules" which guide a believer in living according to their beliefs
- Significant Practices: Predefined rituals which allow believers to connect to their religious beliefs

A religious tradition is an over-arching term. Within each religious tradition, variants may exist which contain very slight differences in belief. ethics, or practice. For example, Christianity is a religious tradition, Catholicism is a religious variant (sometimes called a denomination).

Religious traditions are said to provide a "world view" to their adherents. What this means is that religious traditions provide a framework (in the form of the 4 parts above) through which the adherent can make sense of the world around them. Make decisions. Explain the un-explainable. Essentially, it is a framework which allows the adherent to answer fundamental questions of human existence, things like "Why am I here?", "What is the meaning of my life?". This gives them a "world view," a view of the meaning of the world they live in. This is a complex notion (Theology is something which really interests me actually), but this basic explanation is simple: Religion gives adherents guidance as to how to view their world and live their lives.

Hope this helps!

[Alyssapensini]

Thank you so much! This is perfect!

[bella_thomas]

My religion teacher never really explained our course very well, I'm in studies of religion 1 unit and I'm confused as to when the prelim ends and HSC begins, he was on holidays for the first five weeks so nobody really explained whats going on