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Teacher guide

Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A revision

These activities are mapped to Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A 1RA0, Faith and Practice in the 21st Century. That is a different specification from Religious Studies B, and content does not transfer between them. Route A has three papers, and each asks for something different. Christianity is examined across four strands, beliefs, practices, sources of authority, and forms of expression, so it is the broad paper. Islam is examined on beliefs and practices only. And Paper 4 is textual studies on St Mark's Gospel, where students are examined on a specific text rather than on a tradition. Our coverage runs 13 activities, 9 and 8 across the three.

This page lists what we actually have for Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A 1RA0, Faith and Practice in the 21st Century. It is built from the live activities, so it is accurate on the day you read it.

Three papers, three different kinds of knowing

Route A is not one subject examined three times. Each paper asks for something structurally different, and revision that treats them alike will be strong on one and thin on another.

Christianity is the broad paper. Four strands: beliefs and teachings, practices, sources of wisdom and authority, and forms of expression and ways of life. A student needs range here, including how the tradition expresses itself, not only what it holds.

Islam is the core paper. Two strands, beliefs and teachings and practices. Narrower, and correspondingly deeper on each.

St Mark's Gospel is a text. Paper 4 examines a set text across two strands, who Jesus is and the nature of discipleship. This is the only set text covered anywhere on this site.

Why the text paper needs its own kind of revision

A student can know what Christianity teaches about discipleship and still lose marks on Mark, because the questions turn on what actually happens in the text: who says what, in which episode, and what follows from it.

That is closer to studying a text in English than to learning a set of beliefs. Recall of doctrine does not substitute for knowing the passages, and a revision plan that gives Paper 4 the same treatment as Paper 1 tends to leave students confident about Christianity and vague about Mark.

Eight of our thirty activities sit against that paper, split across its two named strands.

What we have, paper by paper

Thirteen activities on Christianity, nine on Islam, eight on St Mark's Gospel.

The lean towards Christianity is not ours. The specification examines it across four strands against Islam's two, so a heavier set roughly tracks the course. It does mean a class that finds Islam harder will get less support here than they might want.

Finding the right one

The lists below group by classroom use, worked out from what each activity contains. Homework is not a heading, because all thirty suit it and a heading holding everything separates nothing.

The three activities embedded below are playable here without an account.

Using them

For a short repeated cycle with a recheck built in, useful when a class is confident about a tradition and shaky on the text, see revision intervention a department can sustain. For the practical side of running short recall sessions, and the ways they stop working, see running retrieval practice in a GCSE lesson. To put several in front of one class in order, build a sprint.

Our past paper archive carries Edexcel's own Religious Studies papers and mark schemes, free and unaltered.

What this page does not do

It does not mark extended writing, which is most of what this subject is assessed on. What is checked automatically is the reasoning inside each activity.

It does not cover Route B, and it does not cover religions other than Christianity and Islam.

It does not track anything, so there is no completion list to check.

Every live Religious Studies activity for Edexcel

30 activities, all mapped to Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A (1RA0) — Faith and Practice in the 21st Century.

Good for independent study (20)

Good for intervention (19)

Good for starter (7)

Good for mock preparation (6)

Good for cover lesson (2)

See all 30, by topic

Try it with your class

Edexcel Religious Studies 15 minutes

Prayer and Pilgrimage

12 steps, 8 interactive, 8 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Homework Independent study
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Homework: Set it as a link. It marks itself.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.

Try one question

Which prayer did Jesus teach his followers as a model for how to pray?

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Edexcel Religious Studies 15 minutes

The Worldwide Church

12 steps, 8 interactive, 9 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Independent study Mock preparation
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.
  • Mock preparation: Asks students to build an answer, not just recognise one.

Try one question

What does reconciliation mean?

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Edexcel Religious Studies 15 minutes

The Six Beliefs and the Five Roots

11 steps, 7 interactive, 7 activity types.

Best used for
Starter Homework Independent study
  • Starter: Short enough to open a lesson and still leave time to teach.
  • Homework: Set it as a link. It marks itself.
  • Independent study: Explains before it asks, so a student can work alone.

Try one question

Which of the Six Beliefs is about Allah's decree, and his knowledge of everything that happens?

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Common questions

Is this Route A or Route B?

Route A, 1RA0, Faith and Practice in the 21st Century. Route B (1RB0, Beliefs in Action) is a different specification with two areas of study and no textual studies paper. Check which one your class is entered for before setting anything, because the content does not overlap cleanly.

Do you cover St Mark's Gospel?

Yes, eight activities across the two strands the specification names, who Jesus is and the nature of discipleship. It is the only set text covered anywhere on this site.

Why is Christianity covered more heavily than Islam here?

Because the specification examines it more broadly. Christianity has four strands on this route and Islam has two, so 13 activities against 9 roughly tracks the course rather than reflecting a preference of ours.

How is revising a set text different?

A student can know what a tradition teaches and still lose marks on Mark, because the questions turn on specific passages and what happens in them. Revision for that paper is closer to studying a text in English than to learning a set of beliefs.

Can I use Route B activities with a Route A class?

Not safely. The two routes examine different material in different combinations, and Route B has no textual studies paper at all. Every activity names its specification on its own page.

Will I see who has completed them?

No. Following a shared link records nothing about who followed it, which is a deliberate choice about children's data.

Put one in front of a class

Tell us the subject and how long you have. You get a link to hand out, and it marks itself.

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Written by David Wright, Co-Founder, DoRevision.

David builds DoRevision with his son Noah (15). David has spent his career building EdTech products, and Noah has grown up watching lines of code being written. As a student at an important stage of his education, together they are building the revision platform that Noah is using to help revise for his GCSE exams and hopes his friends will find useful too.

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Related for teachers

  • GCSE revision intervention a department can sustain A workable shape for revision intervention: find the gap, work on one narrow thing, check whether it moved, repeat. Built around what a small department can keep up for a term, and clear about what this site can't tell you.
  • Running retrieval practice in a GCSE lesson The practical half of retrieval practice: what twelve minutes of it looks like, the seven ways it stops working, and how to keep running it without generating marking. The evidence behind it is on a separate page.