Welcome to your Pearson Edexcel Religious Studies May 2025 subject update!
Hello colleagues,
Time is certainly moving quickly, and the exam season is upon us. On behalf of the Religious Studies team, we extend our best wishes to all Religious Studies students for their success!
As always, please do get in touch with me if you have any queries or if I can help with anything regarding our qualifications.
Best wishes,
Jenna Wyatt
Religious Studies Subject Advisor
I wanted to re-share a copy of the exam timetables so that you had easy access to them during the exam period. You can access these for each qualification below:
In June, we will be sharing strategies for approaching 'd' questions to support teachers in the next academic year. Additionally, we will provide further guidance on the resources that we have recently shared in preparation for this exam season.
This online training will be delivered by myself and the Product Manager for Religious Studies. The training is intended to support teachers who are delivering Pearson Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A and B specifications.
Please, join us: 17 June 2025 16:30-17:30 BST
In this event you will:
Book your place by clicking the link below or find out more by searching for Religious Studies via our training page:
GCSE Religious Studies: Strategies for Approaching (d) Questions
We understand that you are currently busy with your exam preparations. However, we are keen to learn how we can assist you in teaching 12-mark 'd' item questions in the future.
If you have a few minutes to spare, please use the link below to complete a survey where you can submit any questions you have about our 12-mark 'd' questions.
Just a reminder for International GCSE Religious Studies teachers to view the update we sent out to centres in April outlining the International GCSE refinements for first teaching in September 2025.
Details on the refinements can be viewed through the following link:
International GCSE Religious Studies Update
Please, note that these amendments were released in March 2025 for first teaching in September 2025 and first assessment in June 2027.
In response to customer requests, we have produced guidance to clarify the level descriptors for the 'evaluate' question and to translate the existing descriptors into language that is more accessible for students.
This is the first in a series of resources which will be released in the coming months to support teaching A-Level Religious Studies.
This resource aims to provide clear and user friendly level descriptors for the 30-mark 'Evaluate' question. It details the criteria required to achieve levels 1 to 5, with comprehensive descriptions of the specific actions and knowledge students need to demonstrate at each level.
To access the resource, click the link below:
As we gear up for the GCSE exams this summer, I thought it would be useful to share with you some resources available to support you.
Exam question overviews specification A
Exam question overviews specification B
Available for each paper, collating all past exam questions.
A range of exemplar answers featuring a variety of Level 4 (10-12 mark) answers from different papers, accompanied by detailed analysis from our principal examiners for our GCSE specifications.
The above YouTube playlist includes a range of bitesize videos which support exam technique and teaching the specification.
Knowledge organisers for Specification B
Above is a variety of resources designed to provide support on content covered in the GCSE Religious Studies specification B for Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
To view a reminder on available resources for preparing for Religious Studies exams (international GCSE Relgious Studies and A-Level) please, refer back to my April subject update:
You can now submit your learners’ marks and samples for the summer series non-examined internal assessments. The deadline to upload both marks and sample learner work is 15 May 2025.
Head over to Edexcel Online to submit marks and view selected learners for moderation. You’ll then upload learner work using the Learner Work Transfer portal.
Find guidance, how-to videos, and FAQs via the Learner Work Transfer index.
Be ready to provide additional samples
As part of our usual moderation process, your moderator or Pearson may request further learner work or documents. If contacted, please upload these through Learner Work Transfer as soon as possible.
Need more help? We’ll be in touch directly with all centres that have summer internal assessment entries to offer more guidance. You can also reach out to us via the Pearson support portal.
Find guidance, how-to videos, and FAQs via the Learner Work Transfer index
In 2024, we received more than 1500 reports of social media accounts and websites claiming to have confidential exam material for sale.
If you see anyone claiming to have confidential exam material, report it to us.
There are #NoShortcuts.
Seneca offers free podcasts to help students learn what they need to know for their GCSE Religious Studies exams. These cover a range of topics and can be
accessed through a range of different platforms.
Access Seneca GCSE Religious Studies podcasts:
For the attention of centres that teach International GCSE Religious Studies