Christian Religious Studies is an elective for school candidates and for private candidates. Students often shorten the name to CRS. You sit it only if your school entered you for it. The syllabus says it may not be taken with Islamic Religious Studies or with West African Traditional Religion. WAEC sets the paper. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. Glearn does not set the paper, and glearn does not publish a pass rate. Anna marks WASSCE Christian Religious Studies. Kevin marks BECE Religious and Moral Education.
How the papers are set
WAEC sets Christian Religious Studies as two papers, taken at one sitting. The timetable for your series names every paper and gives the time. This page does not copy those times or the marks, because a later file can change them. If the timetable names a paper this page does not describe, follow the timetable.
Paper 1 is the objective paper. You answer all of it. The items are drawn from the themes below.
Paper 2 is the essay paper. It has three sections. Section A is themes from the Old Testament. Section B is themes from the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Section C is themes from selected Epistles. The published scheme asks you to take work from every section, and to take the extra essay from Section A or Section B. This page does not copy how many essays are printed in each section, or the total. Read the front of the paper. If the question paper and this page disagree, follow the question paper.
Questions are set from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Revise the stories in that version. A different translation can change a name or a detail you then cannot defend.
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What to revise
These are the themes the objective paper and the essay paper are built from. A theme is not a promise that every story appears on your paper. If the file your school gives you uses a different passage, follow the file.
1. Old Testament themes
God as creator and as the one who controls the universe. Leadership in Joseph, Moses, Joshua and Deborah. Parental responsibility in Eli and Samuel. The cost of Saul's disobedience. David's submission, sin, repentance and forgiveness. Solomon's wisdom, and the unwise decisions of Solomon and Rehoboam. Elijah at Mount Carmel. Greed in Ahab and Gehazi. Josiah's reforms. Concern for the nation in Nehemiah and Ezra. Faith in Daniel. Justice in Amos, and divine love in Hosea.
2. The Gospels and Acts
The baptism and temptation of Jesus. The call of the disciples and what discipleship costs. The teaching on forgiveness. The trials, including Gethsemane, Peter's denial, and the condemnation. The crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Fellowship in the early church. The Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the mission to the Gentiles, and opposition to the message.
3. Selected Epistles
The letter of James: faith and works, impartiality, and effective prayer. The first letter of Peter: good citizenship, life among people who are not Christians, and how Christians treat one another. Know the teaching and a moment that shows it.
4. The Revised Standard Version
Learn the story in the version the questions use. A film, a sermon, or a different Bible can add a detail the passage does not contain. If you are not sure of a detail, leave it out.
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How to answer
The command in the question decides the shape of the answer. A retelling of the whole story is not yet an answer.
1. Name the theme first
The first sentence should meet the question. If it asks what the story shows about forgiveness, say that, then give the moment. A plot that starts at the beginning has not yet answered.
2. One moment, then what it shows
Cite something a person does or says, then say what it shows about the theme. Two moments that do different work are stronger than a long retelling of one chapter.
3. Stay with people you can defend
A point built on the wrong person, or on an event the passage does not contain, loses the point. Name the book or the story so the marker can see which passage you mean.
4. Apply the lesson when it is asked
Some questions ask what the theme means for life now. Give the Bible moment first, then one concrete situation. A slogan with no story, or a story with no point, is thin.
5. Cover every section
An essay from only the section you prefer has not answered the paper. Do the section you find hardest early enough that it is not the one you leave blank. Label the question you are answering.
6. Keep the English clear
A true idea in unclear sentences is hard to reward. Short sentences, one point each, let the marker see the work.
How to revise
Read the passages, then write. A week of notes about themes, with no essay, leaves the written paper cold.
1. Rotate the three sections
One session for an Old Testament theme, one for a Gospel or Acts story, one for James or Peter. Inside each session, write one point with its moment before you look at a note.
2. Close the Bible and write the point again
After you know an answer, close it and produce the points from memory. Recognition is not the same as writing the point under a clock.
3. Write one full essay a week
Use a different section each time, and have it marked. Anna marks WASSCE Christian Religious Studies on glearn. Kevin marks BECE Religious and Moral Education. Practise with Kevin and Anna on glearn.now. The first questions need no account.
4. Keep CRS inside the wider plan
The revision plan orders the weeks across every subject you sit. Religious and Moral Education at BECE is a different paper. This page does not copy a date.
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Mistakes chief examiners keep returning to
WAEC chief examiners write a report after a sitting. This page describes the habits in general. It does not quote a report, and it does not give a figure.
1. A narration where a theme was asked
The story told from the start does not answer a question about leadership, forgiveness, faith or justice. Meet the question in the first sentence.
2. Mixed up people and books
Joseph is not Moses. James is not Peter. A lesson hung on the wrong person loses the point. If you are not sure, choose a moment you can stand behind.
3. No moment and no lesson
Many theme questions expect the idea, then the passage that shows it. A list of virtues with no scene is thin.
4. A detail from another version
A name or an event that is not in the Revised Standard Version of that passage is hard to credit. Revise the version the paper uses.
5. Leaving a section blank
The instruction names the sections. Essays from only the Old Testament, and none from the Gospels or the Epistles, have not answered the paper.
6. A memorised essay
An answer you prepared for a different theme does not answer the question on the paper. Read the command and write to it.
Keep these open while you revise
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Start practising on glearn.now with Kevin and Anna