Physical Education

S4, 5 and 6 – please refer to the study material, questions and areas of work you received before the Christmas holidays.

Music

S4 - 6 Int. and Higher Pupils - should continue practising their pieces for their FINAL practical exam.  The first possible date is Thursday, 18th February 2010.

Advanced Higher pupils - should continue working through the adv higher essay booklet.  A draft will be expected Monday, 11 January (for those who did not hand in on the due date before Christmas!!)

All pupils doing music with technology - should revise/learn technology concepts in preparation for the NAB.

All S4-6 pupils - should be working through the concepts/practice questions/practice NABs and revision materials available on the following website:    http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/nq/resources/learnlisteningonline/index.asp   every topic area is covered with topic tests and exercises in exam style.

Higher & Int. 2 Philosophy Prelim Revision Guide

How to revise for and pass a Philosophy exam
Motivate yourself by persuading yourself that getting good exam results is the most important thing in your life at the moment:  better qualification, more options, more money, better life, more freedom and of course in the case of philosophy becoming a smarter, wiser, more powerful person!  A good exam result will also please your parents, your teacher and boost your own self-esteem.  In order to achieve this, a short-term sacrifice is required but the rewards are great.

Organise your revision
For each subject you are revising make a list of all the topics covered. Buy a jotter or get a special folder for the purpose. Put the list on the first pages of the jotter. Something along the following lines:

Topic 1
 Sub-topic 1
 Sub-topic 2
 Sub-topic 3
 Etc.

Topic 2
Etc.

Now make a decision about how much time you need to spend in total on each subject. This is very much an individual matter but for Philosophy somewhere in the region of 12 to 15 hours should do it.
Next make up a calendar where you allocate the days you will be working on each subject leading up to the actual exam: Stick the calendar on the wall of your study area and take pleasure in crossing the days off as you head to your end of exam celebration!

• Sun    English (am)           Rest (pm)                Rest (evening)
• Mon    Philosophy (am)     Philosophy (pm)     Philosophy (evening)
• Tues   Philosophy (am)     Philosophy (pm)     Philosophy (evening)
• Wed    Philosophy (am)     Philosophy (pm)     Philosophy (evening)
• Thur   Philosophy exam     Rest (pm)               English (evening)
• Fri       English (am)            English (pm)           English (evening
• Sat      etc.

Next make a decision about what topics to revise in each slot so that you cover all the revision topics.
When you revise, carefully read through the notes and summarise them into your jotter. Concentrate on the bits you don’t understand. If you can, discuss these areas with a fellow student. Then at the end of each section test yourself using the “can do” list. Make mind maps. Stick these on the walls of your study area/bedroom/kitchen/ toilet. Take five minute breaks every thirty minutes. Give yourself rewards (e.g. listen to a favourite track or play the guitar or allow one chocolate per 30 min. session) finally, immediately before the exam reread all your summaries. Continue doing this on the way to the exam.

What you need to know for the Prelim
Ensure that you have all the most up-to-date PowerPoint’s – available on the school network and on the WWW at bigquestions.co.uk

CRITICAL THINKING 

Describe the difference between statements and arguments 
Describe the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning. 
Use ordinary language examples to support these descriptions. 
Identify the premises and conclusions of ordinary language arguments. 
Present these arguments in a way which demonstrates the stages of reasoning involved. 
Explain whether these arguments employ deductive or inductive reasoning. 
Explain specific examples of fallacious reasoning in ordinary language arguments.
Fallacies:
Circular reasoning
Slippery slope
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
False dilemma (false dichotomy)
Argument from ignorance
Attacking the person
Appeals to consequences
Illegitimate appeals to authority
Be able to give an example of each 
Explain whether or not the conclusions of these arguments follow from the premises. Validity 
Assess whether these arguments are sound or unsound. 
State reasons which support the explanations given. 
Identify hidden premises 
EPISTEMOLOGY 
The distinction between knowing how and knowing that 
Describe the tripartite theory of knowledge. 
Describe specific philosophical problems associated with this theory. – accidental correctness- Gettier exceptions to JTB
The problem of justification – Scepticism – unreliability of senses, limitation of senses, Infinite regress of justifications, demon scenarios 
Describe the key philosophical positions of scepticism, rationalism and empiricism. 
Descartes’ background and agenda 
The sceptical arguments of Meditation1. What knowledge remains at each stage of the demolition process. 
The cogito of Meditation 2 – Criticisms, Why the existence of the mind is more certain than the body. The purpose of the wax example 
Meditation 3 – The clear and distinct rule – his Archimedean point 
The causal principle and the trademark argument 
How the trademark argument is used to rescue apriori thinking 
Criticisms of the trade mark argument 
Problems with the clear and distinct rule 
The Cartesian Circle 
Meditation 6 How he establishes the existence of an independently existing material world and hence the reliability of senses experience 
How errors of the senses can be corrected 
Refutation of dream argument 
Explain the reasoning and assumptions on which this account is based. 
Cite specific extracts from the writings of this philosopher in support of the explanation 
Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the account of knowledge given by Descartes 
Present a conclusion on the persuasiveness of this account of knowledge. 
State reasons in support of this conclusion which are based on evidence and sources previously discussed. 
METAPHYSICS
Be able to explain the different understandings of freedom understood by the Determinists and Libertarians in contrast to the Compatibilists.
Explain how determinism does away with notion of moral accountability.
Explain how asserting freewill means human behaviour cannot be intelligible.  
Libertarianism: 
Be able to explain the libertarian view 
Explain how indeterministic choices are driven by uncaused events in the brain. 
Show understanding of micro and macro levels of activity in brain. 
Explain agent causation. 
Show understanding of Problem 1: Explain how there appears to be no scientific evidence for agent causation. 
Show understanding of Problem 2: Explain how agent causation collapses into indeterminism. 
Show understanding of Problem 3: Explain how scientists can explain universe without agent causation. 
Explain Dualism, Body and Soul 
Show understanding of Problem: Explain how the non-material soul can interact with the material world. 
Be able to give quotes and give examples. 
Compatibilism:  
Be able to explain the compatibilist view. 
Explain Principle of Alternative Possibilities. 
Talk about moral responsibilities. 
Show understanding of Problem: Explain confusion of practical and metaphysical meanings of freedom, show how it collapses into HD. 
Explain Frankfurt’s compatibilism. 
Be able to explain the holistic approach to compatibilism. 
Be able to give quotes and give examples. 
Hard Determinism: 
Be able to explain HD. 
Explain the argument for determinism based on causal principle.
Explain argument based on theory of past controlling the present.
Explain three problems with HD – Runs contrary to intuition, runs contrary to legal codes and system, and does away with logical reasoning.
Remember to include the HD responses to these criticisms.
 

When you sit the exam make sure you pace yourself so that you don’t run out of time. Look at the amount of marks being awarded to judge how long to spend on each question.

Higher pupils the whole exam is out of 80 you have 2 hrs to complete it therefore a question worth one mark should take you 1.5 minutes!  So each section of the Prelim should be split as follows:  Critical Thinking 30min; Epistemology Pt 1 15 min, Pt 2 Descartes 45min & Metaphysics 30min. 

Int. 2 pupils the whole exam is out of 40 you have 1hr 30 min to complete it therefore a question worth one mark should take you 3.6 min! So each section of the Prelim should be split as follows: Critical Thinking 22 min; Epistemology Pt 1 11 min; Pt 2 Descartes 35 min & Metaphysics 22 min.

Work Hard and Good Luck!