HKDSE ERS study plan

Map the full HKDSE ERS syllabus into three strands: normative ethics, personal and social issues, and religious traditions, and annotate each strand with the assessment weighting you expect from past-paper patterns.

Define and contrast the three core ethical theories (consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics) in your own words, writing a 60-word definition for each plus one strength and one weakness.

Build a personal glossary of 25 key terms (e.g. moral relativism, autonomy, sanctity of life, stewardship) with a one-line definition and one exam-style example of use for each.

Draft a one-page answer template for 'explain' questions that separates definition, elaboration, and illustration so you can apply it consistently from week 2 onward.

Apply each of the three ethical theories to two applied issues (e.g. euthanasia and capital punishment) by writing a structured paragraph per theory per issue.

Identify and label the logical structure of five past-paper 'evaluate' questions, marking the command word, the concept under test, and the implicit counter-argument you must address.

Practise constructing counter-arguments by writing, for each of your theory positions, the strongest objection a critic could raise and a two-sentence rebuttal.

Compile a list of 10 real-world cases or news examples you can cite as evidence in applied-ethics answers, each with a one-line summary.

Analyse the relationship between morality and religion by writing a timed 25-minute essay on whether ethical values depend on religious belief, using at least two named thinkers or positions.

Compare how two religious traditions ground moral rules, noting one convergence and one genuine divergence you can deploy in comparative questions.

Distinguish meta-ethical from normative claims in 10 sample statements and explain the distinction in three sentences.

Self-mark your timed essay against a four-criterion rubric (accuracy, argument, evidence, structure) and list three specific fixes.

Consolidate the heaviest strand by re-deriving the core arguments of weeks 1-3 from memory on blank paper, then checking against your notes and logging every gap.

Write full model answers, at exam length, for two high-frequency question types and compare them against the command-word templates.

Build a one-page 'argument bank' listing 12 reusable argument moves (e.g. slippery slope, appeal to dignity, utilitarian calculus) with a trigger phrase for each.

Complete a closed-book 45-minute mini-paper covering the ethics strand and mark it strictly.

Map the personal and social issues section (e.g. life and death, sexuality, environment, business and economic justice) and rank the topics by your weakest performance.

For your two weakest topics, write a full essay plan with thesis, three arguments, two counter-arguments, and a conclusion in under 15 minutes each.

Assemble a quotation and evidence sheet of 15 items (philosophical, religious, and empirical) tagged by which topic each can support.

Rehearse verbal justification of your positions by recording a five-minute spoken answer to one issue question and critiquing it for clarity and rigour.

Compare two religious traditions on a shared ethical theme, producing a comparison table with at least five dimensions (source of authority, view of the person, moral norm, sanction, and contemporary application).

Practise source-based and stimulus-response question types by interpreting provided passages without external aids and extracting the ethical claim in each.

Draft answers that integrate religious teaching with philosophical argument, ensuring each paragraph links a doctrinal point to a reasoned evaluation.

Identify and correct three common exam errors (unbalanced evaluation, unsupported assertion, misreading the command word) by rewriting flawed sample sentences you write yourself.

Sit a full-length timed mock paper under exam conditions with no notes and strict time allocation across sections.

Mark the mock against the official-style criteria, scoring each section separately and identifying the two lowest-scoring skill areas.

Diagnose every lost mark into one of four causes (knowledge gap, misread question, weak argument, time pressure) and quantify each cause.

Write targeted remediation notes for the two weakest skill areas and schedule them into your final week.

Close knowledge gaps by re-testing only the items flagged in your week 7 diagnosis, aiming for full recall on each.

Rehearse timing by completing three 10-minute essay openings that each state a thesis and outline in the first two sentences.

Compress your entire revision file into a single two-page final-review sheet of theories, cases, quotations, and command-word rules.

Run a final light mock or section drill, then finalise an exam-day plan covering time allocation per section and an answer-checking routine.