AS and A Level


You prob­ably do it already, but almost certainly not enough of it.

Can you recog­nise a value judge­ment, a circu­lar argu­ment, inap­pro­pri­ate analogy or man of straw?
Can you manu­fac­ture and manip­u­late data, or spot when someone else is doing it?
Can you summar­ise an argu­ment, separ­ate reas­ons from conclu­sions and isol­ate both from their contex­tual padding?

Where most subjects are mainly concerned with dissem­in­at­ing know­ledge, Crit­ical Think­ing works on the skills neces­sary for making the most of it. It will help you to be discern­ing and reflect­ive in your think­ing; to reason logic­ally and to analyse, eval­u­ate, weigh up altern­at­ives and become profi­cient in construct­ing your own arguments.

The full 2-year course consists of 4 units:
1. Intro­duc­tion to Crit­ical Think­ing
2. Assess­ing and Devel­op­ing Argu­ments
3. Ethical Reas­on­ing and Decision-Making
4. Crit­ical Reasoning

The first two units lead to an AS level, and are examined at the end of the first year by two writ­ten papers of 1hr 30mins each.

The addi­tional two units are taught during the second year and are examined at the end of the course by two further writ­ten papers of 1hr. 30mins each.

There is no specific qual­i­fic­a­tion for the course, but a GCSE in English of grade C or above is recom­men­ded. The skills taught are cross-curricular and will be useful for any discip­line. 6i students are given a series of taster sessions in both Crit­ical Think­ing and General Stud­ies to help determ­ine which option/s would suit their partic­u­lar aptitudes and inclinations.

Crit­ical Think­ing is a highly inter­act­ive course and is taught in small groups to enable each student to contrib­ute to the best of their ability.

Specific­a­tion: OCR Crit­ical Think­ing  AS H052   A H452
Click here to down­load the current specific­a­tion for this A level course.

What current Sixth Form students have said about the subject:

‘With everything you hear in the media nowadays, Crit­ical Think­ing helps you decide exactly what, and what not, to believe.’

‘Crit­ical Think­ing classes give a forum for discuss­ing issues and the skills to form argu­ments to support each point of view.’

‘Crit­ical Think­ing deals with deep philo­soph­ical thoughts as well as inform­ing you of some of the flaws and assump­tions many people make in simply think­ing about things.