A Level Philosophy Tutoring, for Every Board
A Level Philosophy asks students to state other people’s arguments more precisely than they would state their own, and then to judge them. The AQA specification, the one covered here, adds set texts by philosophers such as Plato, Descartes, Hume and Ayer, and its papers combine short questions that reward exact definitions with essays that must reach and defend a conclusion.
Short answer
A Level Philosophy is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
- Structure shown for AQA
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
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How A Level Philosophy is assessed, board by board
This page covers one specification for this subject: AQA A-level Philosophy (7172). It is set out below from the board's own document. If your school enters you with a different board, tell us on the intro call and we will work from that board's specification instead.
AQA
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Epistemology and moral philosophy | 50% | 3 hours | 100 marks | short answer and essay |
| Paper 2: The metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind | 50% | 3 hours | 100 marks | short answer and essay |
- AQA is the only board awarding A-level Philosophy. If your school offers it, this is the specification — there is no board to confirm, only the anthology of set texts the school has chosen from.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Specifications are revised periodically. Each block links to the specification it was read from and gives the date it was checked; if your school has moved to a newer specification, that document takes precedence.
What A Level Philosophy covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Epistemology
Knowledge as justified true belief · Descartes' method of doubt and the cogito · Rationalism vs empiricism · Gettier problems
Moral Philosophy
Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill · Kantian deontology · Virtue ethics: Aristotle · Meta-ethics: realism and anti-realism
Mind and Metaphysics
Dualism and materialism · Functionalism and behaviourism · Artificial intelligence and the mind · Arguments for God: ontological, cosmological, teleological
Where A Level Philosophy marks are usually lost
A definition that is almost right
The shortest questions ask for a definition or a distinction — what philosophical scepticism is, how one theory differs from another — and they are marked for precision. A definition that is nearly right, or an example offered in place of the definition itself, loses marks that nothing later in the paper recovers. Students need a bank of exact, memorised formulations for the core concepts of each topic.
Retelling an argument instead of rebuilding it
Explaining Descartes’ cogito, Anselm’s ontological argument or the argument from illusion means setting out its steps in order: premises, then the inference, then the conclusion. Students who retell the gist, or who jump straight to criticisms, lose the marks for explanation. AQA asks for particular attention to the logical form of the arguments for God’s existence, and the same discipline is rewarded across the specification.
Listing objections without deciding
The essay questions reward a sustained line of argument towards a clear conclusion. A common weak answer sets out a theory, lists three objections and ends by saying the issue is debated. Stronger answers state a position at the start, weigh each objection by replying to it, and explain why the remaining difficulty does or does not defeat the view. Balance is not the same as indecision.
How we teach A Level Philosophy
A tutor works through the AQA content in the specification’s own sections — epistemology, moral philosophy, the metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind — reading the relevant set-text extracts alongside each one. Every argument is first written out as numbered premises and a conclusion, then tested: is it valid, and are the premises true? Short definitions are drilled until they are exact, and each topic ends with an essay planned in the lesson, written at home and then discussed line by line. Applied ethics is taught by running each normative theory and meta-ethical view through the four issues AQA names, so the student can apply any theory to any of them. AQA sets no previous learning requirement, so a student new to the subject also needs the habit of precise academic writing, which the early lessons build.
Your starting point is reviewed before the study plan is finalised. The exact method depends on the programme and is agreed on the intro call — for some students that means a timed section, for others it means reading a recent score report or a piece of marked work. We will tell you which applies to you before you book anything, rather than describing a process here that may not be the one you get.
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