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A Level Philosophy Tutoring

Online A Level Philosophy tutoring for AQA (7172), the A Level Philosophy offered in England. Work one-to-one on epistemology, moral philosophy, the metaphysics of God and mind, and the 12- and 25-mark questions that decide the top grades.

AQA Philosophy is two 3-hour papers, and every section follows the same pattern: short questions on precise definitions and arguments, a 12-mark question and a 25-mark essay. Your tutor helps you state each argument accurately, premise by premise, explain the strongest objections and replies, and write essays that defend a clear position. If your school calls its course 'Philosophy and Ethics', it may be A Level Religious Studies instead, so tell us your specification at onboarding. Most students are matched with a tutor within 24 hours.

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What You Get with A Level Philosophy Tutoring

Comprehensive support designed to help you achieve your target grade

Exam Technique

  • 3- and 5-mark questions that reward precise definitions and clearly stated arguments
  • 12-mark questions: setting out an argument or a response step by step
  • 25-mark essays: a clear thesis, the strongest objections and a reasoned conclusion
  • Timing for two 3-hour papers of ten questions each

Argument and Objection

  • Laying out arguments in premise and conclusion form
  • Explaining objections and replies, such as Gettier cases against the tripartite view of knowledge
  • Using thought experiments: philosophical zombies, Mary the colour scientist and Ned Block's China thought experiment
  • Applying utilitarianism, Kantian ethics and virtue ethics to AQA's applied ethics issues

Concepts and Content

  • Epistemology: what knowledge is, perception, reason and the limits of knowledge
  • Moral philosophy: normative ethical theories, applied ethics and meta-ethics
  • Metaphysics of God: the concept of God, ontological, design and cosmological arguments, the problem of evil and religious language
  • Metaphysics of mind: dualism, behaviourism, identity theory, eliminative materialism and functionalism
Real student results

Students Improving Their Philosophy Grades

C → A
"I knew the arguments but couldn't write philosophical essays properly. My tutor showed me what precision and evaluation actually mean in Philosophy and my marks jumped significantly."
I

Isla C.

A Level Philosophy, AQA, Summer 2024

B → A*
"The hard problem of consciousness was the topic I kept fudging. My tutor explained Chalmers' argument from first principles and I finally understood what the problem actually is."
N

Nathan K.

A Level Philosophy, OCR, Summer 2024

D → B
"I was describing philosophical positions rather than evaluating them. My tutor taught me how to actually engage with arguments critically and my Paper 1 score went up by 20 marks."
C

Clara J.

A Level Philosophy, Edexcel, Summer 2023

How It Works

Simple steps to get started with A Level Philosophy tutoring

1

Buy a Bundle

Choose 3 to 100 hours based on your needs. Split across subjects if needed.

2

Complete Onboarding

Tell us your exam board, year group, weak areas, goals, and scheduling preferences.

3

Get Matched & Start

Matched within 24 hours. Schedule your first session immediately.

First Session Guarantee

Not satisfied? Contact us within 24 hours. We'll address concerns, offer a rematch, or provide a full refund.

AS Level vs Full A Level: What's the Difference?

We support students at both stages - here's how they compare

Area
AS Level (Year 12)
A Level (Year 12–13)
Availability
AQA's Philosophy subject page currently lists only the full A-level (7172), with no AS specification
AQA 7172: the full two-year A Level
Exams
No separate AQA exam at the end of Year 12
Two 3-hour papers, 100 marks each, sat in May/June of Year 13
Question pattern
Year 12 work builds towards the same question types
Every section: questions worth 3, 5, 5, 12 and 25 marks (June 2023 papers)

A Level Philosophy Syllabus Coverage

AQA's A Level Philosophy (7172) has four topics, each examined in its own section: epistemology and moral philosophy in Paper 1, the metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind in Paper 2. The specification names the arguments and thinkers you need, from Descartes and Berkeley to Mackie, Plantinga and Chalmers, so your tutor works through exactly that list rather than a general philosophy course.

1
Epistemology

  • The tripartite view of knowledge, Gettier cases and post-Gettier responses
  • Perception: direct realism, indirect realism and Berkeley's idealism
  • Locke's primary and secondary qualities
  • Reason: innatism (Plato, Leibniz), empiricism and Descartes' intuition and deduction thesis
  • +1 more

2
Normative Ethics

  • Bentham's and Mill's hedonistic utilitarianism
  • Preference utilitarianism, act and rule utilitarianism
  • Kant's good will and the categorical imperative
  • Aristotle's virtue ethics: virtues, vices and the role of habituation
  • +1 more

3
Applied Ethics and Meta-ethics

  • AQA's applied issues: stealing, simulated killing, eating animals and telling lies
  • Moral naturalism and non-naturalism, including Moore's open question argument
  • Mackie's error theory, with the arguments from relativity and queerness
  • Ayer's emotivism and Hare's prescriptivism
  • +1 more

4
Metaphysics of God

  • The concept of God and the coherence of divine attributes
  • Ontological arguments: Anselm, Descartes, Malcolm and Kant's objection
  • Design arguments: Hume's analogy, Paley and Swinburne, with Hume's objections
  • Cosmological arguments: Aquinas' first three Ways
  • +1 more

5
Religious Language

  • Ayer's verification principle and religious language
  • Hick's eschatological verification
  • Flew on falsification and Wisdom's gardener
  • Mitchell's partisan and Hare's bliks
  • +1 more

6
Metaphysics of Mind

  • Substance dualism: Descartes' indivisibility and conceivability arguments
  • Property dualism: Chalmers' zombies and Jackson's Mary argument
  • Hard and soft behaviourism
  • Mind-brain type identity theory and eliminative materialism
  • +1 more
Assessment breakdown

A Level Philosophy Assessment Structure

Understand exactly how you'll be assessed and prepare strategically for each component

Exam boards covered:AQA 7172

AQA 7172 Paper 1: Epistemology and moral philosophy

Written Exam
Weighting
50%

Section A: five questions on epistemology. Section B: five questions on moral philosophy.

3 hours
In June 2023 each section's questions were worth 3, 5, 5, 12 and 25 marks, so each section ends with a 25-mark essay.
What is knowledge, perception, reason, the limits of knowledge, normative ethics, applied ethics, meta-ethics

AQA 7172 Paper 2: The metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind

Written Exam
Weighting
50%

Section A: five questions on the metaphysics of God. Section B: five questions on the metaphysics of mind.

3 hours
Same pattern as Paper 1: in June 2023 each section's questions were worth 3, 5, 5, 12 and 25 marks.
The concept of God, arguments for God's existence, the problem of evil, religious language, dualism, physicalism, functionalism

Grade Boundaries (AQA 7172, June 2026)

Grade
Min. %
A*
78%+
A
67%+
B
54%+
C
41.5%+
D
29%+
E
16.5%+

Grade boundaries shift each session. These are indicative based on recent exam-board data.

Key Assessment Notes

  • AQA is the board for A Level Philosophy in England; OCR and WJEC Eduqas do not offer one
  • Both papers are sat at the end of Year 13 and there is no coursework, so your grade comes entirely from the exams
  • Each paper is 100 marks in 3 hours, roughly 1.8 minutes per mark, so practise writing 25-mark essays to time
  • The boundaries shown are AQA's June 2026 subject boundaries out of 200: A* 156, A 134, B 108, C 83, D 58, E 33. Later series set their own

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about A Level Philosophy tutoring

In England, A Level Philosophy is offered by AQA (specification 7172); OCR and WJEC Eduqas do not have an A Level Philosophy. That means your tutor can prepare you for one known exam format: two 3-hour papers, each section with the same five-question pattern, on epistemology, moral philosophy, the metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind. Tell us your specification at onboarding so we can confirm.

Not always. Many schools use 'Philosophy and Ethics' for A Level Religious Studies, such as OCR H573, which has three 2-hour papers: philosophy of religion, religion and ethics, and developments in religious thought. AQA A Level Philosophy (7172) is a separate qualification with no religious studies paper. Check the specification code on your school's course page and tell us at onboarding, so you are matched for the right course.

Paper 1 covers epistemology and moral philosophy; Paper 2 covers the metaphysics of God and the metaphysics of mind. Each paper is 3 hours, 100 marks and 50% of the A Level, with five questions per section. In the June 2023 papers each section's questions were worth 3, 5, 5, 12 and 25 marks, so each section builds from definitions and short explanations to a 25-mark essay.

You practise what lifts an essay into the top band: stating a clear thesis at the start, explaining the key argument precisely, raising the strongest objection rather than a weak one, assessing whether the replies work, and reaching a conclusion that follows from what you wrote. Your tutor marks timed essays against AQA's mark scheme and shows you where you described a debate instead of arguing a position.

Learn each argument as a numbered sequence of premises and a conclusion, in the form the specification names it, for example Descartes' indivisibility argument or Malcolm's ontological argument. Short questions reward precise definitions and accurate statements, and the 12-mark questions reward clear, complete explanations. A tutor tests you with exam-style prompts until you can set out each argument from memory without gaps or confusion with a similar one.

The specification lists them. Examples include Gettier's counterexamples and Berkeley's idealism in epistemology; Bentham, Mill, Kant and Aristotle in ethics, with Mackie, Ayer and Hare in meta-ethics; Anselm, Descartes, Malcolm, Paley, Swinburne, Aquinas, Plantinga and Hick on God; and Descartes, Chalmers, Jackson, the Churchlands and Block on mind. Your tutor works through the full list topic by topic, focusing on the ones you find hardest.

For AQA A-level Philosophy (7172) in June 2026, out of 200 marks: A* 156 (78.0%), A 134 (67.0%), B 108 (54.0%), C 83 (41.5%), D 58 (29.0%) and E 33 (16.5%). Boundaries are set again every series, so treat them as a guide to how many marks each grade needed in 2026, not as a fixed target for your year.

Sessions are online and one-to-one, so they fit around school. You bring the argument, objection or past paper question you are stuck on, and your tutor works through it with you, asks you to explain it back and helps you plan an answer. Sharing marked essays and mock papers lets your tutor focus on whether the problem is precision, structure or evaluation.

You can start at any point, and most students are matched with a tutor within 24 hours of completing onboarding. Close to the exams, the most useful work is timed 12- and 25-mark answers, a checklist of every argument the specification names, and practice stating each one precisely. Starting earlier leaves time to understand the harder debates properly instead of memorising summaries.

Typical problem areas are describing positions instead of arguing for one, objections stated so weakly that rejecting them proves little, and blurring similar arguments, such as different versions of the ontological argument or of physicalism. Many students also find meta-ethics and religious language abstract at first, and lose marks on short questions through imprecise definitions.

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How to Answer 'Evaluate' Questions

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How to Use Past Papers Effectively

Timing, self-marking against the mark scheme and an error log. Written for IB students, and the method works for A Level papers too.

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