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HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies Paper 2 (Religious Traditions) Mock Paper 2027 — Questions, Model Answers, Marking Scheme and Open-Book Strategy
TUTORZONE EXAM PRACTICE · HKDSE ETHICS AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES — PAPER 2 (RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS) MOCK PAPER
Paper 2 is the paper candidates underestimate. It examines one religious tradition in depth — Buddhist history, doctrine and practice, or the scriptures and theology of Christianity — and the Christianity module is open book, with one approved Bible allowed at the desk. Paper 2 carries 50% of the subject and runs for 1 hour 45 minutes. This is an original TutorZone mock paper written to the 2027 HKEAA assessment framework: full questions for both modules, model answers, a marking scheme, the errors that cost marks, and a 105-minute timing plan. Time yourself and sit it properly.
Direct Answer: what does HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies Paper 2 examine, and how does it differ from Paper 1?
Paper 2 (Religious Traditions) is worth 50% of the subject and lasts 1 hour 45 minutes. Candidates study one of two modules only: Buddhism or Christianity. The Buddhism module is not open book and requires three questions in total — one of two questions in Part 1 (History of Buddhism) and two of four questions in Part 2 (Doctrines and Buddhist Practice). The Christianity module is open book: one approved version of the Bible may be brought in, with underlining and highlighting only, and candidates answer three of five questions. There is no school-based assessment; the whole subject is assessed by public examination, with Paper 1 and Paper 2 worth 50% each.
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Paper 2 at a glance (2027 examination)
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Paper 1 — Ethics | 50% | 1 hour 45 minutes | Part A: 20 marks of short questions, all compulsory; Part B: 40 marks, four questions, answer two |
| Paper 2 — Religious Traditions (this paper) | 50% | 1 hour 45 minutes | one of two modules only: Buddhism or Christianity |
| Buddhism module | Not open book | three questions in total: one of two in Part 1 (Buddhist history), two of four in Part 2 (doctrine and practice) |
| Christianity module | Open book | one approved version of the Bible, underlining or highlighting only | three of five questions |
| School-based assessment | None — the subject is 100% public examination |
| Reporting | Levels 1 to 5, with 5** the highest |
The two modules carry the same weighting but demand opposite preparation. Without a book at the desk, Buddhist history, schools and doctrinal categories have to be memorised precisely. In the open-book module the question shifts from do you remember it to can you find it and use it. That is why the model answers below are written in two different styles.
How this paper was set, and copyright
This is an original TutorZone mock paper. It contains no past HKEAA questions and reproduces no copyrighted translation or commentary: the questions follow the format, question counts and assessment objectives of the 2027 HKEAA assessment framework, and scriptural references are paraphrased with the chapter and verse given so that you can check them in your own Bible.
Note on marks: the 20-mark distribution shown here follows the official structure. In the live examination the marks for each question are as printed in the question paper, and the same applies to the distribution within the Christianity module.
Module 1: Buddhism (not open book)
Instructions: answer three questions in total — one of the two questions in Part 1 (History of Buddhism) and two of the four questions in Part 2 (Doctrines and Buddhist Practice). Suggested timing: about 30 minutes for Part 1, 60 minutes for Part 2, 15 minutes to check.
Part 1: History of Buddhism (answer one of two)
Question 1 (20 marks)
(a) Outline the background, the presiding figure and the main outcome of the First Council after the Buddha’s passing. (8 marks)
(b) Explain the two main lines of division that produced the early schools (disputes over discipline and over doctrine), and account for the names “Sthaviravāda” and “Mahāsāṃghika”. (12 marks)
Question 2 (20 marks)
(a) Compare the roles of King Aśoka and King Kaniṣka in the spread of Buddhism. (10 marks)
(b) Describe the overland and maritime routes by which Buddhism reached China, giving one concrete piece of historical evidence for each. (10 marks)
Part 2: Doctrines and Buddhist Practice (answer two of four)
Question 3 (20 marks)
(a) Explain the Three Dharma Seals and how they function as a test of what counts as Buddhist teaching. (10 marks)
(b) Is “all phenomena are without self” compatible with the continuation of karma? Discuss. (10 marks)
Question 4 (20 marks)
(a) Explain the Four Noble Truths and the logical relationship between them. (10 marks)
(b) Using the Noble Eightfold Path as an example, show how Buddhist practice holds together discipline, concentration and wisdom. (10 marks)
Question 5 (20 marks)
(a) Compare compassion (karuṇā) and love in the Buddhist context. (8 marks)
(b) Using the Mahāyāna bodhisattva path, explain why benefiting others is treated as a necessary condition of awakening. (12 marks)
Question 6 (20 marks)
In a modern city, what obstacles do vegetarianism, meditation and giving (dāna) each encounter? Propose one workable adjustment for each, and assess whether the spirit of the precepts is weakened as a result. (20 marks)
Module 2: Christianity (open book — answer three of five)
Instructions: answer three of the five questions; about 30 minutes each, with 15 minutes to check. One approved version of the Bible is allowed, with underlining or highlighting only — no writing. Do not bring a study Bible with commentary, your own notes or a homemade concordance: those count as unauthorised materials.
Question 1 (20 marks)
(a) Explain how the Old Testament idea of covenant develops through the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic traditions. (12 marks)
(b) Do you consider the covenant unconditional or conditional? Support your position with two scriptural references. (8 marks)
Question 2 (20 marks)
(a) Outline the narrative structure of the passion and resurrection in the Gospels. (10 marks)
(b) What concrete changes did the resurrection bring to the earliest Christian community? Give two. (10 marks)
Question 3 (20 marks)
(a) Explain what justification by faith means in the letters of Paul. (10 marks)
(b) Some argue that justification by faith makes good works irrelevant. Do you agree? Answer with scriptural and theological argument. (10 marks)
Question 4 (20 marks)
(a) State the key affirmations about the Trinity in the Nicene Creed. (10 marks)
(b) How does the doctrine answer the two early errors — denying the divinity of Jesus and denying his humanity? (10 marks)
Question 5 (20 marks)
Faced with income inequality and mental-health pressures in Hong Kong today, what concrete responses can the Christian ideas of stewardship and neighbourly love offer? Propose two, and discuss their limits. (20 marks)
Model answers — Buddhism module
Question 3(a) — model answer
The Three Dharma Seals are impermanence (anicca), non-self (anattā) and nirvana as peace (nirvāṇa-śānta). Together they act as the marks by which a teaching is recognised as the Buddha’s. Impermanence states that all conditioned things arise and cease from moment to moment; non-self follows, since whatever arises dependently cannot contain a permanent, independent, controlling self; nirvana is the stillness that remains when craving, aversion and delusion cease, and it is the direction in which the first two seals point.
Their testing function matters more than their metaphysics. Any teaching that asserts a permanent, unchanging entity falls into eternalism; any teaching that denies causal continuity and moral consequence falls into annihilationism. Both contradict the seals and are therefore rejected. The seals gave the tradition a shared criterion of authenticity that survived the proliferation of schools.
Marking: all three seals named and correctly explained (6 marks); testing function explained with eternalism/annihilationism as examples (4 marks).
Question 3(b) — model answer
No contradiction arises once “self” is defined carefully. What Buddhism denies is a permanent, independent, controlling entity. What karma travels with is the moment-to-moment continuity of the five aggregates, each moment conditioning the next. A well-known simile makes the point: fire is not the same bundle of wood as before, yet it burns on because the wood continues. Karma works the same way — causal continuity without an unchanging bearer.
If a permanent self persisted across lives, the tradition would fall into eternalism and “the doer receives the fruit” would become the endurance of one fixed substance, which the dependent-arising analysis rejects. If continuity were denied altogether, moral consequence could not be established at all. Non-self and karma are therefore two faces of the same dependent arising.
Marking: the right definition of what is being denied (5 marks); causal continuity explained (4 marks); both extremes identified (1 mark).
Model answers — Christianity module (and how to use the open book)
Question 3(a) — model answer
Justification by faith is Paul’s central claim: a person is declared righteous before God not by works of the law or personal merit, but through faith in Jesus Christ, as a gift of grace. Paul appeals to Abraham, who “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, to show that being put right with God preceded circumcision and the law — and therefore that Gentiles are included on the same basis.
This does not abolish the law; it relocates its function. The law exposes sin and shows that no one can reach the standard by their own effort. After justification, good works follow as the fruit of gratitude rather than the price of acceptance.
Marking: accurate use of grace, faith and justification (8 marks); a scriptural reference used as evidence (2 marks). Open-book strategy: cite the chapter and verse, then explain how it supports your argument. Copying the text without argument earns little.
Question 5 — model answer (argument frame)
Establish the principles first: stewardship treats resources as entrusted rather than owned, and neighbourly love requires concrete action that crosses social boundaries. Then propose two responses — (1) a church partnership with local agencies running a food bank and shared meals, joining material help to relationship so that assistance does not label recipients; (2) peer emotional-support groups inside the congregation, linked to a referral pathway to professional counselling.
Then discuss the limits: resources and volunteers are finite, so provision tends to cluster around the church’s own neighbourhood; the dignity and privacy of recipients must be protected or help becomes harm; and internal disagreement about social engagement can slow implementation. Conclude by arguing that the measure of success is whether recipients are empowered, not how many services were delivered.
Marking: concepts used accurately (6 marks); proposals concrete and feasible (8 marks); limits discussed with an evaluation criterion (6 marks).
The other questions: what earns marks, and what loses them
| Question | What earns marks | Common errors |
|---|---|---|
| Bud 1(a) First Council | Setting and timing, presiding figure, participants, what was recited (teaching and discipline) | Confusing the First with the Third Council, or misnaming the presiding monk |
| Bud 1(b) Schools | Both lines of division, and the origin of the two names | “It split into two schools” with no account of why |
| Bud 2 Transmission | Overland (Central Asia to Chang’an) and maritime (South China Sea to Guangzhou), each with evidence | Writing “spread across Asia” with no specific evidence |
| Bud 4 Truths and Path | The causal chain of the Four Truths; the Eightfold Path grouped under the three trainings | Listing the eight limbs without linking them to discipline, concentration and wisdom |
| Bud 5 Compassion and love | Compassion as the removal of suffering and the giving of ease, universal and without partiality | “Both are love” and stopping there |
| Chr 1 Covenant | Parties, content and sign in each tradition; the conditionality debate | Quoting a verse without showing how it supports the claim |
| Chr 2 Passion and resurrection | The narrative shape, then concrete change for the community | Jumping to doctrinal conclusions and skipping the narrative |
| Chr 4 Trinity | The creed’s wording, and the two errors it answers | Writing “three gods” — an immediate loss of marks |
| Chr 5 Social response | Principle, proposals, limits and an evaluation criterion | Slogans without feasibility, or no discussion of limits |
How to work an open-book paper (Christianity)
- Build a scripture index in advance — within the permitted marking only, highlight the opening of the books you rely on so that you can turn to a passage within 30 seconds.
- Do not leave the Bible for the end — sketch your argument first, then look up the passages that support it, so time is not swallowed by searching.
- Quote briefly and precisely — chapter, verse and the key phrase. Long transcription wastes minutes and earns nothing.
- Rehearse passage-to-argument pairs — for each major theme (covenant, salvation, justification, church, last things), memorise two passages and practise applying them.
The opposite strategy for the Buddhism module: without a book, names, schools, doctrinal categories and practices must be committed to memory. Organise them in a three-column table — term, definition, example — and test yourself by writing them out from memory daily rather than re-reading.
A 105-minute timing plan
| Clock | Action | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Choose your module and questions; sketch the argument frame for all three answers | Question choice decides the outcome — do not commit halfway through |
| 5–35 min | First answer, written in full | Start with the question you know best to set a rhythm |
| 35–65 min | Second answer, in full | In the open-book module, this is where you check and add scripture |
| 65–95 min | Third answer, in full | Short of time? Write the topic sentences and the conclusion first |
| 95–105 min | Check: numbering, whether each answer addresses the question asked, accuracy of references | “Did I answer the question set?” is the biggest single loss |
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I answer questions from both modules?
No. Candidates answer from one module only — Buddhism or Christianity — and answers are not credited across modules. Choose the module your school teaches.
Q: Does open book make Paper 2 easier?
No. Open book trades recall for application, and it increases time pressure: markers expect a scriptural reference and an argument built on it. Copying passages alone normally earns a low mark.
Q: Really no materials at all in the Buddhism module?
The Buddhism module is not open book; only stationery and your admission form are allowed. Names, dates and doctrinal categories must come from memory, which is why the model answers in this paper are written out at length — use them for recall practice.
Q: Should Paper 1 and Paper 2 be prepared together?
Yes. Each carries 50%, and the ethical theory examined in Paper 1 supports the arguments in Paper 2. Sit this paper after the Paper 1 mock: the two papers lose marks in completely different ways.
Q: How does this paper relate to HKEAA papers?
This is an original TutorZone mock paper written to the format and assessment objectives of the 2027 framework. It contains no past HKEAA questions and no copyrighted translation. Question counts and answer requirements follow the official structure; individual question marks follow the live question paper.
Official resources and further reading
- HKEAA assessment framework — 2027 HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies (Paper 1 and Paper 2 structure): 2027hkdse-e-ers-rev.pdf
- Curriculum guide — Hong Kong EDB Ethics and Religious Studies Curriculum and Assessment Guide (2024 update): ERS Curriculum and Assessment Guide
- Earlier paper in this series — HKDSE Ethics and Religious Studies Paper 1 (Ethics) mock paper 2027.
- All practice papers — Exam Practice Questions (Literature in English Papers 1 and 2, ERS Paper 1 and this paper).
- Subject guides — Subject Guide explains the structure and pathways of each elective.
- Getting there — District Guides compare commute times before you arrange home tutoring.
Note: the information above is for reference only; examination requirements follow the HKEAA. This paper is original practice material, not an official HKEAA paper.
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