Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91916 about?

Accepted Answer

This standard asks you to show that you understand how a community built around shared religious or spiritual beliefs came to develop and grow. You need to pick a real community (like a congregation, a movement, or an entire religion), explain what religious beliefs hold them together, and then describe and analyse the key events or circumstances that shaped how that community changed over time.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91916?

Accepted Answer

1. Identify and describe a specific community that shares religious or spiritual beliefs (for example, the early Christian Church, a Buddhist sangha, a Pentecostal congregation, or an Indigenous spiritual group) 2. Identify and describe the core religious or spiritual beliefs that define this community 3. Describe the significant factors that influenced how the community developed (such as conflict, migration, leadership changes, political events, or natural disasters) 4. Use specific, relevant examples to support your description of these factors and their effects 5. Show how and why these factors mattered to the community's growth and change over time

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91916?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You identify the community and its beliefs, list the significant factors that shaped it, and give relevant examples for each factor. Merit: You explain how each significant factor actually contributed to the community's development, using examples to show the connection between cause and effect. Excellence: You examine why certain factors were so important to the community's development over time, exploring deeper causes and long-term consequences, with detailed examples that support your analysis.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91916?

Accepted Answer

1. Choosing a topic that is too broad or vague (for example, 'Christianity' instead of a specific community like 'the Methodist Church in 19th-century England') — you need a clearly defined group, not an entire religion 2. Listing factors without explaining how they actually affected the community — just naming 'leadership' or 'migration' is not enough; you must show what difference it made 3. Providing general knowledge about a religion rather than focusing on the development of a specific community — the standard wants the story of how a particular group grew and changed, not a textbook summary of beliefs

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