Pretty much what I did was: remember the basics of each religion, where they get their ethics from, Parables+Miracles of Jesus, letter of Paul of Tarsus, Ten Commandments, their practices e.g. baptism/marriage. This leaves more room for some quotes from the sacred texts. I found that knowing the basics, allowed me to stress a lot less, and these basics e.g. Ten Commandments, Five Pillars/Four Noble Truths/Eightfold Path/Five Pillars, would then link to biblical quotes and was able to illustrate points I was making rather well. I did this in the trial too in Religion and Peace and got 95%. Memorising a essay is silly, when all you'll be thinking of is what to write next, rather than what the question is asking you and then refer to your knowledge rather than a memorised essay. Same for Section II, remember the basics and it'll be a breeze.
I also found that I had a lot of time, M/C and short answers I did in like 15 minutes. This gave me more time to think and ended up writing my way through 3 booklets for Section III and IV.
Also, tip for any future SOR students:
- Make tables for quotes early on.
Have columns for the Religion e.g. Christianity,
- Where in the text is it (e.g. 2 Corinthians 2:17),
- What point this makes,
- Maybe a modern day action toward achieving this e.g. World Council of Churches (very handy if Section IV is about world peace),
- And maybe even a modern day quote e.g. by the Pope, Archbishops etc.
