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Teaching myself A-level Biology, one year. From scratch? No GCSE?

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OCR does have coursework/ practicals. The ISA practicals. They are units F213 so you could find and pay a center to let you take these exams- most likely a school who does OCR could let you.
Reply 21
Original post by RandomPeopleDancin
OCR does have coursework/ practicals. The ISA practicals. They are units F213 so you could find and pay a center to let you take these exams- most likely a school who does OCR could let you.


yeah found that out.

surely id fail the practical though?
Original post by ch0wm4n
OCR dont have coursework for biology or chemistry.


The ISA practicals are considered as coursework.
Original post by bestofyou
yeah found that out.

surely id fail the practical though?


From personal experience ( 95% of my class failing half the practical work) I would say the exams are do-able but ISAs are near impossible unless you have a super-human bio. tutor. Perhaps you could look into other options. I looked into A-level equivalents on Google and found some good ones (This one I was going to do but the school don't do the exam board plus many other complications, but it was the closest I could find to an a-level. They also have special centers for candidates to go.)
ISAs are harder to prepare for than exams as you really don't know what they are going to be on.
Sorry I can't be of more help though :redface:
I'm self-teaching AS/A level biology. It's alright actually. Depends on how much time you have. Need to be really organised also. The concepts aren't that difficult, there's just lots of fiddly bits to remember.
Original post by ch0wm4n
OCR dont have coursework for biology or chemistry.


Well they do in regards to the ISA which you would have to sit at a centre.
Reply 26
Original post by vVShabbaVv
I'm self-teaching AS/A level biology. It's alright actually. Depends on how much time you have. Need to be really organised also. The concepts aren't that difficult, there's just lots of fiddly bits to remember.


how are you doing the practicals?
Reply 27
I studied biology A level, I needed to get an A in it for my uni course and though I got there in the end I found it quite a tough A level actually. It all depends on you as an individual though, I think it is possible but I wouldn't have been able to do it all in one year and I think it would be tough. Its easy to screw up if you don't quite get how to hit the marks in the exams and I managed to jump from a C to an A in one of my modules just by getting the knack of doing the actual exam papers (before then I'd stupidly avoided past exam papers...out of fear or something I think!)
Reply 28
Original post by stefwad75
I studied biology A level, I needed to get an A in it for my uni course and though I got there in the end I found it quite a tough A level actually. It all depends on you as an individual though, I think it is possible but I wouldn't have been able to do it all in one year and I think it would be tough. Its easy to screw up if you don't quite get how to hit the marks in the exams and I managed to jump from a C to an A in one of my modules just by getting the knack of doing the actual exam papers (before then I'd stupidly avoided past exam papers...out of fear or something I think!)


Id assume you did it with 2/3 other A-levels though? Bare in mind I wouldn't be studying any else, (maybe one subject that I have already done before)
Reply 29
Original post by ch0wm4n
OCR dont have coursework for biology or chemistry.


they do have practical exams though
Reply 30
Original post by bestofyou
Id assume you did it with 2/3 other A-levels though? Bare in mind I wouldn't be studying any else, (maybe one subject that I have already done before)


Hmmm yeah that's true. Well on that basis I think it would be do-able.
I wouldn't say its the most complex thing I've studied (I find chemistry much harder - couldn't do A2 without the AS background) but its near impossible to find a way of doing the practical as an individual candidate. Thats the trouble most mature/graduate aspiring vets/medics have, which is why we end up having to spend a year or two doing it in a proper class.
Reply 32
Original post by MediterraneanX
I wouldn't say its the most complex thing I've studied (I find chemistry much harder - couldn't do A2 without the AS background) but its near impossible to find a way of doing the practical as an individual candidate. Thats the trouble most mature/graduate aspiring vets/medics have, which is why we end up having to spend a year or two doing it in a proper class.


Yeah I am finding this the problem as opposed to the actual difficulty of the course.

You say you are an aspiring vet/medic? Did you have to take bio/chem as after your two years of 6th form?
Original post by bestofyou
Yeah I am finding this the problem as opposed to the actual difficulty of the course.

You say you are an aspiring vet/medic? Did you have to take bio/chem as after your two years of 6th form?


Yeah - did my first batch of alevels (4 non-science, silly me), law degree and now back to do biology and chemistry. I'm only doing the AS though as not pursuing veterinary anymore due to the lack of a loan, I don't technically need the AS to apply for graduate medicine which is what i'm hoping to do but it all helps prepare me :smile:
Original post by bestofyou
how are you doing the practicals?


The practicals are just a set of instructions you pretty much follow. You can do all the theory work yourself, you just need to be familiar with certain equipment from the lab, vernier calipers etc and have a good knowledge of the spec.
I've just done my practicals for Biology and Physics with 3A Tutors; they set the lab up and i got on with it, there were loads of us there.
Reply 35
Hi
I wanted to do the same AS and A2 Biology in a year. I have CC in gcse therefore its difficult to get into college. I'm willing to study at home with a tutor however having problems with where I would do the ISA exam?

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