AS Paper 1 Biology

Am I the only one who struggled and found it fairly dreadful?
Worked hard all year round, revised my ass off and feel like this exam has made it all go to nothing, especially since they only included 2 topics. I am determined to drop English, not Biology as I actually like it and am motivated to do the work. Quite disappointed and upset with how it went, though I'm trying to convince myself it doesn't matter because I'm re-doing it next year and that's what matters. Opinions on the exam?

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Reply 1

nan_blac

It's incredibly hard.Not testing your knowledge but comprehension and application. I was guessing my answers for nearly every question....

Reply 2

nikeey_xo

Hey is this for the old 2008 syllabus bio ? Or new one ? I just did the 2008 one and it was a really hard paper

Reply 3

Hannah22xo

I agree it was absolutely awful, the questions on the previous past papers I had done were much more manageable, I think I've failed :frown:

Reply 4

bethchapman

I did the new one, and it was vile. So much harder than I expected :frown:

Reply 5

nikeey_xo

Anyone here find the old syllabus paper horrible aswell ?

Reply 6

1248736394

Original post by littz

Yea I feel exactly the same!!!! So disappointed as I had literally revised everything to the max and now it's all gone to waste ... 😢

Reply 7

DeRerumNatura

It was alright, I just hated that bloody graph and standard form crap, can anyone get the paper we did off their teacher and PM or something just so I can use it to revise for paper 2, or if anyone remembers all the topics that came up because I feel like i'm forgetting a few, I just know there is going to be so many practical questions in paper 2. What questions did you guys find the hardest ?

Reply 8

mali473

Horrible.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 9

username1763965

Original post by DeRerumNatura

I spent 20 minutes on that sh***y graph. 5 minutes working out stupid standard form and spending 15 minutes at the very least working out the stupid axis. Good that I rushed through that paper so I managed to do all the questions. But the comprehension questions and the plant question were terrible. Everything else was manageable for me. However as a result of the graph question and the comprehension I lost all hope in passing.

Reply 10

Silverstars123

Original post by nikeey_xo

Anyone here find the old syllabus paper horrible aswell ?

yea i found some of the questions really strange, not sure how i feel about it

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11

maggie43

During the exam, I mumbled to myself "I hate unit 1" Hopefully I get a C.

Reply 12

AlexH123

old syllabus thread http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4091215&page=6

Reply 13

DeRerumNatura

If someone can get me a copy of the paper or can remember most the questions I can put together an unofficial mark scheme.

Reply 14

username1763965

Original post by DeRerumNatura

If someone can get me a copy of the paper or can remember most the questions I can put together an unofficial mark scheme.

thank you. hope it calms my nerves.

Reply 15

DeRerumNatura

Original post by parrot16

thank you. hope it calms my nerves.

No one has sent me the paper yet, but it would help if you or anyone else could send me some questions you remember ?

Reply 16

KST101

Yep that exam was nasty. Everyone Ive met on the way out said the same. Praying to the gods that grade boundaries are low

Reply 17

username1763965

Original post by DeRerumNatura

No one has sent me the paper yet, but it would help if you or anyone else could send me some questions you remember ?

I can't remember the exact questions but...(this contains typos)

explain how a HPV vaccine can lead to the production of antibodies against HPV/how it will protect women and girls from the virus?(it was something like that)(3)

Also something like: explain 3 differences between DNA and mRNA(3)

explain how a complementary DNA HIV strand forms if it is a semi conservative process?(3)

there was a tick box question: what bonds form between cellulose molecules?(1)
(order of letters incorrect)
a) ionic bonds
b)Peptide bonds
c)hydrogen bonds
d) ester bonds

Difference between a triglyceride and a phospholipid?(1-2)

Explain difference between saturated and unsaturated fats?(1)

Explain why lipase cannot hydrolyse X? (X is the lipid soluble fat substituate that I cant remember name of)
Explain why x cannot diffuse across cell membrane?(1)

which process :frown:

WRONG LETTERS AGAIN BUT..)
P: ACTIVE TRANSPORT
Q DIFFUSION ACROSS PHOSPHOLIPID BILAYER
R OSMOSIS
S CO TRANSPORT
involves:
Transport of sodium ions and glucose(1)
passing of small non polar and lipid soluble molecules(1)
Passing of substances using atp against concentration gradient(1)

There was a black and white SEM picture of a mitochondrion:
Explain evidence that the image is SEM?(1)
calculate the magnification of image is actual length from a to b is 9 micrometers?(2)
What is part x of mitochondrion?(1)

And there was lots of comprehension questions about Alzheimer's;

Explain why the competitive inhibitor drug against beta secretase causes serious side effects?(in the text it mentioned that alpha and beta secretase both break down 1 molecule I cant remember the name of.?One of the molecules is needed in the brain.

Explain how the competitive inhibitor drug would stop the Alzhiemers from worsening? (3 marks I think)

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 18

littz

I'm glad at least most of you feel the same as me. I'm very upset as well. I really hope the grade boundaries are low, I simply wanted a C for the hours and hours and hours I put into this and I am convinced I got a D, perhaps even an E. And some of you only seem to have lost a few marks, the graph question only accounted for 7 marks in total,just missing them won't make you fail. I just feel like I missed a whole whop of marks on every single question. Sigh 😭

Reply 19

littz

Original post by DeRerumNatura

I feel pretty much every question was difficult, apart from the fact recall. But for how ATP is used in cells I put "active transport" and "used for other coupled reactions", would that get at least one mark? I know I should've been more specific and said "across cell membranes" for active transport but. Just overall, found almost every question that wasn't fact recall very challenging and I actually thought I got the hang of the whole application thing but this paper was a bit too much for me. Completely forgot how you'd explain how to plot a calibration curve. The last question was bonkers. I put Spearmans correlation co-efficient and I forgot to put "rank" 😭 It is just hopeless, it seems.