A-Level Biology: What to expect?

I recently got my GCSE results and came out with 2A*s, 6As and 2Bs which I'm very happy about. I've decided to do history (CCEA exam board), psychology (AQA) and biology (CCEA) for alevel. I got an A grade in Biology at GCSE and it interests me a lot. My maths skills aren't too bad as I got a B and I enjoy writing essays (A in English lit, B in English lang). I understand that the jump from GCSE to alevel is big but I'm prepared to put the work in as I need to get ABB to study psychology at Queens University, Belfast. However, I need to ask; what should I expect when I do alevel biology? And how should I cope with the workload?

Things to expect:
>LOADS of words to memorise
>Too many biological processes to know by heart
>Not using any complicated Maths (its all basic calculation, and too many new student think you must have an A* in Maths to answer questions requiring Maths)
>Self-teaching yourself most of the topics (depends on how good your sixth form and teacher is)


The worst thing about A-level Biology is how picky the mark scheme is (in particular AQA): your answer may be correct, however if you do not mention certain key words you will not get the mark.

I don't mean to sound really pretentious or anything but I attend one of the most high achieving grammar schools in Northern Ireland so I don't think I'll have any issues with teachers. But after reading all of this, how can I do well in the subject and get at least a B?

A level biology can be summed up with the following sentence:
You gain absolutely no credit for writing a correct answer if you miss out a single word, it's an absolute joke of an A level.

I'm not bitter or anything.

But yeah... Learn the mark schemes.