How much more difficult is OCR A2 Biology unit F215(unit 5) compared to F214(unit 4)?

Cant be much harder tbh - just more content to memorise

Much harder. Firstly theres a lot more content. Instead of 4 simple topics, there are 4 quite advances topics. Also theres a lot more depth.

Just make sure you start revision early, such as beginning of May.

Heinemann endorsed OCR book is written by the examiners and seems to be the only one which follows the specification very well

I just used this and ended up with an A*

88/90 for F214 and 150/150 for F215

And I preferred F214 (If that's all the kidney/liver/DNA stuff) and found it far more interesting that F215

Crazy marks! Well done

Hope you don't mind me asking how you revised? And if you've got any other useful tips, that would be a massive help! Thanks.

I just used this and ended up with an A*

88/90 for F214 and 150/150 for F215

And I preferred F214 (If that's all the kidney/liver/DNA stuff) and found it far more interesting that F215

Out of curiosity...did you do literally every past question paper?

How were your practical marks? I find it is the Practicals that will make or break my A* or A or god forbid B grade

Chemistry on the other hand is far easier to handle. Biology really does involve so much more effort, deeper thinking, and revision sure does begin much earlier too due to the huge amount of factual content to memorise!

How much more difficult is OCR A2 Biology unit F215(unit 5) compared to F214(unit 4)?
In terms of length, content difficulty, exam questions difficulty, exam preparation, etc.

Also, to those who got A/A* in unit 5, which book/books did you learn all your content from?

Thank you

Thanks very much to all the posts so far - have been helpful However, I am not sure what "intellectual1" meant with regards to there being less content in F215 (second unit) compared to F214 (first unit) of A2?

More useful posts from others will also be appreciated
Thank you

For F215, you need to know all of F211, F212 and F214, in that sense it is less content as F215 has even more SYNOPTIC assessment especially the Stretch & Challenge questions.

F211
Cell Structure
Cell Membranes
Cell Division, Cell Diversity and Cellular Organisation
Exchange Surfaces and Breathing
Transport in Animals
Transport in Plants (considered as most challenging from examiners reports)

F212
Biological Molecules
Nucleic Acids
Enzymes
Diet and Food Production
Health and Disease
Biodiversity (considered as most the challenging from examiners reports)
Classification
Evolution
Maintaining Biodiversity


F214
Communication (considered to be one of the more challenging topics)
Nerves (the most challenging topics according to examiners reports and past papers)
Hormones
Excretion
Photosynthesis
Respiration


F215
Cellular Control
Meiosis and Variation
Cloning in Plants and Animals
Biotechnology
Genomes and Gene Technologies
Ecosystems
Populations and Sustainability (is considered to be quite challenging for candidates from the examiners reports)
Plant Responses
Animal Responses
Animal Behaviour

F214 is just 1 hour, but has alot of content which can be examined and there is a question on each topic Communication, Nerves, Hormones, Excretion, Photosynthesis and Respiration...

Where F215 is about 30% SYNOPTIC. Which assumes knowledge of F211, F212, F213, F214 and the F216 Practicals too So it's no suprise virtually everyone retakes AS Biology units.

Biology is not easy at all, but make sure you focus on the hardest topics, as it seems as though in F211 it was all on plants, F212 was all on Biodiversity mostly...one can only hope that June is nicer than the horror of the January papers....

F215 is actually easier than F214. If you look at the content, F215 is the old Synoptic and some Unit 5 + Options put into one paper. Where as F214 is the old Unit 4 with some options.

There is far more content in F214 than F215...
The Philipallan Revision conferences are always great with the notes they give and insight
The Student Unit guides are written by the examiners so that is very good too
Heinemann endorsed OCR book is written by the examiners and seems to be the only one which follows the specification very well

F215 is actually easier than F214. If you look at the content, F215 is the old Synoptic and some Unit 5 + Options put into one paper. Where as F214 is the old Unit 4 with some options.

There is far more content in F214 than F215...
The Philipallan Revision conferences are always great with the notes they give and insight
The Student Unit guides are written by the examiners so that is very good too
Heinemann endorsed OCR book is written by the examiners and seems to be the only one which follows the specification very well