Edexcel A2 Biology Unit 4 (6BI04) - 15 June 2012 - Official Exam Discussion Thread!!!

I've never come out of an exam so miserable.
I believe along with many others in my school that there was not enough time for this exam. Never have I not completed a paper and in this exam I almost missed out 2 full questions! You give a 90 minute paper 90 marks, thats 1 mark per minute. You did not consider this when designing the questions. Half a page of writing for each question was not acceptable. Along with these long winded questions they were also very vague! You applied lots of marks for questions that only had 1 or 2 points to them and applied very little marks to questions that needed more marks to them.

Not only was the timing off and the questions off but you also seemed to miss out half of the spec in this exam. I understand you cannot test us on everything, but if this is the case take out some of the questions that acquire maths and interpreting graphs! HIV immunity did not come up once and this was a major part of the spec, I also found this with unit 1 and unit 2. You fail to test us on major aspects of the spec that students like myself spend hours studying.

It's not just my school that found the paper did not have enough time, it's also other schools as i've seen from the student room forum.
I'm hoping you take into consideration mine and others complaints. I'm very upset because I knew the answers to the last questions and would have gotten those marks.
I'm very frustrated as my uni place relies on this. I don't mean to sound rude in this email but I am very stressed and frustrated with the whole situation




Okay that's my complaint sent. So annoyed, now off to revise my butt off for unit 5.

u have to use this email: [email protected]

Thats good! It will be interesting to see how they respond, if they do at all. Good luck with unit 5!


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It was a long paper but quite easier than other papers. Felt great to complete in time. Any guess on the grade boundaries. I think 62 - A and 65 - A* .

To whom it may concern,

I sat the unit 4 Edexcel Biology exam yesterday and felt that the questions were very unfair.
This was a retake, so the second time round I ensured that I memorised all of the processes and information necessary for the exam. I completed all past papers on the Edexcel website and timed myself. Not once did I require extra time, however in this exam I found myself struggling for time due to the lengthy questions.
I felt prepared for the exam and positive that I would do well, however the paper was filled with questions that required discussion and explanation of graphs or tables. I am aware that these questions are appropriate, but this paper definitely had an excess amount of those types of questions. I felt that I did not have nearly enough time to complete all answers to the best of my ability, as the questions on graphs required extra time to read and understand the information given. I found myself rushing towards the end as I inevitably spent so much time on these questions.
I felt that the information I learnt was not necessary as a lot of what I studied did not come up at all. The wording of the questions were confusing and not like any past papers I had practised. Therefore it required extra time trying to figure out what the questions were asking. There were excess amount of marks rewarded for questions that only required a few points, and in some cases only a few marks for answers that required a lot of information.
Many students have been discussing this on the Student Room website, claiming that the exam was unreasonable and had barely any application of 'biology' in it. The questions were largely based on logic, and had I have known this I would not have spent weeks memorising processes that did not even come up! Students that I know are very intelligent and were well prepared left the exam hall in tears, and everybody I have spoken to has agreed with me.
Surely an exam this difficult and unreasonable should have lower grade boundaries? Or perhaps should be reviewed as it seems so unfair! Many students, including myself, required As or A*s in biology in order to get into university, and now may not achieve those grades due to this exam.

I think it would only be fair that the grade boundaries are lowered for this exam or the paper should be reviewed once again.

- anything else you guys think i should include/change?


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you are wrong

Perhaps you're right, but as far as I'm aware the question asked the benefit of algae over normal leafy plants. I would think it would be unfair for them to penalise candidates who made the assumption that it was normal plant leaves they were talking about rather than aquatic plant leaves!


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Have a read I sent this to them,



To whom it may concern,

I sat the June 2012 paper for Biology unit 4 on the 15th of June 2012. I was appalled to see the lack of biological content with respect to the syllabus that I myself and others had revised so hard from. Instead I found the paper had many vague and open ended questions which is ironic in retrospect considering your exam board requires such specific answers. The paper was filled with graph and table questions which represented a large proportion of the marks. The questions for the 2 and 3 marks almost had no relation with the syllabus and were ambiguous and required no biological application. The questions also had a lot of reading content before you could answer the questions , I no doubt believe this also had an effect. As this was a retake paper I was determined to do better on my second attempt. I have never previously struggled with timing in any of my exams and although I finished it, I found myself rushing with 15 minutes to go. Many of the students require certain grades in biology for university places and now I find myself in a position where I hope my chances are not ruined due to a poor paper released on behalf of edexcel.

I am aware that my case is not unique, having talked with other students at my college and on the student room forum, I see that these problems were experienced by all.

I hope my complaint is handled in a professional manner and that swift action is taken to perhaps review the papers and the grade boundaries.

I think this paper was utter rubbish. I have got an offer for UCL to study medicine in september and need three As in maths, chemistry and biology. I am guaranteed As in Maths and Chemistry as I only need 19 and 32 ums respectively. They marked me down in Janurary unit 4 to a B. I was deducted 7 marks because I had used crosses instead of ticks. I do admit it did say crosses but in other exams, they only penalise you once. It is hard to believe had I been penalised once I would have got the equivalent of an A* grade in the exam. So this was a retake. The amount of time I spent learning the specification for this exam to no avail. My handwriting was almost illegible. I finished with five minutes to spare but came out of the exam room crying. The first question was completely irrelevant to anything. There was no time, the exam was no biology. Anyone could have gone in and used LOGIC to try and answer it. It was just terrible. I am gutted. And with the way everyone does so badly in the coursework, Med school is just a distant dream at the moment Guys this was just terrible!

Very well said.
I think you explained our thoughts extremely well and was done so in a mature manner.

I really hope they take this into consideration when doing the grade boundaries.

okay my qu might seem silly and very stupid
but i just dnt get something...
The Independent talked about AQA exam board and we are edecxe exa board
isnt they are diff???!

I know, it was just an example of how complaints can sometimes lead to action. Looks like they were in the same situation as us!