[bestofyou]

(Original post by ch0wm4n)
Yes its not too bad overall, although the conservation stuff is pretty boring.

conservation? thats like fish stocks and stuff, like environmental conservation is it?

So it has no c/work or practicals at all then?

(Original post by cuckoo99)
How would you do the practical exam? Or ISA as its called....and Biology is tough A-Level but its doable if you interested in biology as whole and not just the anatomy of the body.

I am going to do the OCR test which hasn't got practicals or coursework aparently

[ch0wm4n]

(Original post by bestofyou)
conservation? thats like fish stocks and stuff, like environmental conservation is it?

So it has no c/work or practicals at all then?

Yeah mostly environmental conservation, it gets quite tedious, but if you have a good memory your ok, the rest is pretty interesting. The course im doing has practicals (split into 3 parts; qualitative, quantitative and evaluative) but no coursework.

[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.

[bestofyou]

(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?

[The Illuminati]

(Original post by ch0wm4n)
OCR dont have coursework for biology or chemistry.

The ISA practicals are considered as coursework.

[RandomPeopleDancin]

(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

[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.

[beanstalkgirl_24]

(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.

[bestofyou]

(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?

[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!)

[bestofyou]

(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)

[Pride]

(Original post by ch0wm4n)
OCR dont have coursework for biology or chemistry.

they do have practical exams though

[stefwad75]

(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.

[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.

[bestofyou]

(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?

[MediterraneanX]

(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

[vVShabbaVv]

(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.

[RKAUR]

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?