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Best textbook/revision guide for OCR A2 Biology?

(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 2

phaseshift

Original post by geor

Eugh, OCR Biology. Firstly.. good luck (i've just finished it)! Now, onto the books..

The first one you mention is the course textbook which, is written in the normal OCR fashion which I typically characterize as waffle, waffle and some more waffle - some topics are covered in so much detail, when in reality they may only ever crop up as 1 mark questions in an exam or (even worse) some of the really detailed analysis may only refer to a ridiculously small part of the specification. The CGP revision guide is much better at slimming down the material; however, the downside to this is that some smaller, yet equally important points (which the textbook covers) are sometimes missed out.

For A2, you really need to get the whole picture so I'd recommend getting both textbook and revision guide and always referring topics between the two books so you can find a happy medium. Personally, I've never used the third textbook and unfortunately I don't actually know anyone who has (at least at my sixth form) but if you find it helpful then I'd get it and use it.