AS Biology

Hey guys, going into year 12 in September and I'm a bit perplexed as to how the exam structure of AS Biology is going to be, from my understanding there are 3 units in AS Biology with the third unit being the ISA practical examination same with A2 Biology, are the 3 unit exams in AS Biology taken in the same month e.g May or spread out throughout the year?

Thanks! :biggrin:

Reply 1

eilftjiejh35

6

Firstly, it depends on what exam board you're doing as some boards do different structures of exams and units etc.I'm assuming you might be doing OCR AS Biology though as that's usually the most common. So there's six modules: Development of practical skills in Biology (1), Foundations in Biology (2), Exchange and transport (3), Biodiversity and evolution and disease (4), Communications and Homeostasis (5) and then Genetics, evolution and ecosystems (6).Component 01 is an exam with 100 total marks, and is 37% of your A2 grade. This will be at the end of your 1st Year and will be assessing content from 1, 2, 3 and 5 (look above). It is 2 hours and 15 minutes long.Component 02 is an exam with 100 total marks and is also 37% of your A2 grade. This will be at the end of your 1st Year too (I think) and will be assessing content from 1, 2, 3 and 6 (look above). It is also 2 hours and 15 minutes long.Component 03 is the last exam with only 70 total marks and is 26% of your A2 grade. I think this is at the end of your last year but I would ask your teacher. It will be assessing content from all modules from 1 - 6 and is 1 hour 30 minutes long.Lastly, component 04 is a practical assessment and is graded separately to your exams.Hopefully you are actually on OCR otherwise this is awkward :P

Reply 2

eilftjiejh35

6

Also they are usually all in May-June time depending on other exams.

Reply 3

TahmidGCSE

5

Original post by maddie.gardiner

Also they are usually all in May-June time depending on other exams.

What about for AQA AS biology which I will be starting? Any suggestions for me

Reply 4

KatieAlicexxx

10

Original post by TahmidGCSE

What about for AQA AS biology which I will be starting? Any suggestions for me

I did AQA AS biology and am just about to go on to A2. I don't know if the A level reforms would affect you but I'll give you my personal experience!

Unit 1 and 2 (the exams) were sat in May this year. Unit 3 (practical) has 3 parts- the practical itself, a few questions to do whilst doing the practical and then the question paper for the EMPA. This was sat the week before exam season officially started for us, in the exam hall.

Any other questions, PM me!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 5

swwet aish

11

Can anyone help me with AS biology?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by halfwaythere...

Hey guys, going into year 12 in September and I'm a bit perplexed as to how the exam structure of AS Biology is going to be, from my understanding there are 3 units in AS Biology with the third unit being the ISA practical examination same with A2 Biology, are the 3 unit exams in AS Biology taken in the same month e.g May or spread out throughout the year?

Thanks! :biggrin:

Original post by swwet aish

Can anyone help me with AS biology?

Posted from TSR Mobile

If you are starting your AS course in September then chances are you are studying the new specification, which is a bit different to the old AS/A2 spec.

The new 2015 spec does not have exams halfway through, all of your exams are at the end of the 2 years (if you just want an AS, you sit you exams at the end of year 1) the other change is that the practical element of the course is no longer part of your A level grade, but forms a Practical Endorsement which is "bolted on" to your A level certificate. If you are taking a science subject purely for UCAS points, then you do not need to achieve the Practical Endorsement however if you are planning to take the science at Uni then you NEED to show the admission officer than you have lab experience.

Hope that helps you out :smile:

Matt

Reply 7

halfwaythere...

OP

1

Original post by LearnOnline

If you are starting your AS course in September then chances are you are studying the new specification, which is a bit different to the old AS/A2 spec.

The new 2015 spec does not have exams halfway through, all of your exams are at the end of the 2 years (if you just want an AS, you sit you exams at the end of year 1) the other change is that the practical element of the course is no longer part of your A level grade, but forms a Practical Endorsement which is "bolted on" to your A level certificate. If you are taking a science subject purely for UCAS points, then you do not need to achieve the Practical Endorsement however if you are planning to take the science at Uni then you NEED to show the admission officer than you have lab experience.

Hope that helps you out :smile:

Matt

Original post by KatieAlicexxx

I did AQA AS biology and am just about to go on to A2. I don't know if the A level reforms would affect you but I'll give you my personal experience!

Unit 1 and 2 (the exams) were sat in May this year. Unit 3 (practical) has 3 parts- the practical itself, a few questions to do whilst doing the practical and then the question paper for the EMPA. This was sat the week before exam season officially started for us, in the exam hall.

Any other questions, PM me!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Original post by maddie.gardiner

Firstly, it depends on what exam board you're doing as some boards do different structures of exams and units etc.I'm assuming you might be doing OCR AS Biology though as that's usually the most common. So there's six modules: Development of practical skills in Biology (1), Foundations in Biology (2), Exchange and transport (3), Biodiversity and evolution and disease (4), Communications and Homeostasis (5) and then Genetics, evolution and ecosystems (6).Component 01 is an exam with 100 total marks, and is 37% of your A2 grade. This will be at the end of your 1st Year and will be assessing content from 1, 2, 3 and 5 (look above). It is 2 hours and 15 minutes long.Component 02 is an exam with 100 total marks and is also 37% of your A2 grade. This will be at the end of your 1st Year too (I think) and will be assessing content from 1, 2, 3 and 6 (look above). It is also 2 hours and 15 minutes long.Component 03 is the last exam with only 70 total marks and is 26% of your A2 grade. I think this is at the end of your last year but I would ask your teacher. It will be assessing content from all modules from 1 - 6 and is 1 hour 30 minutes long.Lastly, component 04 is a practical assessment and is graded separately to your exams.Hopefully you are actually on OCR otherwise this is awkward :P

Thanks guys for the advice, I actually find the new aqa spec quite confusing and with all this reforming going on with a levels; tbh I don't know if its just me but I'm finding it quite hard to find the topics we need to learn for AS not as easy as going on to bbc bitesize and learning a whole GCSE quali off there, I'm just going to ask my teachers come September :angry: