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As chemistry & biology???

Hi people i am going to college in september and i have heard that they are changing the specification of both those a levels. can you please tell me will they be harder or easier than the curent as level specification. Also can you tell me how you felt about these subjects.

thnks everyone :smile:

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Reply 1

Draconis

I've seen some AS level books for both the new and the old Biology specification. The old one seems to be more about structures and functions (cells, plants, blood vessels, etc), whereas the new one seems to focus more on structure related to outcome (blood vessels to heart disease, genetics to cystic fibrosis and such).

Reply 2

stallion007

anyone else and anyone know which as level is harder compared to the two as levels. thnxs :biggrin:

(meaning chemistry and biology)

Reply 3

Plato123

stallion007

anyone else and anyone know which as level is harder compared to the two as levels. thnxs :biggrin:

(meaning chemistry and biology)

Further Maths.

Reply 4

Draconis

stallion007

anyone else and anyone know which as level is harder compared to the two as levels. thnxs :biggrin:

(meaning chemistry and biology)

I've heard they're quite different, but difficulty depends on the individual. Biology is a lot of memorising, Chemistry is more about application of what you know, and of course the dreaded reactions you have to know by heart.

Reply 5

LearningMath

Depends on the exam board. I'm doing OCR, they have new Biology spec i'm taking, which focuses more on 'application, rather than recollction'. :smile:

Also taking salters chem which has more focus on context and application to the real world.

Reply 6

LearningMath

stallion007

anyone else and anyone know which as level is harder compared to the two as levels. thnxs :biggrin:

(meaning chemistry and biology)

lol that depends on the individual... FM,maths,physics,history for me.

Reply 7

Draconis

LearningMath

lol that depends on the individual... FM,maths,physics,history for me.

I think he meant which is harder, Chemistry or Biology. :p:

Reply 8

neillya1

Draconis

I think he meant which is harder, Chemistry or Biology. :p:

I've always been under the impression that Chemistry is much harder (at GCSE it was). I'll find out when I start A Levels next week :woo:

Reply 9

Draconis

neillya1

I've always been under the impression that Chemistry is much harder (at GCSE it was). I'll find out when I start A Levels next week :woo:

Me too

If I take Biology, that is..

Reply 10

purple-girl

Well, most people I know that took both, including myself, ended up with a better overall result in Biology than Chemistry. However I've not talked to everyone in my year that did both so I don't know how many it applies to, but still. They're both really different-Biology has A LOT of memorising, and there's quite a bit of application of knowledge to unknown situations (especially with genetics I found...probably why it was my lowest mark). Chemistry you basically learn the theories and then apply them-for example learning how to do the calculations and then applying them to new questions, or learning how to work out atomic structure then applying it to any element.

Both have quite picky markschemes. I'm not exaggerating when I say that when drawing a rough graph in Chemistry you had to get the peak height EXACTLY right to get the mark. Either that or say what you meant it to be. And wording is key in both subjects. For example in chemistry it's no good saying that energy escapes, you have to say it's lost to the environment. In Biology you have to include specific words to get the marks.

The course content is harder in Chemistry in my opinion, but there's less of it. A lot of biology is, as one of my teachers puts it, "learn and churn". Learn the content, and regurgitate it in the exam. it's not even 100% necessary to understand it fully, though that helps, whereas with Chemistry you really need to understand the theories.

I don't know much about the new specs, but I guess what I've said would pretty much apply to them too. Whether they're easier or not is a matter of opinion, and as nobody's learnt from the new specs yet it'll be hard to get a non-biased opinion. With both courses I expect things would be chopped out, some other things added, maybe look at things from a different angle-relating genetics to diseases for example, or putting a more environmental slant on the organic side of chemistry.

Anyway, at AS I really enjoyed both, in general. I admit that tears were shed, especially over Chemistry I might add (but then again we had timed coursework and one of my teachers was useless). And Chemistry gets a lot harder than it was at GCSE. Biology gets harder too, but not to an awful extent. And A2 is something I'm really dreading, after the few weeks of it when we went back after exams.

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 11

lil_miss_rapunzel

I'm also starting Year 12 next week and doing Biology and Chemistry (both OCR), and I've had a look at the CGP books for the new specifications of both subjects, and from what I can see Biology is LOTS of new facts to remember (it terrified me looking at the first few pages, with complicated diagrams of things I've never heard of and a table giving the descriptions and functions of 14 cell organelles that you have to learn). Chemistry though, strangely, doesn't look as bad- or at least the first 8 or so pages are ok. Most of it is moles, the structure of atoms, isotopes and stuff and how scientists came up with the currently accepted model of an atom. A lot of the early stuff we covered in Chemistry GCSE, if in less depth.

So I'd say the same as what most other people have said- Biology looks like it's lots to remember whereas Chemistry is more applying knowledge and understanding.

Reply 12

windsock

As long as you enjoy biology, memorising the facts will be no problem. If you find it boring, then you'll struggle. It's not the sort of thing you can revise for half-heartedly.

Reply 13

Tom4510

I find it the opposite way round, Chemistry is memorising facts, Biology is applying knowledge.

And chemistry is muuch harder. Biology is the easiest science at A level at the moment.

Reply 14

The Man111

Tom4510

I find it the opposite way round, Chemistry is memorising facts, Biology is applying knowledge.

And chemistry is muuch harder. Biology is the easiest science at A level at the moment.

disagree

chemistry easy biology hard

it hurts me when i do biology i hate it decided not to do A2 biology in the comming year...harder more complex context no thanks
whereas chemistry i loooooove it...already covered 2 examz for A2 Chemistry :smile:

Reply 15

Tom4510

The Man111

Goes to show we cant tell anyone which is the hardest, as it depends on the person.

Reply 16

The Man111

Tom4510

Goes to show we cant tell anyone which is the hardest, as it depends on the person.

true

Reply 17

silent ninja

Depends on the person. But there are some general truths about the subjects. Biology does involve learning a lot of factual information and limited application (there is some but not much). Chemistry involves more difficult theory and requires more application of knowledge, but there is still factual stuff to learn (tiny compared to Biology).

I found both subjects quite enjoyable and interesting, although I didn't like the Biology exam technique and regurgitating key words for the sake of it.

Damn, I miss the sciences!

Reply 18

SomeNextPirate

Chemistry is harder.

I've found that Biology is BASICALLY common sense - but that's just me.

Reply 19

User203443

Just done both. I think AS bio was stupidly basic, A2 was much harder.
Overall I think Chemistry was more difficult but they're different so it's hard to make a direct comparison.