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Join The Student Room TodayBe part of the UK's largest and fastest growing student community. It's free to join and a lot of fun - Get inspired, express your ideas, interact and share A-Level BiologyFrom The Student RoomTSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > A Levels > A-Level Subject Guides II > A-Level Biology
A-Level BiologyBackground information about studying BiologyThis course builds on knowledge, understanding and practice skills that you have developed during your GCSE science course. You should have gained at least a GCSE grade B in biology or BB in science (double award), both of which provide suitable preparation for the a-level. Biology, with its mixture of scientific method, problem solving, practical skills and socially relevant content, provides a useful complement to arts humanities among mixed A levels. It also enables students to develop the essential skills of synoptic essay writing, an aspect of modern education highlighted as missing by the major universities. This makes the qualification highly sought after. How will it differ from GCSE?DifficultyVery difficult, one of the hardest A Levels. Really consider that this is what you want to do. Comment :The subject is a big step up from GCSE but if you are good at remembering lots of facts you could find it relatively straightforward as all you need to do is memorize the textbook to get high grades. I would not consider biology to be anywhere near as difficult as A level maths and it seems to be the easier of the three sciences. Another opinion: It's not that hard. A fair bit of memorisation required, but nothing too bad. I don't really think you need to "really consider" as the person above says. (And anyway, A Level maths isn't that hard.) Another opinion: I agree; it's easy than chemistry or maths (and much more interesting!) Another opinion: It is definitely easier than chemistry and more enjoyable, if you like learning facts. If you enjoy reading biology topics especially human biology, it becomes easier to learn. There are no 'hard' concepts -not in AS anyway-.... just a lot of content to know, which needs to be broken down and learned effectively and applied to questions. Best thing about biology is, if you miss a class, you can read it over a few times and teach yourself just as well, whereas in chemistry for example, sometimes you'll need the teacher to explain hard topics well and then do a couple of questions to fully understand. My opinion: Biology isn't massively hard to understand, it's just that there is a lot of information that you need to know for the exams. It is quite interesting, but I might find it easier because I have a really good teacher, other classes at my school find it harder as they don't have great teachers. GCSE biology was the easiest thing ever so it's certainly a step up from that Another opinion: Having completed Units 1 - 6 at AS and sitting the exam soon. I can honestly say out of my 4 AS subjects , Biology is the hardest. In comparison to GCSE , it requires a lot more understanding and in depth knowledge of the subject matter. Biology is my only science but from what I can gather from friends , everyone is finding it the most difficult. The exam style itself is quite hard in practice papers , as opposed to the "spraying" out of knowledge as GCSE you need to focus on the question and be very specific in your answers. Another opinion: I find its easier and more interesting than chemistry. Biology has quite a few odd application questions but its mainly memorising. Its not very hard to understand and personally I don't think there was much of a step up from GCSE. From AS to A2 though its more noticable. The important thing is to remember the keywords needed to get marks when answering questions. WorkloadQuite a lot, but mostly near the end of the year with revision. Comment: Basically making sure you know all the stuff in the textbook. Required Individual StudyComment: Really very little outside the textbooks, honestly. Obviously it would be good if you are considering Biology/Biological Science related subjects to show outside interest in personal statement and potential interviews. Comment: That is flat wrong im afraid! You need to learn mark schemes and be naturally good at How Science Works. Comment: You don't NEED to learn mark schemes. I certainly didn't, and it didn't do me any harm. Really, as long as you learn the textbook stuff, you should be fine. No "extra" effort required. How is it assessed?ExamsAwarding Body : AQA AS units; Unit 1 - biology and disease
Unit 2 - Variety of living organisms
Unit 3 - Investigate and practical
A2 units; Unit 4 - Population and environment
Unit 5 - Control in cells
Unit 6 - Investigate and practice
Awarding Body: OCR AS Units Unit F211: Cells, Exchange and Transport (15% of total A2 Level marks) 30% of the total AS GCE marks 1 hour Written paper 60 marks Unit F212: Molecules, Biodiversity, Food and Health (25% of total A2 Level marks) 50% of the total AS GCE marks 1 hour 45 minutes Written paper 100 marks Unit F213: Practical Skills In Biology 1 (10% of total A2 Level marks) Practical tasks 20% of the total AS GCE marks 40 marks Candidates complete three tasks set by OCR and are marked by the centre. A2 Units Unit F214: Communication, Homeostasis and Energy 15% of the total A2 marks 1 hour Written paper 60 marks Unit F215: Control, Genomes and Environment 25% of the total A2 Level marks 1 hour 45 minutes Written paper 100 marks Unit F216: Practical Skills in Biology 2 Practical tasks 10% of the total A2 Level marks 40 marks Candidates complete three tasks set by OCR and are marked by the centre. CourseworkIn EDEXCEL there is CW in As and A2 worth 20%. As is a report into a topical issue and for A2 you carry out a research project. In AQA there isn't coursework as such but you have an ISA similar to the one at GCSE but is more heavily assessed. (ISA - Investigative Skills Assessment) PracticalsAbout 20% of the exam is practical. This includes a main one e.g. Measuring Enzyme activity and microscope work. If your worried about dissections, don't be! There have been removed from the syllabus as a result of complaints.
Field trips and excursionsThere are lots of oppotunities for field trips. At my college we went to the south of france for a week to carry out our A2 research projects. Obviosly this will depend on the college. Where can I go with a Biology A-LevelStudents who take A Level Biology can go on to study veterinary science, medicine, psychology, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, sports science, microbiology, forensic science, biophysics, genetics, neuroscience, botany, zoology, ecology and environmental science and of course, biology. User OpinionsUsername: bluemax What I like about studying this subject: Studying biology in so much depth was actually very interesting What I dislike about studying this subject: Had to memorize so much stuff its not even funny. In the end I actually started forgetting stuff
Username: shadowplay1991 What I like about studying this subject: In contrast to just memorising things and not understanding them in GCSE, you get to explore why things happen in biology i.e. why oxygen is a product of photosynthesis What I dislike about studying this subject: Nothing :D Best decision I took was to take biology - i almost didnt
Username: i.am.lost What I like about studying this subject: It is the most interesting subject of the (6) A Levels I'm taking, you cover a wide range of topics in moderate depth at AS (or extreme depth at A2 - extreme to the max), you can pass with flying colours if you stick to the "learn the book by heart according to the specification", and it includes essays and long-paragraph style questions which is nice every once in a while What I dislike about studying this subject: hmm A2 is a bit tedious what with learning so many things (it is very in depth), but I really can't fault the AS apart from OCR having stupid coursework where you're assessed on crap like drawing borders around tables rather than your knowledge
Username: Oxy402 What I like about studying this subject: Very interesting(it broadens your thinking). What I dislike about studying this subject: The pastpapers and mark schemes. The answer to some of the questions are really dimwitted,many marking scheme points are irrelevant and many important ones are ommited.. If you study hard and get a B i really don't blame you. The solution to this problem(a problem that should never have exsisted) is doing loads of past papers and killing your own analysis and judgement(becoming a robot really and a pretty stupid one of that). Cheers!
What I like about studying this subject: It is very interesting. Apart from some of the dry ecology parts it never fails to get me interested and I'm proud to say when choosing what to keep and drop at A2, even though I want to do psychology at uni I never for a moment considered dropping biology. :) There is just something about it which makes it stand out from the other sciences. And after knwoing for 6 years that CO2+H2O+light energy ---> O2+Glucose I *finally* at A2 learned as to why that is the case! What I dislike about studying this subject: The mark schemes can be a bit dodgy. The sometimes don't include perfectly logical, correct answers which should be awarded marks and they are very very specific. You could argue that its just being concise but sometimes its just annoying.
What I like about studying this subject: It is very interesting the practicals are quite fun if your that way inclined. Finally it didn't require too much outside reading. What I dislike about studying this subject: Revision at the end. Revision is long and tedious and there is a high emphasis on exam technique and perfectly specific answers so text book definitions are vital. There is so much content to know too so its stressful fitting it all in before your exams. You cant miss anything otherwise you get confused as it builds off previous knowledge a lot. Also See |
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