The Student Room Group

A2 Biology Fieldwork - REALLY compulsory?

At the end of the AS level (and start of A2), there's gonna be some field work which involves using quadrats, measuring, samples, etc.

I've heard it's a waste of time by many people -- but is it needed in order to do biology at A2 level? My old bio teacher said you weren't allowed to do it if you didn't go on the trip, but I've also heard some people not going on it but continued with bio for A2. Does anyone know? (I'm asking because it's likely I won't be available on the selected dates).

All opinions appreciated! Thanks.
Reply 1
Original post by The Assassin
At the end of the AS level (and start of A2), there's gonna be some field work which involves using quadrats, measuring, samples, etc.

I've heard it's a waste of time by many people -- but is it needed in order to do biology at A2 level? My old bio teacher said you weren't allowed to do it if you didn't go on the trip, but I've also heard some people not going on it but continued with bio for A2. Does anyone know? (I'm asking because it's likely I won't be available on the selected dates).

All opinions appreciated! Thanks.


That depends on the purpose of the field trip. If it is to do your own research investigation which will be your A2 coursework then it is compulsory. If it is just a field trip which teaches you about sampling techniques then I would still highly recommend going because it may help you with exams or coursework. Which exam board are you doing? I did Edexcel A Level Biology and we went on a field trip between AS and A2 in which we did our own research on a particular topic (e.g. effect of a named abiotic factor on species distribution). This was coursework worth 20% of the A2 grade and 10% of the overall A Level grade.
Reply 2
Original post by Cetacea
That depends on the purpose of the field trip. If it is to do your own research investigation which will be your A2 coursework then it is compulsory. If it is just a field trip which teaches you about sampling techniques then I would still highly recommend going because it may help you with exams or coursework. Which exam board are you doing? I did Edexcel A Level Biology and we went on a field trip between AS and A2 in which we did our own research on a particular topic (e.g. effect of a named abiotic factor on species distribution). This was coursework worth 20% of the A2 grade and 10% of the overall A Level grade.


Cheers for the reply! The board is OCR. I have no idea if there's coursework or not - for AQA there was just an experiment practical, and the fieldwork was apparently to help us with exams for A2. I don't know if it's the same for OCR.

From the spec, the internal assessment: Candidates choose one from three, OCR set, practical based tasks from each of three task types: Qualitative, Quantitative and Evaluative.
Reply 3
Original post by The Assassin
Cheers for the reply! The board is OCR. I have no idea if there's coursework or not - for AQA there was just an experiment practical, and the fieldwork was apparently to help us with exams for A2. I don't know if it's the same for OCR.

From the spec, the internal assessment: Candidates choose one from three, OCR set, practical based tasks from each of three task types: Qualitative, Quantitative and Evaluative.


I don't know anything about OCR Biology! I would suggest finding out from your teachers if there is coursework, and if there is, whether or not the fieldwork will be part of it. If you can't make the dates given then perhaps you could catch up on notes people made or any presentations that were given?
Reply 4
Oh yeah i had to do that, it was part of our ISA so it does make up 20% (i think) of your grade
Reply 5
Original post by Cetacea
I don't know anything about OCR Biology! I would suggest finding out from your teachers if there is coursework, and if there is, whether or not the fieldwork will be part of it. If you can't make the dates given then perhaps you could catch up on notes people made or any presentations that were given?


No problem - I didn't expect you to :P

That's a great idea actually -- next time I see the teacher I'll inquire; and if I can't make it, then the best thing to probably do would be to look at other students notes and look through the book(s) thoroughly.

Thanks again! :smile:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 6
I need help on whether this investigation will give me a high grade, I want to investigate the effect of changing the temperature and concentration of catalase activity in the decomposition go hydrogen peroxide. I basically want to know what should I include if any one has done this before and what to do to get full marks. Any resources that would help would be great!


I need ideas so if anyone could just break it down simply on how to conduct this would be helping me so much!


Also do you think I would be at a disadvantaged because this is a typical investigation that 4 people in my class want to do. I've seen a grade A piece of work of this investigation in my class but that was 4 years ago and I don't know why but I feel as if this is not very unique and could loose me marks...


Also if you know anyone here that knows quite a lot on this area (individual investigations) please can you let me know
Reply 7
Original post by LabbyRat
I need help on whether this investigation will give me a high grade, I want to investigate the effect of changing the temperature and concentration of catalase activity in the decomposition go hydrogen peroxide. I basically want to know what should I include if any one has done this before and what to do to get full marks. Any resources that would help would be great!


I need ideas so if anyone could just break it down simply on how to conduct this would be helping me so much!


Also do you think I would be at a disadvantaged because this is a typical investigation that 4 people in my class want to do. I've seen a grade A piece of work of this investigation in my class but that was 4 years ago and I don't know why but I feel as if this is not very unique and could loose me marks...


Also if you know anyone here that knows quite a lot on this area (individual investigations) please can you let me know

I've done temp and H peroxide.
Reply 8
Original post by LabbyRat
I need help on whether this investigation will give me a high grade, I want to investigate the effect of changing the temperature and concentration of catalase activity in the decomposition go hydrogen peroxide. I basically want to know what should I include if any one has done this before and what to do to get full marks. Any resources that would help would be great!


I need ideas so if anyone could just break it down simply on how to conduct this would be helping me so much!


Also do you think I would be at a disadvantaged because this is a typical investigation that 4 people in my class want to do. I've seen a grade A piece of work of this investigation in my class but that was 4 years ago and I don't know why but I feel as if this is not very unique and could loose me marks...


Also if you know anyone here that knows quite a lot on this area (individual investigations) please can you let me know

You do it with adding the beans right? Into a tube of H peroxide under diff temps? And time how long it takes the filter paper disk (dipped into catalase from crushed beans) to float up to the surface?
Reply 9
Original post by SoftPunch
I've done temp and H peroxide.


Really could you give me any tips or briefly explain to me how to conduct this experiment. Also if its feasible to get an A as its becoming a popular choice in my college and i'm afraid i might lose marks in originality (something that my teacher said) :s-smilie:. Thanks for replying so soon. I'm a new user so please excuse me if i come across a tad needy.
Reply 10
Original post by LabbyRat
Really could you give me any tips or briefly explain to me how to conduct this experiment. Also if its feasible to get an A as its becoming a popular choice in my college and i'm afraid i might lose marks in originality (something that my teacher said) :s-smilie:. Thanks for replying so soon. I'm a new user so please excuse me if i come across a tad needy.

Em, the problem is although I've done same experiment last year I've done using WJEC board, not OCR!!! :redface:
Reply 11
Original post by SoftPunch
You do it with adding the beans right? Into a tube of H peroxide under diff temps? And time how long it takes the filter paper disk (dipped into catalase from crushed beans) to float up to the surface?


Erm no I was going to use yeast (catalase) and use different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and measure how much gas it produces. But I need guidance if this is enough for me to get an A. I was going to investigate the effects of different concentrations of caffeine on memory recall but I just jumped into the h peroxide.
Reply 12
Can you give any ideas on what to do, i wouldn't mind doing something that uses caffeine and was planning to do the effects of caffeine concentration and temperature on memory recall/reaction time.
How does that sound? ..I need to do something thats not that advanced as I'm stressed enough by revising some AS and A2 modules and need something thats easy to carry out but gets high marks.
I'm only an AS Biology student on OCR but we did something similar at the start of the year. We went to Wales for a field trip to do exactly what you did for the biodiversity topic of unit 2 and completed some of our coursework there. While it wasn't entirely compulsory and we have been given another chance to do the coursework, I found it helpful because it broadened my understanding of a more practical approach to the biodiversity topic.

If you don't go then I guess you can copy the notes off someone else or get them to fill you in on what they did. People in my class who didn't go haven't missed out on too much so I'd imagine if you didn't go for whatever reason it wouldn't hinder you to a great extent or if at all really.

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