Bangor University

merrit scolarship exam (biology)

I've been writing practice essays and I have the past 3 papers but apart from that I feel a little in the deep end. There is no indication of how much I need to write or if there is a maximum mark? Is there anybody who has sat it before? And how much do you need to "excel" to get the minimum bursary? I really need to do well as the family I live with is not very well off (I did the maths and I will receive more in maintenance loan/grant next year than the yearly income of the family I'm staying with right now!!) and I will not be getting any kind of financial support! I'm really nervous because biology is my thing, my teacher actually told me I was one of the most dedicated and promising students shes ever had, but I am terrified that when pen goes to paper it wont come across :confused:

Any ideas?

Reply 1

DecantedOrange

Original post by laurenthebionerd

Any ideas?

Hey, I did the Merit/Entrance Scholarship for biology too, how did it go?

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Reply 2

laurenthebionerd

Oh hi! What are you looking to study? I've applied to marine biology. I had only covered meiosis and mitosis, some of genetic engendering and ecosystems! The rest I either haven't covered yet or isn't on my spec! I did meiosis vs mitosis and I wrote a little about genetic engendering but it wasn't amazing :s-smilie:

Btw I know that my first post looks a bit obnoxious sorry it was written in the middle of the night when I was freaking out about the exam getting close haha! How did you find it?

Reply 3

DecantedOrange

Original post by laurenthebionerd

Btw I know that my first post looks a bit obnoxious sorry it was written in the middle of the night when I was freaking out about the exam getting close haha! How did you find it?

Haha no don't worry, I'm in the same sort of situation. I've firmed bangor for biology with 320 UCAS points needed and atleast a C in biology. Honestly I don't think it could've gone any better, I wrote about the genetic engineering and how is oxygen used in mitochondria to produce ATP. The genetic engineering one is what my whole EPQ is on and the mitochondria one I had written the day before, got feedback from my teacher and re-written it so all in all, it went really well. Fingers crossed for us both!

Reply 4

laurenthebionerd

Ah good luck! I hope you did well, I had only just started respiration the week of the test otherwise I would have absolutely chosen that one! How many pages did you write? I did 4 on one and 3 on the other? I need an A in biology to get into the course I want (crossing fingers and toes)

Reply 5

DecantedOrange

Original post by laurenthebionerd

Think I wrote about 3 for each. Maybe two and 3 quarters for the genetic engineering one! Where do you wanna go?

Reply 6

laurenthebionerd

Original post by DecantedOrange

Think I wrote about 3 for each. Maybe two and 3 quarters for the genetic engineering one! Where do you wanna go?

Bangor. For marine biology, I thought you had to have Bangor as you firm or insurance to sit the exam?

Reply 7

DecantedOrange

Original post by laurenthebionerd

Bangor. For marine biology, I thought you had to have Bangor as you firm or insurance to sit the exam?

Ah cool, we'll be in the same first year class I think. Yeah, I've firmed bangor.

Reply 8

DecantedOrange

Did you get it? I just got my letter and no luck, oh well!

Reply 9

Samshish

I did the maths one and i got it, but i am doing marine biology and oceanography next year. Was the biology paper this year very similar to last years one, because the maths one was basically the same with different numbers

Reply 10

DecantedOrange

Original post by Samshish

They gave a choice of 8 and about 3 or 4 were word for word the same

Reply 11

laurenthebionerd

Yeah the paper was all questions either the same or re-worded from the last 3 years. I didn't get it, I'm not surprised I wrote one good paper but the other was embarrassing because there was only one topic I had actually covered yet in the syllabus! Talk about frustrating! But I think we will share classes since as long as I get an A in biology I will be starting master of marine biology :smile:

Reply 12

Samshish

Original post by DecantedOrange

They gave a choice of 8 and about 3 or 4 were word for word the same

It might have been quite useful to have known that, because i chose the maths one on the basis that i was most likely to have covered the parts questioned, since i thought that biology and geography are so broad.

Reply 13

laurenthebionerd

I'd say maths was the best choice since there was a pool of about 20 questions on all the papers from the last few years and a large chunk probably weren't on your spec. I wrote 10 practice essays on 10 topics (the ones I had covered in class) and only one came up. Congratulations though!