AQA A2 Biology BIOL5 - 17th June 2015

I have a folder dedicated to essay plans I've made for every essay that's been on the old spec and new and have found a few sentences that could relate to each essay which can then be used for lots of different areas if that makes sense I don't think it has to be anything too in depth, apparently the examiners also like it if you reference where you got your information from if it's from a magazine or something

Please can I be really cheeky and ask for a copy if possible?

would i be lucky enough to have the folder for the essays please?!!

Could it be possible to have a look at that? I have done literally no revision on the 25 marker

Sorry guys it's an actual physical folder, I can send you the document I used to make essay plans and a picture of the bits of wider reading info if you like though?

yes please that would be great!

Sorry guys it's an actual physical folder, I can send you the document I used to make essay plans and a picture of the bits of wider reading info if you like though?

Hey, okay so... fluorescent and enzyme gene markers are used to make sure that 1) the plasmid has taken up the gene of interest and 2) the bacteria has taken up the plasmid.

We need to know this so that the bacteria can be cloned to produce loads of the gene (say, insulin), so that type 1 diabetics can inject themselves with it.

Right so, how do they work?

Fluorescent markers. They glow. So either, stain the gene of interest with a fluorescent marker and if the plasmid/bacteria has uptaken it, they will glow.
Or, stain the section of the plasmid the gene of interest wants to be inserted into with the fluorescent marker. If the gene of interest is uptaken, it will disrupt the gene that's been stained with the fluorescent marker, so the plasmid will no longer glow.

And as for enzyme markers... They change colour with different chemicals. So say if the gene of interest is uptaken by the plasmid, it will disrupt the colour-changing gene, so it won't change colour when exposed to the enzyme.

I can't imagine them asking much more on them. Hope that's okay, any more qs, just ask

What are everyone's predictions for the synoptic essay?

Sorry guys it's an actual physical folder, I can send you the document I used to make essay plans and a picture of the bits of wider reading info if you like though?

Sorry guys it's an actual physical folder, I can send you the document I used to make essay plans and a picture of the bits of wider reading info if you like though?

Tips for synoptic essay? I'm freaking out! There is so much content and I just can't even think of topics off the top of my head when put on the spot .

I've basically memorised the contents page of my AS and A2 textbooks so I can filter through those and figure out which topics are relevant when given the essay. I've found it a really helpful way of getting a broad range of topics

Would they ask the importance of carbohydrates, proteins or fats ?
I'm not entirely sure what they've asked in previous years, they may reword things as well.

What does everyone else think ?

Does anyone know where I can get old spec questions that are categorised into topics? I want to do practice questions but am conscious of the fact there's only 5 papers and had to do 1 as a mock in class.
Also how is everyone practicing for the essay?