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AQA A2 Biology BIOL5 - 17th June 2015

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Are people going to do the essay first or last?
What do you think will be better? :smile:

I was wondering about this. I was thinking it would be nice to write it first and have it out of the way, and also know that you can spend the full 45 minutes on it, but on the other hand you might get ideas about what to include from the questions and also if you finish the questions quickly then you'd have more time to spend on it. Anyone else got any ideas?

Reply 641

nualamurphy5

Original post by violin101

i think reading the question and doing a plan at the very start then do the questions and you will get more ideas and time to think about the actual essay then write up the essay at the end

Reply 642

EmilyC96

For an essay on how cell shapes are related to their function could you talk about enzymes? Antibodies? What about cristae being folded? Or are they not relevant?

Reply 643

fmdickens

What would people write about for an essay on lipids?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 644

djhodnett

Original post by EmilyC96

For an essay on how cell shapes are related to their function could you talk about enzymes? Antibodies? What about cristae being folded? Or are they not relevant?

all are relevant!! for the cristae you could also mention the way that the double membrane of the chloroplast works and the shape thylakoids and grana, you could go on and on...

Reply 645

EmilyC96

Original post by djhodnett

all are relevant!! for the cristae you could also mention the way that the double membrane of the chloroplast works and the shape thylakoids and grana, you could go on and on...

Ok thanks!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 646

djhodnett

Original post by fmdickens

What would people write about for an essay on lipids?

Posted from TSR Mobile

its unlikely that would come up in itself as the syllabus doesn't cover much over lipids apart from some of AS, chances are the question would relate to biochemicals as a whole?

Reply 647

jack1209

Is it only me who hasn't a clue about anything on this spec? I just did a past paper and it might as well have been in Arabic, because it was ****ing impossible

Reply 648

Matildas09

Anyone got any resources about adding extra (A*) content into your essays?? x

Reply 649

ArchmageRohan

Original post by Matildas09

Anyone got any resources about adding extra (A*) content into your essays?? x

For synapses you could write about the action of certain toxins (like in poison dart frogs) which can act in several ways to affect the transmission of an action potential:

- Inhibition of the enzyme cholinesterase so more neurotransmitter stays in the synapse which means the action potential keeps being triggered - paralysis and muscle spasms

- Binding to acteylcholine receptors - prevents voltage gated sodium channels opening on post synaptic neuron, results in paralysis

- Binding to sodium channels and permanently activating them - increased excitation of muscles, spasms

- Blocks acetylcholine release (by prevents exocytosis of neurotransmitter), results in paralysis (don't do botox guys lol)

- Blocking calcium channels - prevents migration of vesicles containing neurotransmitter to the membrane to release neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft

These are some common modes of action of toxin, its actually quite remarkable how many ways a toxin can act to paralyse or kill a host. Lovely.

Reply 650

aprocrastinator

Any ideas of what essay titles will come up this year? Bit of a long shot to guess I know but worth a shot! I was thinking something on inorganic ions because as far as I recall, they haven't appeared in an essay question in their own right yet.

Reply 651

Monkey D. Luffy

Original post by jack1209

Is it only me who hasn't a clue about anything on this spec? I just did a past paper and it might as well have been in Arabic, because it was ****ing impossible

Haha I felt that way about the June 2013 paper but then did the June 2012 paper and it was much easier.

Reply 652

Cauley1997

just commenting on where i have got up to

Reply 653

Holly16263

Hey just wondering :smile:

you know that the van carrying the paper got stolen, does anyone have any idea if the paper's like to be harder or easier and do they use q's from previous years?

Reply 654

Plasmapause

Original post by Holly16263

Hey just wondering :smile:

you know that the van carrying the paper got stolen, does anyone have any idea if the paper's like to be harder or easier and do they use q's from previous years?

It doesn't make much of a difference, if it's harder, then they'll lower the grade boundaries, if it's easier they'll increase the grade boundaries.

Reply 655

Holly16263

Original post by Plasmapause

It doesn't make much of a difference, if it's harder, then they'll lower the grade boundaries, if it's easier they'll increase the grade boundaries.

Okay thank you! Just didn't want anymore to worry about :smile:

Reply 656

Ninainnarnia

Original post by TAPTUT

GUYS-How do you do the essay?
ive been concentrating on my unit 4's but i dont really know how to go about writing the essay?
What are they looking for?
How long should it be?
How long should you spend on it?
How should you structure it(intro conclusion?)?
Please help!

Personally, I make a quick 5 minute plan with ideas for all the different relevant areas I could write about and then choose my paragraphs based on that.

They're looking for breadth across a range of topics (3 marks), knowledge of the A level course (16 marks), relevance to question by linking back every paragraph to the essay title (3 marks) and quality of written communication (3 marks).

I generally do about 3 or 4 paragraphs but basically however much you can write in 40-45 minutes including planning time.
If you have a look at the examiner reports, you'll see they generally see no point in long introductions or conclusions. Just introduce the first paragraph and link each one back to the question and there's no need for an introduction.

If you have a good essay with good overall a level understanding you can also pick up extra marks for knowledge beyond the syllabus.

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 657

Makashima

Original post by jack1209

Is it only me who hasn't a clue about anything on this spec? I just did a past paper and it might as well have been in Arabic, because it was ****ing impossible

me too
i have no clue with genetic technologies thats a big content

in one of the past paper i did
one of the answer of the ms was "the mice will want to eat more"
bruh, wat

Reply 658

Beckyboo308

I don't know in how much detail the AS course I should be looking at; I don't want to have to relearn everything?