Losing hope with A level Biology

So Biology used to always be my strongest subject. Got full UMS at GCSE and an A*.
After AS I was shocked to only get 5 UMS into a B and even after a remark, my UMS marks went down (I know a B isn't bad but I got A's in my mocks, and was hoping to get the A* in A2 Bio)

I need at least a B to get into my uni (although I desperately want at least an A) It's probably impossible for me to get even a A since I got such low UMS marks I will need 89% anyways to even get an A - so basically an A* in my A2 modules.

I am struggling really with the exam questions as I do understand the topics, trying exam questions and just doing below par.
- I just think I'm not naturally able to think like a biologist and answer the harder questions.

It's all really making me feel depressed and I am slowly hope

You sometimes have to think quite laterally with biology. Which exam board is it?

Practice practice practice. That's the only way to get an A in A-level Biology.

I feel ya bro.
I got A's in all my sciences at GCSE, and took Chem and Bio at college. Got an E in Chem in my first year and dropped it. Got a C in Bio and carried on because I enjoyed, knowing I wouldn't get a particularly good grade though.
It's so much harder than people who haven't done it realise. In the second year I revised my ass off for the exams, and got A's in every mock paper I did. Then got a D in the exams.

I get what you mean about the questions, and F215 was horrible for me because it wasn't biology I could relate to. Never mind the fact I found that side boring. I was hopeful about F214 so that D really disheartened me.

If you're planning on doing it at uni then don't if its making you depressed. If not, just stick at it and it'll be over in a few months, you're half way through! Some uni's will still let you in if you don't get your grades, but worse comes to worse you can always go through clearing.

It's nothing to get upset over. And any grade of an A level in biology will look good on your CV if nothing else

The most discouraging thing is - last year I did all the past papers and priotised biology over my other subjects and still did the weakest in it

I try doing past papers but I have realised from 2013 onwards they jumped in difficultly dramatically - and so there are few relevant papers to practice from. I still do the old ones though

What exam board are you on?

I've only covered a bit of F215 and it seems disgusting. I hate anything on genes and things which aren't human biology which seems to be that whole paper.
I've done all of F214 and when I revise I feel I understand everything perfectly, but when it comes to exam questions I just can't apply myself.

F215 was the biggest struggle for me, I don't really know anyone who liked that spec.
I had a friend who was literally the cleverest person I knew. They could recite that biology book if they wanted to, but when it came to writing it, they got the bare minimum marks for an answer. Some people just can't do it, and that's whats such a shame about exams, they just don't reflect your actual knowledge on it. OCR want THEIR perfect answer to it, even if everything your writing is correct.

My best advice is the learn the mark schemes. Get in the minds of OCR and learn what they want to hear. I used to print out questions and mark schemes from past papers of the 8 markers. And learnt them off by heart. Focus on the long questions over the short ones, because they are more valuable and they are generally repeated over the years. Ultrafiltration, sampling, genomes, cloning are the ones I remember to pop up as 8 markers on past papers.

Don't learn the spec, learn the mark schemes. (although I tried this and got a D so I don't really know what OCR want tbh)

*rant alert*
We got about 16 marks worth of questions last year on peritonial dialysis, which we never covered in class because it is literally 2 sentences in the 300+ page book. I have very little faith in OCR because they don't know what on earth they're doing.

Dont feel down! You can do it, remember theres still time,give it 110%

Thank you
I usually learn off the spec as it helps me with Chemistry as well which isn't a problem, but I'll definitely memorise the mark schemes more now
Yep the book is terrible. The green pages put like a mental block in a students mind to not read it properly then they exam you on it :/

It's so annoying as my sister, before I started A level, told me ocr was the easiest biology exam board, so I thought it'll be manageable...clearly not

Ocr
I wasn't allowed to resit my AS papers either, as my school said since I don't need an A/A* for my uni then I couldn't resit.
Tbh resitting Biology would probably kill me considering the amount of content it is.

Im in almost the exact same situation as you. I just got a B, and really would like an A but need like 90% :/ Biology really is a pain in the a**.

Yep it's so frustrating
If I got a mid B I wouldn't have minded.as much, as that;s doable - so glad uni's don't ask for ums marks

Yeah what makes it worse is that I am really disliking A2 rn, and biology is the last thing I want to revise

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Same, it;s become my least favourite subject now -__-
I seriously don't know why they include ecology and sampling units - never met anyone who wants to go into this field of biology