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Which Biology course is right for me?

Hi there,
I'm trying decide which sixth form to go to at the moment and one of the big push/pull factors is going to be the biology course offered. Its a choice of AQA Biology at one or OCR Biology A at the other.
I appreciate that next year will be the first year of new A-levels, so it's not going to be exactly the same but both boards say content for each is going to remain largely the same, so I was wondering if any of you studying either of these (especially if you have plans to carry on to or are currently doing A2 level) could tell me which one might be best for me.
My main interests in the subject are the more chemistry based ones or those dealing with organisms on a cellular level: enzymes and other proteins, hormones, genetics in humans, the effects of pathogens on the body, single celled organisms etc. I'm less interested in evolution, ecosystems and larger scale stuff like that. I really want to choose the course that will cover my interests in as much detail as possible and will complement a chemistry a level nicely. The grand plan is to become a biochemist, toxicologist or something else to do with small scale biology and chemistry in organisms
Thanks so much and good luck with all your studies :smile:
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kanra
8
That's quite a hard question to answer since most people will have only experienced one board, and hence wouldn't be able to make a fair comparison.

I did AQA biology and from what I can remember it has a pretty interesting section on pathogens in the first year (and proteins is just generally important all the way through). The genetics stuff doesn't really come in until second year, but then it's quite a big part of the final exam. Ecosystems and evolution come up in a small section of the second year (don't really remember if they were part of first year).

The issue with biology at this level (and even in second year of university) is that it's such a broad topic, they tend to teach you a little bit about everything as opposed to a lot about one thing. My advice would be to look into the specifications of both exam boards and see if either of them really stand out to you.

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