AS Biology OCR - Anyone else struggling?

Hi,

The two AS biology classes in my sixth form are doing really badly. Over both classes it's mostly Cs and Ds whereas the same students may be achieving As and Bs in their other subjects.

As the year progresses I'm now beginning to get quite worried.
I've found that past papers are quite unhelpful, with the old past papers not relating as much to what I'm reading in the new textbooks. Or maybe it does and I'm just being tripped up by wording, or I'm looking through the wrong past papers!

I'm wondering if this is confined to my sixth form or if everyone else is struggling with the new specification? And, if you aren't struggling, are past papers helping? if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Thanks, L

Reply 1

Chez231

15

Original post by Leona-L

Hi,

The two AS biology classes in my sixth form are doing really badly. Over both classes it's mostly Cs and Ds whereas the same students may be achieving As and Bs in their other subjects.

As the year progresses I'm now beginning to get quite worried.
I've found that past papers are quite unhelpful, with the old past papers not relating as much to what I'm reading in the new textbooks. Or maybe it does and I'm just being tripped up by wording, or I'm looking through the wrong past papers!

I'm wondering if this is confined to my sixth form or if everyone else is struggling with the new specification? And, if you aren't struggling, are past papers helping? if someone could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Thanks, L

You aren't alone ! I'm the same ! Not doing very well

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Reply 2

S.G.

22

Doing the same course. This is OCR Biology A, right not OCR Biology B.

What I recommened is using past papers from 1995-2004. My teacher said that that spec is closer to the one we are studying rather than the old spec

Reply 3

username1661963

12

No, you're not the only one, my class is struggling too, and we all got A/A*s in GCSE. I don't even know my overall grade, but I just over 50% on my ridiculously nit picky mock, which was hand written by my teacher. SMH.

Reply 4

S.G.

22

The thing is, even with the older spec, grade boundaries aren't tremendously high. Last year 70% was an A. So, considering this is a new spec, most people are going to be unfamiliar with exam questions. Usually, with a new spec, grade boundaries are quite low

Reply 5

Leona-L

OP

9

Original post by SGHD26716

The thing is, even with the older spec, grade boundaries aren't tremendously high. Last year 70% was an A. So, considering this is a new spec, most people are going to be unfamiliar with exam questions. Usually, with a new spec, grade boundaries are quite low

Let's hope so :afraid:

Reply 6

username1661963

12

Original post by SGHD26716

The thing is, even with the older spec, grade boundaries aren't tremendously high. Last year 70% was an A. So, considering this is a new spec, most people are going to be unfamiliar with exam questions. Usually, with a new spec, grade boundaries are quite low

Oh, I thought at A Levels the grade boundaries were fixed, so 80% - A, 70% - B, and so on. I must be wrong, but that's how it's always done at my school.

Reply 7

S.G.

22

Original post by adesola15

Oh, I thought at A Levels the grade boundaries were fixed, so 80% - A, 70% - B, and so on. I must be wrong, but that's how it's always done at my school.

UMS grade boundaries are always fixed.
So,
80 UMS = A
70 UMS = B

and so on every time.

But grade boundaries change every year.
So, in one year, for example in biology, there may be a easy paper, and the grade boundary is set at 82% for an A
So 82% = 80 UMS

But in a year with a difficult paper, 72% may be an A
So 72% = 80 UMS.

Your marks get converted to UMS, using a scale, and for AS, you need 80% of UMS to get an A.
AT AS:
A: 240 UMS
B: 210 UMS.

Reply 8

longking

14

Original post by SGHD26716

Doing the same course. This is OCR Biology A, right not OCR Biology B.

What I recommened is using past papers from 1995-2004. My teacher said that that spec is closer to the one we are studying rather than the old spec