A-level Biology Practical Endorsement contents

I doubt so. I think we will need to know the theory behind the practicals even if we don't actually have to do them, however if they remove some topics, we might not need to know the practicals for those topics. At the moment, I think all we can do is wait and see.

thx for ur message,

do u know when the announcement will be?

It should be on the 7th February

thx, do you know where to find A-level biology pratical endorsements? I am currently studying with "AQA A-level biology complete revision & practice book", but not sure where to find them

This is the AQA practical handbook: https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/biology/AQA-7401-7402-PHBK.PDF

I did mine as a private candidate, so over the course of two days in the lab (a couple were data only, due to Covid). You get given instructions and typically most equipment and solutions will also be provided (this is just due to number of people and to avoid queues for things like a balance - it’s also less wasteful). Depending on your class size, you might get to make up solutions etc.

The teacher/tutor will likely go through what you have to do and you are able to ask questions throughout - it is not an exam, it is for you to show competence in practical work. The idea is for you to work as independently as possible, which you’ll get to by the time you’ve done a few.

There are no exams, it’s just your competence in the lab and your write up (see mark schemes in handbook).

Questions about the practicals and how to do lab work and analysis will come up in the actual exams.

It would be an idea who read the type of experiment you’re going to do beforehand and think about things like safety, sources of error, how to analyse results, what analysis of results will tell you etc. By the time you’ve done two or three practicals it’ll all become very familiar.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck.

i just started my a-level biology revision (2 weeks ago), do u need prior knowledge apart from gcse biology? or not since u are only need to follow instruction?

You will need to know A-level content, but I doubt you'd do the practical until you had covered the necessary content in lessons. Saying that, I am pretty sure you can perform all of the biology practicals by following the instructions and having an idea about scientific rigour when performing experiments. You'll need to know how and when to control variables and how to accurately record your method and data for use in your write up. However, you will likely have to look up/revise information to do the write up.

All the experiments are in the handbook, as is how to record data etc. Most text books also cover the practicals. If you look up the practical in advance, you can revise the necessary topic - you'll need to know the content for the exam anyway. It is possible you'll be asked to plan an experiment, or part of it, so you need to know how to do that too.

As I said earlier, you are allowed to ask questions during the practical.

would it be okay to just cover the practical skills presented in the text book?

What do you mean? For doing the practical? Or for writing it up? There will also be questions on practicals in the actual exam, so it is not wasted learning.

yes, i meant for practical. I am currently using a book called "AQA A-level Biology complete practice and revision", which has a number of practical skills - I was just wondering if these are all what needed for the practical endorsement?

yes, i meant for practical. I am currently using a book called "AQA A-level Biology complete practice and revision", which has a number of practical skills - I was just wondering if these are all what needed for the practical endorsement?