WHAT TO EXPECT IN A-LEVEL BIOLOGY: ADVICE FROM AN A-LEVEL BIOLOGY TEACHER

SO, YOU’VE DECIDED TO STUDY A-LEVEL BIOLOGY.

Great choice if I do say so myself! As an A-level biology teacher with over 10 years of experience, I can tell you a tip or two when it comes to figuring out what exactly to expect during your A-level biology journey.

FOLLOW ALONG WITH THE REST OF THIS BLOG POST AS I TELL YOU THE TRUTH ABOUT A-LEVEL BIOLOGY, AND PASS ALONG MY BEST ADVICE TO HELP YOU SUCCEED 

First, let’s talk about the advantages of taking A-level biology. The content of your A-levels is much more in-depth than your GCSEs. You get to expand on concepts now such as photosynthesis, respirations, homeostasis, immunity, inheritance (my personal favourite), and many more. You’re hopefully taking A-level biology because you have passion and interest in biology. A-levels take the base level concepts you have learned already, and expands your understanding of that topic even more, so passion and interest makes this learning much easier! It also builds on your math skills, comprehension skills, and sets you up for success in any science major when it comes to university.

NOW, LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN IT COMES TO A-LEVEL BIOLOGY…

Challenge #1 – Vast Amount of Information

On the flip side of the exciting part of learning new information, you now have to remember and comprehend that information. A-level courses take approximately 100 hours to teach in total. That’s a lot to read, learn, study, and understand. Remember to stay organised, take your homework and tests seriously. They set the foundation for what you understand, and what you may need to improve upon. 

Come up with a strategy that works for you to stay on top of your studies. Read your notes, stay on topic, and when you find the chance, revise old topics. Doing so will help you in the long run. This process is called spaced repetition, and helps to improve your memory of the topic. If you’re unfamiliar with spaced repetition, be sure to watch my video explaining how it works here.

Challenge #2 – Mark Scheme

As your A-levels is an advanced course, the marking system becomes very specific. You must phrase things in a specific way, and you must be up to date with all relevant key terms. This will be harder and more specific than your GCSEs. Due to this, your grades could drop or become lower than you’re accustomed to. Remember: this is normal! You will bounce back. If you’re looking for help with your keywords and staying on top of your notes, I offer notes available to you for both OCR and AQA A-level biology (both Y12 and Y13) here.

To help with your studying and comprehension, I suggest turning your keywords into flash cards. You can also try past paper questions, which I have available for free here. 

By doing questions for each section, you will start to notice which keywords consistently appear in the mark scheme.

Challenge #3 – Application Questions

An application question is a question that has you apply what you’ve learned to an unfamiliar situation. This could be through using data with a graph, or a table, where you have to suggest or explain a pattern, and so on. These questions are harder to get marks on, and almost 50% of your A-level will be application questions. However, this does vary; for example in AQA paper 2 is 56% application questions. 

To prepare for this, I suggest you change how you revise to include more application questions. On my website I have a free assessment bundle which includes a whole booklet on just application questions. I also have a YouTube video on how to answer application questions to get full marks here.

Having a perfect application answer doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and practice. However, once you put the work in, you will see results!

OVERALL, TO STAY ON TOP OF YOUR LEARNING, I SUGGEST WATCHING MY ENTIRE TOPIC VIDEOS, THIS WILL HELP INTRODUCE YOU TO THE CONCEPTS, AND GIVE YOU AN EDGE FOR EVERYTHING YOU’RE LEARNING.

To conclude, yes, A-level biology is a lot of work, but all A-levels are. There are so many interesting topics in A-level biology that will help you if you’re going into Science in university. 

Thank you for reading, and remember, you got this! 

Miss Estruch