Biology AS A2

Exam Board OCR

Course Content

If students are interested in life, they are interested in biology. We answer some of the really fundamental questions such as “How did life begin?”, “What might the future hold?”, and “Am I really related to pond slime?”. At Advanced level we explain in much more detail many of the interesting facts encountered at GCSE.

The syllabus is a fresh and exciting blend of biology’s most recent advances and the more traditional topics students need to fully appreciate this science. At AS Level there is an emphasis on human biology and fundamental concepts, and for A2 we look at the developing areas of biotechnology and environmental biology.

Y12 AS unit titles:

• Cells, exchange and transport includes the structure of cells, heart and circulation, transport in plants.
• Molecules, biodiversity, food and health includes diet, diseases, immunity, smoking, conservation and classification, biochemistry.

Y13 A2 unit titles:

• Communication, homeostasis and energy includes nerves and hormones, kidney, respiration and photosynthesis.
• Control, genomes and the environment includes genetics, biotechnology, sustainability, the brain and our behaviour.

Assessment

In both Y12 and Y13 there is an exam in January and another in June. During each year, 3 more internal assessment exams will be taken at times convenient to us after we have studied the relevant topics. There are no long, ongoing coursework projects.

Possible Careers

The explosion of biotechnology and the decoding of the human genome has opened many new career paths, some of them potentially very lucrative! New diseases pose new challenges too. Biology provides a foundation for careers in journalism, medicine, environmental studies, food science, farming, caring. What is certain is that biologists will, in many different ways, shape the future of humans on this planet. Biology students can be a part of that.