2. A level Biology
Year 1 1 Biological Molecules 2 Cells 3 Organisms exchange of substances with their environment 4 Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms
Year 2 5 Energy transfers in and between organisms 6 Organisms respond to changes in their internal and external environment. 7 Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems. 8 The control of gene expression

3. Assessment
3 Exams June 2018 Paper 1:- 2 hours , unit 1-4, including relevant practical skills 35% Paper 2: 2 hours, unit 5-8, including relevant practical skills 35% Paper 3: 2 hours, all content, including relevant practical skills 30%
Practical assessment 12 required practicals which will be assessed in theory papers. A certificate of endorsement is awarded having completed the 12 required practicals . This is needed in order to study any science at university.

4. Course delivery
Two subject specialist teachers. Practical activities will feature highly in the delivery of lessons, covering more than the required practicals. Practical work will be integrated in order to support the delivery of subject content.
Students are expected to read around the topic under study. Recap on GCSE knowledge initially, to consolidate understanding and further reading .

5. Independent study
Past exam questions. Practical write ups. Presentations. Flip learning.
Wider and further reading

6. Advice from y12
Before choosing to study biology, make sure you are really interested in the subject as it is difficult and there is quite a lot of independent work. Make sure to organise your folder at the start of the year and make clear notes all the way through the year as it will really help when you begin revising for your exams.
do work yourself at home, make summary or just read over the topic after (even before) the lesson Don't give up when you struggle with a topic- it's normal. Don't compare yourself/grades to other people in the class.

7. Advice from y12
Make sure you enjoy the subject Make sure you do the extra reading and you go to your teachers for help, make sure you feel like you fully understand the topic before moving on.
When you write notes, learn them as well as just writing them Read ahead if you have the chance through the textbook. Do lots of exam style questions through the year, to get used to Biology mark schemes!

8. Advice from y12
Obviously the better you learn it the better you will do, but with biology it's literally single word answers sometimes so it is super important to learn the text book inside out, which is what makes BIO hard. Also when learning the content , learn the ideas first , then the exact wording of the questions. It seemed as though with BIO just learning the content is not enough it needs to be followed up with exam questions, which should be done for each individual topic. Overall, I think what most distinguishes GCSE bio from A-level is that with GCSE you could just work most of the stuff out with no extreme prior work , with A-level you have to do the work in addition to being a good biologist to do well.

9. The cell at GCSE

10. The cell at A level

12. Carbohydrates Carbohydrates contain the elements carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen
Familiar carbohydrates are sugar and starch
Glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, lactose and
sucrose are sugars
Glucose, galactose and fructose have the same
formula, C6H12O6
Sucrose, lactose and maltose have the same
formula, C12H22O11
Glucose and fructose occur in fruits, e.g. grapes. Sucrose is the familiar table sugar and comes from sugar beet or sugar cane. Maltose is produced by germinating barley and is the sugar used in brewing beer.
Note that the names of most sugars end in ‘-ose’.
Carbohydrates provide the main source of energy for
respiration in living organisms, but they do have other
functions

13. Glucose C6H12O6 C O C HO HO C H HO C H H C OH
5 of the carbon atoms may
be arranged in a ring H C OH C
H2OH
A glucose molecule as a
straight chain
This molecule is often represented simply as a hexagon

14. Other carbohydrates 2 molecules of glucose can join together to form a
molecule of maltose
sucrose is formed when
a molecule of glucose and
a molecule of fructose combine
Lactose is formed when glucose and galactose combine.
maltose
Starch, glycogen and cellulose are formed from hundreds of glucose molecules joined
to form a long chain = polymer
Glucose and fructose have the same formula but differ in the way the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are distributed. Maltose and sucrose, with the same formulae, differ in a similar way.
Starch is represented by a single long chain of up to 1000 glucose units but, in fact, the main component of starch is a branched chain
part of a starch
Molecule, a polymer

15. Proteins Proteins are made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
molecules but with the addition of nitrogen
Carbohydrates are made up of glucose units.
Proteins are made up of units called amino acids. Proteins and carbohydrates are polymers.
There are about 20 different amino acids. Examples are
glycine (Gly), alanine (Ala), valine (Val) and cysteine (Cyst)
Most proteins are very large molecules, made up of hundreds of amino acids.
Enzymes are proteins which carry out specific reactions in cells. They are more fully explained in slides 10-28
The amino acids, Gly-Val-Val-Cyst-Ala-Gly-Ala-Val
joined together would make a small protein
Proteins make up the structure of cells; cytoplasm, nucleus
cell membranes and enzymes

16. H R O N C C H H OH Amino acids
R = rest of the molecule, each amino acid has a different R group.
H R O
N C C
H H OH
COOH
carboxylic acid
Amino acids are monomers
NH2= amine group

17. Protein structure and shape7
The way the amino acids join up, gives a protein molecule a particular shape, which is different for every protein
Ser-Cyst-Val-Gly-Ser-Cyst Ala
Val
Val-Cyst-Ser-Ala-Ser-Cyst-Gly
Val- Cyst-Ala-Ala-Ser-Gly
This is a small, imaginary protein molecule showing how
it acquires a shape
A protein which loses its shape is said to be denatured. This change cannot be reversed.
Egg white is a protein (albumen). When it is heated it is denatured and changes from a clear, runny liquid to a white solid. This cannot be reversed.
If an enzyme is denatured it can no longer carry out its normal function.
High temperatures or certain chemicals can cause the
protein molecule to lose its shape and its properties.

18. Lipids They are made up from glycerol and fatty acids H H H O
H C C C C
H H H OH
saturated H
fatty acid C H OH
glycerol
H H
C C O H OH
unsaturated H

19. Lipids Lipids are fats and oils
They are made up from glycerol and fatty acids
Examples of fatty acids are stearic acid, oleic acid and
palmitic acid C H H2 O
glycerol
stearic acid
A simple lipid
The fatty acids in a lipid may be all the same. In olive oil, for example, the fatty acid is oleic acid. Alternatively they may be different as shown in the slide.
oleic acid
palmitic acid
fatty acids