A Level Biology Edexcel Past Papers

Edexcel A Biology Spec at a glance

The Edexcel A level Biology exam board offers two different specifications so make sure you revise for the correct one as the two specifications, Edexcel A (Salters-Nuffield) and Edexcel B, are quite different from each other. The following outlines the structure of the Edexcel A level Biology exams.

Paper 1: The Natural Environment and Species Survival

·This paper covers:Topic 1: Lifestyle, Health and Risk, Topic 2: Genes and Health Topic 3: Voice of the Genome, Topic 4: Biodiversity and Natural Resources Topic 5: On the Wild Side Topic 6: Immunity, Infection and Forensics.

·33.33% of the qualification

·Assessment is 2 hours

·100 marks.

·A mixture of question types including maths skills questions, which will represent at least 10% of the mark.

Paper 2: Energy, Exercise and Co-ordination

·Topics Covered: Topic 1: Lifestyle, Health and Risk, Topic 2: Genes and Health, Topic 3: Voice of the Genome, Topic 4: Biodiversity and Natural Resources, Topic 7: Run for your Life, Topic 8: Grey Matter.

·33.33% of the qualification

·2 hours.

·100 marks.

·The paper may include multiple-choice as well as short and long answer questions. The maths questions will represent at least 10% of the overall mark of the paper.

Paper 3: General and Practical Applications in Biology

·This paper will include questions from topics 1-8. A scientific article will be pre-released on the OCR website 8 weeks before the examination and students should read through this article to make sure they have good prior knowledge of it before the exam. The pre-released scientific article will underpin one section of the paper.

·33.33% of the qualification

·2 hours

·100 marks.

·The paper will include long and short synoptic questions and will again have at least 10% of the marks attributed to maths skills questions.

Students will have to undertake required practicals that can be assessed in any or all the three exam papers.

Edexcel B Biology Spec at a glance

The Edexcel A level Biology exam board offers two different specifications so make sure you revise for the correct one as the two specifications, Edexcel A (Salters-Nuffield) and Edexcel B, are quite different from each other. The following outlines the structure of the Edexcel B A level Biology exams.

Paper 1: Advanced Biochemistry, Microbiology and Genetics

This exam will cover the following topics:

Topic 1: Biological Molecules

Topic 2: Cells, Viruses and Reproduction of Living Things

Topic 3: Classification and Biodiversity

Topic 4: Exchange and Transport

Topic 5: Energy for Biological Processes

Topic 6: Microbiology and Pathogens

Topic 7: Modern Genetics.

Exam Structure:

·30% of the qualification

·1 hour 45 minutes.

·90 marks.

·Paper 1 may include multiple-choice, short open, open-response, calculations and extended writing questions. The paper will also consist of 10% maths skills questions.

Paper 2: Advanced Physiology, Evolution and Ecology

Paper 2 will assess content from the following topics:

Topic 1: Biological Molecules

Topic 2: Cells, Viruses and Reproduction of Living Things

Topic 3: Classification and Biodiversity

Topic 4: Exchange and Transport

Topic 8: Origins of Genetic Variation

Topic 9: Control Systems

Topic 10: Ecosystems.

Exam Structure:

·30% of the qualification

·1 hour 45 minutes.

·90 marks.

·Paper 2 may include long and short questions and with 10% of the questions being based on maths skills.

Paper 3: General and Practical Principles in Biology

This paper will include questions from the following topics:

Topic 1: Biological Molecules

Topic 2: Cells, Viruses and Reproduction of Living Things

Topic 3: Classification and Biodiversity

Topic 4: Exchange and Transport

Topic 5: Energy for Biological Processes

Topic 6: Microbiology and Pathogens

Topic 7: Modern Genetics.

Topic 8: Origins of Genetic Variation

Topic 9: Control Systems

Topic 10: Ecosystems.

Exam Structure:

·40% of the qualification

·2 hour 30 minutes.

·120 marks.

·Paper 2 may include long and short questions and with 10% of the questions being based on maths skills.