Biology

AQA A-Level Biology (7402) is organised into eight topics, from biological molecules and cells through to gene expression and the control of gene pools. Assessment is three papers: Paper 1 on topics 1 to 4, Paper 2 on topics 5 to 8, and Paper 3 drawing on all of them with a 25-mark essay from a choice of two.

Biology has a reputation as the least mathematical science and the specification quietly contradicts it — at least ten per cent of marks are mathematical, and statistics, chi-square tests, standard deviation and Hardy-Weinberg calculations appear regularly. The other consistent difficulty is the volume of content: students who revise by rereading notes rather than by answering past questions tend to plateau around a grade C regardless of effort.