Biology

Thank you for choosing to apply for Attleborough Sixth Form - for further information about our courses, please refer to the course guide on our website.

Applications made before 01 January will be considered while blocking subjects for our timetable. If you apply after this date, the blocking for subjects will have already been determined. If the subjects you have chosen do not fit into the blocking, you will be notified as soon as possible, to arrange a conversation with our Sixth Form team in order to discuss alternatives.

The Course

Biology A-level will give you the skills to make connections and associations with all living things around you. Biology literally means the study of life and if that’s not important, what is? Being such a broad topic, you’re bound to find a specific area of interest, plus it opens the door to a fantastic range of interesting careers.

Biology, like all sciences, is a practical subject. Throughout the course you will carry out practical activities including: using microscopes to see cell division, dissection of animal or plant systems, aseptic technique to study microbial growth, investigating activity within cells, investigating animal behaviors, and investigating distributions of species in the environment. These practicals will give you the skills and confidence needed to investigate the way living things behave and work. It will also ensure that if you choose to study a Biology-based subject at university, you’ll have the practical skills needed to carry out successful experiments in your degree.

Course Components: Year 1

1. Biological molecules
2. Cells
3. Organisms exchange substances with their environment
4. Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms

Year 2

1. Energy transfers in and between organisms
2. Organisms respond to changes in their internal and external environments
3. Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems
4. The control of gene expression

Assessment

There is no coursework on this course. However, your performance during practicals will be assessed. There are three exams at the end of the two years for A-level, all of which are two hours long. At least 15% of the marks for A-level Biology are based on what you learned in your practicals.

GCSE Double Science 6-6 or GCSE Biology 6 plus another science at grade 6 | Mathematics 5 | English 5

Progression into the second year of the course is reliant on students achieving a minimum D grade in the End of Year 1 Exam.

According to bestcourse4me.com, the top seven degree courses taken by students who have an A-level in Biology are: Biology, Psychology, Sport and exercise science, Medicine, Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmacy Chemistry.

Studying A-level Biology at university gives you all sorts of exciting career options, including: Medecine, Clinical molecular geneticist, Nature conservation officer, Pharmacologist, Research scientist, Vet, Secondary school teacher, Marine biologist, Dentist