Resources across Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics: from Secondary to A Level.
Experience:
Deputy Head, Assistant Head, HOD, SLE, AST, PhD in Biophysics.
Teaching and Learning Whole School Leader, Secondary & A Level teaching, experience in University lecturing/FE.
Resources across Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics: from Secondary to A Level.
Experience:
Deputy Head, Assistant Head, HOD, SLE, AST, PhD in Biophysics.
Teaching and Learning Whole School Leader, Secondary & A Level teaching, experience in University lecturing/FE.
Lots of self made organic synthesis questions for A Level Chemistry. Designed for OCR but can be adapted for any exam board. The questions vary in degree of challenge, from simpler recall to more complex application of organic principles.
Mark schemes / answers included for all questions.
With the increased demand of practical questions in the new spec papers, i have put together a booklet on the required practicals which contain concise, detailed notes for each practical AND common questions that i have found from my vast research through endless papers!
Included is also an application question for each practical along with a challenging insect dissection question i have made.
Please do leave a review if you buy this!
A huge 60 page booklet on each of the required practicals for AQA A Level Biology including relevant exam questions, methods and techniques, answers and CPAC assessment trackers to track student progress, along with mathematical development opportunities, uncertainties and percentage error, statistical tests and reasoning, magnification and also biological drawings. The questions are based on research from many many many papers and include model responses that will guarantee full marks.
I have also included a new practical, “practical X”, which looks at liming factors in photosynthesis and requires students to research and plan their own method for this.
There is also a very tricky question on insect dissection that I have made and scattered throughout are challenging application questions in the style of the new specification exams.
These are all contained in a nice, concise and consistent format making it clear to students, teachers and assessors.
(Practical 12 is NOT included as this is a research skill at the digression of the school).
The practical component has become more and more stressed in the newer spec exams so i have compiled together hundreds of practical based exam questions along with their mark schemes from a variety of exam boards.
Over** thousands** of exam questions on each of these key topics of AS Level Biology.
This is designed for AQA but again is probably relevant for most specs.
With the demands of the new specification on practical skills and particularly methodology with Chemistry, i have compiled together a concise practical booklet on all the required practicals and the skills translated from there that will be assessed.
These condensed notes are perfect for students and include detailed but concise methods to score full marks.
Please do leave a review if you chose to buy.
Here is a full 91 mark exam paper including the mark scheme with questions created by me. The test is designed to be challenging and in the light of the recent papers and how tricky some of the questions have been this will be good preparation!
Designed for AQA but applicable to other exam boards.
Uncertainity and percentage error calculations are new to the AQA specification in Biology and something which will be assessed a lot more moving forward. These questions can be used for any exam board on the whole and explore what uncertainity is and means, the concept of resolution and plenty of exam questions for students to try.
Challenging application and practical-based questions designed for AQA A Level Biology. These have all been created by me and designed to match the difficulties of the exam.
Suggested mark schemes included.
8 lessons on the Inheritance topic, from mono and dihybrid inhertiance to co-dominance, sex, linkage, epistasis and the hardy weinberg principle and finally selection and speciation.
Each lesson contains detailed notes and guidance on how to tackle each type of logic problem, along with relevant exam questions to consolidate understanding.
Eight full lessons on exploration of the gene expression, cancer, epigentics, the human genome project, protein synthesis and mutations
This is designed for AQA but can easily be adapted for other exam boards.
There are over 24 files with specifically chosen exam questions to develop recall, practical skills and challenging application questions scattered throughout to refine knowledge.
The lessons are concise and detailed with plenty of room for consolidation and engaging activities/AfL to support teaching.
Two similar practical techniques; resource contains a detailed lesson with AfL exploring how each works, their uses, and how calculations for the rate of respiration/transpiration are deduced. Further, there are model answers to common questions testing respirometers and potometer use that have come up in the past!
Also included are relevant exam questions and mark schemes for students to test their knowledge.
This folder comes with 10 lessons for each of the parts of the stimulus and response topic, including relevant exam practise and also required practical 10 alongside practical skills to do with IAA - from responses and reflexes to receptors and finally control of the heart rate.
The following parts of the spec are covered:
• Organisms increase their chance of survival by responding to changes in their environment. In flowering plants, specific growth factors move from growing regions to other tissues, where they regulate growth in response to directional stimuli.
• The effect of different concentrations of indoleacetic acid (IAA) on cell elongation in the roots and shoots of flowering plants as an explanation of gravitropism and phototropism in flowering plants.
• Taxes and kineses as simple responses that can maintain a mobile organism in a favourable environment.
• The protective effect of a simple reflex, exemplified by a three neurone simple reflex.
• AT h Students could design and carry out investigations into the effects of indoleacetic acid on root growth in seedlings.
• Required practical 10: Investigation into the effect of an environmental variable on the movement of an animal using either a choice chamber or a maze.
• The Pacinian corpuscle should be used as an example of a receptor to illustrate that:
• receptors respond only to specific stimuli
• stimulation of a receptor leads to the establishment of a generator potential.
• The basic structure of a Pacinian corpuscle.
• Deformation of stretch-mediated sodium ion channels in a Pacinian corpuscle leads to the establishment of a generator potential.
• The human retina in sufficient detail to show how differences in sensitivity to light, sensitivity to colour and visual acuity are explained by differences in the optical pigments of rods and cones and the connections rods and cones make in the optic nerve.
• Myogenic stimulation of the heart and transmission of a subsequent wave of electrical activity.
• The roles of the sinoatrial node (SAN), atrioventricular node (AVN) and Purkyne tissue in the bundle of His.
• The roles and locations of chemoreceptors and pressure receptors and the roles of the autonomic nervous system and effectors in controlling heart rate.
• AT h Students could design and carry out an investigation into the effect of a named variable on human pulse rate.
• MS 2.2 Students could use values of heart rate ® and stroke volume (V) to calculate cardiac output (CO), using the formula CO = R × V
Designed for the AQA A Level Biology specification but can be easily adapated for any exam board.
Full SOW for both topics with relevant required practicals and tons of exam questions throughtout.
WHAT IS COVERED
Photosynthesis
The light-dependent reaction in such detail as to show that:
• chlorophyll absorbs light, leading to photoionisation of chlorophyll
• some of the energy from electrons released during photoionisation
is conserved in the production of ATP and reduced NADP
• the production of ATP involves electron transfer associated
with the transfer of electrons down the electron transfer chain
and passage of protons across chloroplast membranes and
is catalysed by ATP synthase embedded in these membranes
(chemiosomotic theory)
• photolysis of water produces protons, electrons and oxygen.
The light-independent reaction uses reduced NADP from the lightdependent reaction to form a simple sugar. The hydrolysis of ATP,
also from the light-dependent reaction, provides the additional energy
for this reaction.
The light-independent reaction in such detail as to show that:
• carbon dioxide reacts with ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) to form
two molecules of glycerate 3-phosphate (GP). This reaction is
catalysed by the enzyme rubisco
• ATP and reduced NADP from the light-dependent reaction are
used to reduce GP to triose phosphate
• some of the triose phosphate is used to regenerate RuBP in the
Calvin cycle
• some of the triose phosphate is converted to useful organic
substances.
Students should be able to:
• identify environmental factors that limit the rate of photosynthesis
• evaluate data relating to common agricultural practices
Required practical 7: Use of chromatography to investigate the
pigments isolated from leaves of different plants, eg, leaves from
shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant plants or leaves of different
colours.
Required practical 8: Investigation into the effect of a named factor
on the rate of dehydrogenase activity in extracts of chloroplasts.
Respiration
Respiration produces ATP.
Glycolysis is the first stage of anaerobic and aerobic respiration. It
occurs in the cytoplasm and is an anaerobic process.
Glycolysis involves the following stages:
• phosphorylation of glucose to glucose phosphate, using ATP
• production of triose phosphate
• oxidation of triose phosphate to pyruvate with a net gain of ATP
and reduced NAD.
If respiration is only anaerobic, pyruvate can be converted to ethanol
or lactate using reduced NAD. The oxidised NAD produced in this
way can be used in further glycolysis.
If respiration is aerobic, pyruvate from glycolysis enters the
mitochondrial matrix by active transport.
Aerobic respiration in such detail as to show that:
• pyruvate is oxidised to acetate, producing reduced NAD in the
process
• acetate combines with coenzyme A in the link reaction to produce
acetylcoenzyme A
• acetylcoenzyme A reacts with a four-carbon molecule, releasing
coenzyme A and producing a six-carbon molecule that enters the
Krebs cycle
• in a series of oxidation-reduction reactions, the Krebs cycle
generates reduced coenzymes and ATP by substrate-level
phosphorylation, and carbon dioxide is lost
• synthesis of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation is associated with
the transfer of electrons down the electron transfer chain and
passage of protons across inner mitochondrial membranes and
is catalysed by ATP synthase embedded in these membranes
(chemiosomotic theory)
• other respiratory substrates include the breakdown products of
lipids and amino acids, which enter the Krebs cycle.
Required practical 9: Investigation into the effect of a named
variable on the rate of respiration of cultures of single-celled
organisms.
Nine full lessons on the Recombinant DNA Technology topic for AQA A Level Biology. This topic is one of the most challenging due to the application and context-based nature. However, each lesson includes detailed and concise notes for some difficult to understand topics, along with relevant exam questions to help test skills, an essay prep, a practical, and fun and engaging activities to help consolidate learning.
Lesson 2 on Cell Biology.
Lesson focuses on how cells can be differentiated and specialised for certain jobs etc. Includes a fun/silly acronym to use when tackling a "never-before-seen-cell" in an application question to do with specialised cells.
I have not put any exam practise in properly at this stage - and rather left a more open ended activity for the students to do in terms of researching 10 common cells - such as red/white blood cells, sperm cells, xylem vessels etc.
Can easily edit and adapt - could turn the "research cells" activity into something more creative by letting the students make the cells the following lesson(s) and doing a gallery-like exhibition.
Any reviews or comments would be lovely! Thank you!
FIXED. :)
Lesson 1 on the new GCSE Biology for AQA.
Lesson focuses on Cell Structures - particularly Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic cells. Opportunity for AfL, differentiation etc. throughout. Easily edited and adapted.
Any reviews or comments would be lovely! Thank you!