Key Concept: Surface Area : Volume ratio (SA:V)

Some concepts turn up again and again in A-level biology. Taking a little time to ensure you really understand these key concepts from the start can save a lot of effort overall.

Surface area to volume ratio (SA:V) is vital for understanding a wide range of topics including transport across cell membranes, gas exchange, digestion, heat exchange, and mass transport. SA:V explains why the inner membrane of a mitochondrion is folded, why elephants have big ears, and why jellyfish don’t need blood vessels.

Read more

Respiration Photosynthesis and AS knowledge - a terrific synoptic A-level Biology question

One from the OCR Unifying concepts paper, combines respiration and photosynthesis.

(a) think photolysis and Oxygen accepting electrons ...

(b) is about phosphorylation and diffusion gradients

(c) is about the nature of passive transport and using proteins

(d) is about endosymbionts and prokaryotes

Please like and share

Read more

Vaccines, Plasmids and Monkeys... More Synoptic Questions - A-level Biology #ocr #eduqas

From an Old OCR Unifying concepts paper. ....

Don't panic, the question is not about DNA vaccines or plasmids. 

The question is about differences between protein and DNA structure,  protein synthesis, post translational modification of protein,  clonal selection, mutation of pathogens. All of which are on the specification.

Read more