AQA, OCR, Eduqas, CIE, Starting A Level Biology, Revision Tips Jenny Shipway AQA, OCR, Eduqas, CIE, Starting A Level Biology, Revision Tips Jenny Shipway

Eight Inspiring Books for A-level Biology Students

Reading pop-science books is enjoyable and also supports your studies. Here are eight books that I recommend, all of which are written to be interesting and entertaining for non-specialists. They bring biology to life and will change the way you think about these topics forever.

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Key Concept: Averages, Range, and Standard Deviation, with A level Biology Past-Paper Questions

You need to know some maths for A level Biology, including to work out whether an experiment can be said to have shown an effect or not. Master this early on and it will not help you with exam questions, but also make it easier for you to learn the bits of the course that are explained using these statistical methods.

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Insights, OCR Tom Whitburn Insights, OCR Tom Whitburn

Mastering Carbohydrates: Your Complete Guide to OCR A Level Biology Specification 2.1.2 (d-g)

Mastering Carbohydrates: Your Complete Guide to OCR A Level Biology Specification 2.1.2 (d-g)

Essential Prior Knowledge to Recap

Before diving into these commonly tested topics, ensure you're confident with:

• Basic carbohydrate classification – understanding the terms monosaccharide, disaccharide and polysaccharide, and being able to distinguish between them • Condensation and hydrolysis reactions – knowing that condensation joins molecules together by removing water, whilst hydrolysis breaks bonds by adding water • The concept of monomers and polymers – recognising that large biological molecules are built from smaller repeating units • Chemical bonding basics – understanding covalent bonds and how atoms share electrons to form stable molecules • The relationship between structure and function – appreciating that the shape and properties of molecules determine their biological roles

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