Our offer for AS and A Level Biology A

Accessible exams. Assessment is clear, consistent and suitable for all grades, making the development of exam skills easier for you and your students.

Familiar assessment structure. Exams skills are transferable from GCSE, with 6 or 9 marks level of response questions. There are no essay questions. The are 15 multiple choice questions in paper 01 and paper 02 and they assess only assessment objectives 01 and 02.

Maths for biology resources. Resources to support you and your candidates with mathematical skills required for A level Biology, include tutorial and quizzes for every maths skills assessed in the qualification.

Flexible practical assessment. You can choose from our suggested activities with accompanying resources, your own preferred practical activities or a mixture of both. You just need a minimum of 12 practicals to meet the common practical assessment criteria (CPAC), techniques and apparatus for the practical endorsement. OCR have resources to support three or four choices for each of 12 practical activity groups (PAGs) so you could just choose one activity from each PAG or use other activities that you prefer. This means that you can use your existing practical activities from other awarding organisations when switching.

Subject advisor support. It’s quick and easy to contact OCR for support, with knowledgeable subject advisors available to support you with switching and any queries you have while teaching the qualification to your students. We offer free online and face-to-face network events throughout the year, alongside low-cost professional development.

Free ExamBuilder and Active Results – our key resources to support assessment are free. ExamBuilder allows you to create your own tests and mock papers using past questions. Active Results supports analysis of results.

Lots of practice papers and alternative papers. Your students have ample opportunities to experience exam-style assessments, using practice papers as well as past papers from Biology B specification (Biology B specification shares 60% common content with Biology A specification).

Resources and blogs to support you. OCR have a range of resources to support you with planning, teaching and assessment through our Teach Cambridge secure website. These include a scheme of work, three different practical endorsement trackers to choose from and teaching guides. Subject advisors and other guest writers also write regular blogs to support you with common queries and challenges.

Supporting diversity. OCR aim to ensure that equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) principles are part of everything we do. OCR’s “STEM Contributors” resource links the work of diverse scientists to the specification content