Assessment overview
There are six teaching topics for each of the sciences and a practical skills topic:
Biology
- B1: Cell level systems
- B2: Scaling up
- B3: Organism level systems
- B4: Community level systems
- B5: Genes, inheritance and selection
- B6: Global challenges
- CS7: Practical skills
Chemistry
- C1: Particles
- C2: Elements, compounds and mixtures
- C3: Chemical reactions
- C4: Predicting and identifying reactions and products
- C5: Monitoring and controlling chemical reactions
- C6 Global challenges
- CS7: Practical skills
Physics
- P1: Matter
- P2: Forces
- P3: Electricity and magnetism
- P4: Waves and radioactivity
- P5: Energy
- P6: Global challenges
- CS7: Practical skills
Foundation tier (grades 5–5 to 1–1)
Higher tier (grades 9–9 to 4–4)
Students must complete either foundation tier (papers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) or higher tier (papers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12) to be awarded the OCR GCSE (9-1) in Combined Science A (Gateway Science).
Content overview
There are 18 teaching topics in total, six for each of physics, chemistry and biology, plus a practical skills topic.
In all three sciences, students develop their understanding of how scientific principles and concepts help describe complex and diverse natural phenomena in terms of a small number of key ideas. They also develop relevant practical skills.
Biology
The six teaching topics are further subdivided:
- B1: Cell level systems
- Cell structures
- What happens in cells (and what do cells need)?
- Respiration
- Photosynthesis
- B2: Scaling up
- Supplying the cell
- The challenges of size
- B3: Organism level systems
- Coordination and control – the nervous system
- Coordination and control – the endocrine system
- Maintaining internal environments
- B4: Community level systems
- B5: Genes, inheritance and selection
- Inheritance
- Natural selection and evolution
- B6: Global challenges
- Monitoring and maintaining the environment
- Feeding the human race
- Monitoring and maintaining health
Chemistry
The six teaching topics are further subdivided:
- C1: Particles
- The particle model
- Atomic structure
- C2: Elements, compounds and mixtures
- Purity and separating mixtures
- Bonding
- Properties of mixtures
- C3: Chemical reactions
- Introducing chemical reactions
- Energetics
- Types of chemical reactions
- Electrolysis
- C4: Predicting and identifying reactions and products
- Predicting chemical reactions
- C5: Monitoring and controlling chemical reactions
- Controlling reactions
- Equilibria
- C6: Global challenges
- Improving processes and products
- Interpreting and interacting with earth systems
Physics
The six teaching topics are further subdivided:
- P1: Matter
- The particle model
- Changes of state
- P2: Forces
- Motion
- Newton's laws
- Forces in action
- P3: Electricity and magnetism
- Static and charge
- Simple circuits
- Magnets and magnetic fields
- P4: Waves and radioactivity
- Wave behaviour
- The electromagnetic spectrum
- Radioactivity
- P5: Energy
- Work done
- Power and efficiency
- P6: Global challenges
- Physics on the move
- Powering Earth
Practical skills
This topic covers the practical skills for all of the sciences.
- CS7: Practical skills
- A practical-based topic which provides students with the skills required for the 15% practical content in the examinations
- Students complete at least 16 practical activities, five in biology, five in chemistry, six in physics, and have the opportunity to use all the apparatus and techniques listed in the specifications
- This will include awareness of safety procedures and the use of appropriate scientific diagrams to record apparatus and procedures
- Practical skills are embedded within all the teaching topics.