HOW TO: USE THE SPECIFICATION TO IMPROVE YOUR GRADES (PART 2)

Last week I wrote an article all about how to use the specification to your advantage to raise your grades using just one tool: the specification. Using the specification helps you learn what to expect from the course, and know what you’ll be graded on. That knowledge then helps you identify which revision methods you should be using for different exam sections and different exam papers throughout your A-level experience.  

THE SPECIFICATION: THE BASICS

Let me remind you of what the specification is and what it looks like:

Your specification should look something like this, with different columns/documents divided and organised so they are easily accessible and understandable. The specification gives you an overview of what to expect throughout your A-levels. You have your core content neatly divided by topic, so you can quickly skip to whatever topic you may be currently learning, as well as your AS assessments, and A-level assessments.

In part 1 of this series on the specification, I wrote about the Exam Structure and Assessment Objectives, The Subject Content, and the Mathematical requirements. In this post, I’ll be focusing on the Practical Skills Section of the specification. Let’s get right into it.

THE PRACTICAL SKILLS SECTION

The Practical Skills Section looks something like this:

While both the A-Level Required Practical Activities and the Use of Apparatus and Techniques are both important, I find the portion that students tend to overlook the most is the Apparatus and Techniques (AT) section. This section is extremely helpful when it comes to what you need to know, so I encourage you to pay attention to it.

HOW TO USE THE APPARATUS AND TECHNIQUES (AT) SECTION

If you refer to AT a, it tells us the first thing you need to know is how to use the appropriate apparatus to record a range of measurements. The specification is telling you this is information you should know and understand and is guiding you towards potential questions on the exam. For example, a one-mark question on a test could be what piece of equipment would you use to measure mass, time, volume, temperature, length, and PH. Essentially, you’ve earned one mark on the exam just by looking at the apparatus and techniques section of the specification.

When you combine the Required Practical page with the Apparatus and Techniques page, you can really narrow down your revision, and what tools you can use to help you study.

For example, on the required practical page, there are 12 required practical titles that then connect back to the apparatus and techniques question you could get based off of that practical title. If you look under required activity 1. on practical titles, you’ll see it refers you to apparatus and technique sections a, b, c, f, and i. 

For practical title 1. the required activity is the investigation into the effect of a named variable on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction. Therefore, a helpful revision technique for this would be to do a mind map of enzyme controlled reactions and use the connection of a, b, c, d, and i on the list to annotate around enzyme controlled reactions. 

OVERALL, YOU CAN USE THE SPECIFICATIONS TO YOUR BENEFIT BY REMEMBERING TO DO THESE THREE THINGS:

1. Know a method for each technique
2. Know how/why/when you would use each piece of apparatus
3. Be familiar with what you could be assessed on for each required practical

HOW TO USE THE SPECIFICATION TO LINK TO PRACTICAL SKILLS

As, you don’t have a physical practical exam, and are instead being assessed on written paper, the specification also tell you the types of things you could be assessed on like so:

A book I find quite useful when it comes to required practicals is Practical Biology by Jo Ormisher. If you want to snag this to help you study, you can find it here.

This book goes through not only all of the required practicals, but also for the apparatus and technique from the specification for AQA, and the different types of questions you could be assessed on, and how it links back to different practicals.

READY FOR MORE RESOURCES?

If you think you need more resources, consider checking out some of my resources! Here’s a few A-Level specific study guides for you 

A-LEVEL OCR A NOTES (FULL SET TOPICS 1-6):

• I have created theses notes (as well as my AQA notes) based on student feedback. You asked for keywords, lots of images, key points, and concise language – check these out by clicking here! Use these notes instead of spending the lessons struggling to follow along, and instead annotate and highlight whilst listening to your teacher.

A-LEVEL AQA BIOLOGY NOTES (FULL SET TOPICS 1-8):

• Just like my OCR A notes, these notes are meant to help you with keywords, concepts, and understanding of different topics. You can also use the keywords on the top of every page to use flashcards for different units when it comes time to do revision. Click here to get access to these notes now! 

I have other paid resources available to you as well (for GCSEs, revision help, and more!), but these are the ones that help students the most when it comes to shooting for that A* in A-Level biology 

IN CONCLUSION…

I hope you now understand how to use the specification in order to improve your grade in a simple and easy way! If you want to watch my youtube video where I explain the process in more detail, you can do so here.