aqa a level biology essay examples

aqa a level biology essay examples

Exploring Advanced Essay Writing in AQA A Level Biology

1. Introduction to Essay Writing in AQA A Level Biology

The essay is marked with a scheme incorporating simplified assessment objectives consistent with the specification, with separate descriptors for biology content and for transferable skills. In this way, students are able to score points for transferable skills such as quality of written communication, application, analysis, and the synthesis of data. All of the above attributes can be developed in the course of the A level programme. Each student should be encouraged and helped to develop these areas to the highest level possible prior to writing the synoptic essay. It is also possible to focus on these areas without the essay element, using evaluation exercises and past paper materials to develop the requisite skills. These tasks make excellent activities for both individual or group work.

The AQA A level Biology specification includes 25% written assessment in the form of an essay. This is a synoptic assessment – it involves a choice of two essay titles from which students must choose one to write an essay. This is similar to the synoptic essay written at the end of the A level course. The synoptic essay is sometimes referred to as the Unit 5 essay. Other synoptic assessments in the specification are carried out in the A level written exams. Therefore, the synoptic essay requires a combination of knowledge and skills assessed in the other A level examinations in order to write an effective essay.

2. Structuring Your Essay: Key Components and Strategies

A well-constructed argument can generally be achieved in more than one way, and attempting detailed analyses might miss the big picture for the correct buzzwords. Though flexibility is intrinsic in the study of life, it is still important to structure your essay clearly, offering alternate perspectives reasonably. Convoluted sentence structure and noun-heavy prose distancing the reader from the essay are very common in A-level examinations. The purpose of every sentence that you write should be clear, and each essay should have an overall shape that systematically leads the examiner through the logic of your argument. It’s not the case that you write lots of different things in your exam and then figure out how best to link them together after you’ve written them; the links between components should dictate what you write, e.g. a set of examples may require the linking concept to be defined before you can introduce the list of examples itself. It will also help you to work faster and more accurately.

Building an argument, addressing the question, and expressing yourself clearly and effectively in your writing are the principal challenges of advanced essay writing. Key components of AQA A-level essay writing, such as introduction, outline or describe, and application, are examined in the previous chapter. This chapter examines how key components can be linked and structured in an essay, and provides strategies to help you express yourself most effectively. The structure suggested is a good starting point for most questions, and points for other common questions are also discussed. The essential thing is that your essay should convey the structure in a clear and straightforward way.

3. Analyzing and Evaluating Essay Examples in AQA A Level Biology

This section comprises leveled tasks and essay plans, and advice on how to use them. I will also deal with the presentation of the discussion with particular reference to dealing with contentious views or opinions which is part of the communication of knowledge. The role of discussion in communicating knowledge, especially with respect to AQA, is emphasized. The discussion is often at least as important as the rest of the work in terms of interpreting the results and transposing them into their physical significance. It is discussed by an examiner from an A level examining board, with supporting information from educational and scientific specialists. The analysis of a set of student answers from AQA A level examinations is used to support the advice here. The way that essays are reported is discussed. Analysing discussion quality from student papers provides a particular approach. Comments from and the analyst are provided.

4. Incorporating Scientific Evidence and Research in Your Essays

You must support every argument in your essay with reference to sources: for example, educational broadcasts, internet resources, literature, TV, film or personal communication, including photographs. Students should be encouraged to use a number of sources as this adds weight to their argument. You must take the reference with you to the exam so that you can quote it as evidence for your argument. A good tip is to use colours on your plan. Schools have been using ‘pyramid plans’ for many years which start off with the basics highlighted in yellow and as the plan unfolds, the information moves up the pyramid appropriate to the depth required for the argument. Also, this way the student uses the given specimen data to support their argument. If more time remains, speed-read the report. This helps you choose more likely sources and then take notes. Use a range of bullet points to present your information. Just like the content of your essay, use the marks allocated to each essay element to form a priority list.

Once you have a grasp of the essay title, you need to plan your essays. The foundation of a good essay is clear argument and logic. In the context of essay titles set for A Level Biology, a plan might consist of bullet points highlighting areas of discussion relevant to the essay title. Many students find this helps and can be a staged approach to achieving depth in their writing, whilst retaining the reader’s interest. You could speak with your form tutor and teacher to ask whether they have an example essay you could use as a model. Best practice is that you write a plan before you start writing each paragraph. This will help prevent rambling and maintain the flow of your argument. In synthesis essays, where you are presented with a number of short statements from a range of authors, it is also a good idea to rank statements and choose three or four themes around which to write your essay plan.

5. Conclusion and Further Resources for Essay Writing Excellence

So, in conclusion, even the most sanguine of prospective A-level biology students would hope first that they will be studying and identifying facts, concepts, and hypotheses that are interesting, enjoyable, and engaging. In that spirit, what follows here is the identification of some tools and practice strategies to enable students to engage readers, their examiners, as effectively and interestingly as possible. The range of sources used to compile this guide has been identified on the last page. It has been produced largely in response to a perceived demand from teachers of A-level biology for guidance for students. The booklet aims to enable students to rise above the demands of essay writing rubric: to make reference to sources again and again, and to demonstrate their mastery over a very broad range of tools used to communicate biological facts knowledgeably and informatively.

Scientists communicate with the rest of the world primarily via their writing. Whether it is articles in scholarly journals, patent applications to protect original inventions or commercial opportunities, applications to fund experiments, research proposals, or impromptu letters to the popular press challenging and disseminating literature. When in their A-level year, conducting their biological inquiries and writing up their independent practical work, students might be developing valuable foundation writing skills. It is presently timely to identify a range of steps which they can take to give their writing extra zing for A-level exams and get into the good practice for degree dynamics.