This resource is designed to help you to plan your teaching to prepare students
for the essay in A-level Paper 3. It has been designed for a number of teachers
in the same department to work together, but could be adapted for single
teachers, or for use with students.
Throughout the development of our new A-level Biology specification, we spoke
to teachers and university experts. We were told that extended writing was an
important skill that students should be developing.
The 25 mark essay has been an element of our A-levels for many years, going
back several specifications. It is at its heart a synoptic essay. Students who write
in detail on one single area will not gain high marks. They must instead
demonstrate their ability to draw together concepts from throughout the course
and relate them to the title given.
At first, you can worry that this is difficult for your students and will mean a
large amount of marking.
In many ways, essays are a much more positive way of assessing than other
forms of question that cover large areas of the specification. As there are two
titles, students can pick the one that bests fits their knowledge of Biology and
show what they know.
The Biology essay produces a very satisfactory range of marks from all
candidates, showing that it allows candidates of all abilities to demonstrate their
knowledge. The graph below shows the spread of marks for all candidates in the
Biology essay in 2014.
As would be expected, it is difficult, but not impossible, to gain full or almost full
marks in the essay. What is perhaps even more reassuring is that very few
students gain little or no marks. This shows how even the weakest candidates
can gain marks by writing something on the essay and shows that it is worth
putting time into preparation of all students.
Essay teacher guide
