Biology

Animal and plant cells: key structures and functions

Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells

Using a light microscope safely and correctly

Magnification: calculating and using scale bars

Biological drawings: rules for clear, labelled cell diagrams

Specified practical: Observe plant and animal cells and draw what you see

Cell differentiation and specialised cells

Stem cells: what they are and why they matter (benefits and risks)

Mitosis: growth, repair and cell replacement

Enzymes as biological catalysts

Enzyme action: lock-and-key and active site ideas

Factors affecting enzyme activity (temperature, pH, concentration)

Specified practical: Investigate factors affecting enzyme action

Aerobic respiration: purpose and word equation

Anaerobic respiration in humans vs yeast (products and energy)

Comparing aerobic and anaerobic respiration (efficiency and outcomes)

Digestion as breaking down insoluble food into soluble molecules

Why the body needs glucose, amino acids, fatty acids and glycerol

Specified practical: Food tests for starch, glucose and protein

Diffusion: what it is and why it happens

Osmosis: water movement and partially permeable membranes

Active transport: moving substances against a concentration gradient

Surface area to volume ratio: why size matters for exchange

Exchange surfaces: features that speed up diffusion

Osmosis in living tissue: predicting and explaining mass change

Specified practical: Osmosis in potato chips (solute concentration investigation)

Gas exchange in humans: alveoli structure and function

Breathing and ventilation: how air moves in and out

The heart: structure, chambers and blood flow pathway

Blood vessels: arteries, veins and capillaries (structure meets function)

Blood components: plasma, red cells, white cells, platelets

Coronary heart disease: links to lifestyle and risk

Specified practical: Observe artery and vein tissue under a microscope and draw

Xylem: transporting water and minerals (adaptations of vessels)

Phloem and translocation: moving sugars around the plant

Root hair cells: absorption and active transport of mineral ions

Leaf structure: labelling a transverse section (T.S. leaf)

Stomata and guard cells: controlling gas exchange and water loss

Transpiration: what it is and what affects it

Potometers: investigating transpiration rate safely

Defining health and disease (physical, mental and social factors)

Pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi and protists (how they cause disease)

Transmission routes: direct contact, water, air and vectors

Preventing spread: hygiene, isolation and vaccination

The immune system: barriers and basic defence mechanisms

White blood cells: phagocytosis and antibody production

Vaccination: how it works and herd immunity basics

Evaluating vaccination decisions: evidence, risk and media influence

Antibiotics: what they treat (and what they don’t)

Antibiotic resistance: how it develops and how to reduce it

MRSA: why resistant strains are dangerous and control measures

Aseptic technique: safe culturing, plating and incubating microbes

Specified practical: Investigate the effect of antibiotics on bacterial growth

Developing medicines: preclinical testing and clinical trials

Side effects, placebos and managing risk in drug testing

Non-communicable diseases: what they are and why they’re increasing

Lifestyle factors and disease rates (diet, exercise, alcohol, smoking, UV)

Cardiovascular disease: causes and prevention

Treatments for cardiovascular disease (statins, stents, lifestyle change)

Cancer: risk factors and the role of mutations (core idea)

The nervous system: CNS, PNS and basic roles

Neurones: sensory, relay and motor (structure and function)

Synapses: how signals pass between neurones (core idea)

Reflexes: reflex arc and why reflexes are fast

Measuring reaction time: accuracy, repeatability and bias

Specified practical: Investigate factors affecting reaction times

The endocrine system: glands and hormones overview

Negative feedback: the key idea behind homeostasis

Blood glucose control: insulin and glucagon

Diabetes: Type 1 vs Type 2 and managing blood sugar

Thermoregulation: keeping core temperature stable

The kidneys: removing urea and balancing water and salts

Filtration and selective reabsorption in the nephron (core pathway)

ADH and osmoregulation: dilute vs concentrated urine

Osmotic challenges: what happens to cells when body fluids change

Specified practical: Dissection of a mammalian kidney

Plant hormones: auxin and tropisms (phototropism and gravitropism)

Gibberellins and ethene: effects on growth and ripening

Using plant hormones in agriculture and horticulture

Photosynthesis: what happens and why it matters

Chlorophyll and chloroplasts: trapping light energy

Photosynthesis as an endothermic reaction (energy in)

The photosynthesis word equation (and what each substance means)

Limiting factors: light intensity, carbon dioxide and temperature

Interpreting limiting factor graphs (spotting what’s limiting)

Inverse square law (light intensity with distance) in photosynthesis contexts

Using glucose made in photosynthesis (respiration, storage, building biomass)

Specified practical: Investigate factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis

Levels of organisation: organism to ecosystem

Populations and communities: what the terms mean in exam questions

Abiotic vs biotic factors: examples and impacts

Competition and interdependence in ecosystems

Food chains and food webs: energy transfer pathways

Trophic levels and pyramids (numbers, biomass, energy)

Biomass: what it shows and how it changes through a food chain

Decomposers: the role of microbes and detritivores

Decomposition: factors that affect rate (temperature, oxygen, moisture)

Specified practical: Investigate factors affecting decomposition

Sampling: quadrats, random sampling and avoiding bias

Distribution: transects and identifying change across a habitat

Specified practical: Investigate abundance and distribution of a species

Biodiversity: what it is and why it matters

Measuring biodiversity: species richness and comparing habitats

The carbon cycle: stores, transfers and human impacts

The water cycle: processes and how humans affect it

Pollution, land use and climate effects on biodiversity

Conservation strategies: local and global protection (and data issues)

Biological control and invasive species: benefits, risks and changing practice

Food security: population, changing diets, pests, sustainability and cost

Increasing yields with fewer resources: GM, farming practices and trade-offs

The genome: what it means and why it matters

DNA basics: genes, alleles and chromosomes (how they link)

Gene expression: genes coding for proteins (core idea)

Mutations: what they are and how they can affect phenotype

Specified practical: Simple DNA extraction from living material

Sexual vs asexual reproduction: similarities and differences

Gametes and fertilisation: forming a zygote

Mitosis vs meiosis: what each is for (core comparison)

Inheritance key terms: genotype, phenotype, dominant, recessive

Monohybrid crosses: using genetic diagrams to predict offspring

Sex determination: XX/XY inheritance (core model)

Variation: genetic, environmental and a mix of both

Continuous vs discontinuous variation (and how to spot each)

Natural selection: variation, competition, survival and reproduction

Evidence for evolution: fossils, antibiotic resistance, selective pressures

Darwin and Wallace: developing the theory of natural selection

Selective breeding: steps, benefits and drawbacks

Genetic engineering: what it is and the basic process steps

GM: benefits, risks and ethical considerations in farming and medicine