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The SQA Biology exams took place yesterday. I managed to get my hands on a complete set of papers in the afternoon so I was able to have a look at them last night. Here are a few thoughts.

Standard Grade General Level.

I thought this was quite a hard paper. Both the kidney and the heart were covered in quite a lot of detail for General level. I personally thought that the Problem Solving questions were pretty heavy too.

Standard Grade Credit Level.

For a Credit level paper, I thought it was pretty easy. The lungs, digestive system, cells and photosynthesis were covered in sufficient detail and the Problem Solving questions weren’t too challenging.

Intermediate 1.

A pretty reasonable paper this year. Though, as always, there were lots of tables. Tables of contents, tables to be interpreted, tables to be completed. What is it about Intermediate 1 and tables?!

Intermediate 2.

Again another pretty standard paper. I particularly liked section C (the Extended Responses) this year. Questions on sexual reproduction in plants, genetic engineering, anaerobic engineering in yeast and enzymes. These are all major topics in Intermediate 2. There are two extended response questions in Section C and both are worth 5 marks- very important!

Higher Level.

Section A-(multiple choice) and Section B-(short answer) were both reasonable. I didn’t think that there was anything to challenging. Section C however was a bit disappointing. Section C at Higher level has two Extended response questions, each worth 10 marks (a total of 20 marks).

Section C- Question 1 was a choice between Lactose metabolism in E.Coli and Phenylketonuria or Density Dependent factors and Succession. Question 2 was a choice between Gene Mutations and Mutagenic Agents or Somatic Fusion and Genetic Engineering. There was no question from Unit 1- Cell Biology within this section. In my experience pupils will spend more time revising the content of Unit 1 as it directly affects the understanding of the later units.

Advanced Higher.

I have only taught Units 2 and 3 of the Advanced Higher course so I will only pass comment on questions that relate to them.

Section A- Multiple Choice. Not too bad at all. Questions on Competition, Parasitism and Population were all easy enough.

Section B-Short answer and Extended response (Ex.R worth 15 marks each) - Nice questions on Energy Flow, Nitrogen Fixation and Monocultures. The extended response question was a choice between The affects on ecosystems of phosphate enrichment, exotic species and persistent toxic pollutants or The roles of the following in the survival of organisms: Dormancy, mimicry and mutualism.

I am guessing the latter would have been the preferred choice of pupils as it is very similar to one of the essay questions in the Heriot Watt Scholar scheme.

Section C- Short answer questions on Unit 3. Teachers can choose between the topics of Biotechnology, Animal Behaviour and Physiology, Health and Exercise. Physiology, Health and Exercise is the topic I have always taught and the questions in this year’s paper seemed pretty amicable.

All in all I if felt that this year’s diet of SQA Biology exams was pretty fair.

Just a few of my thoughts…. All my own

I will be interested to see what the tabloids say.  Did you sit or see an SQA Biology exam paper this year?

What did you think?

Let’s discuss!