Skip to content
cookie
Shared notes

OCR A-Level Biology

A-Level · OCRBiology62 notes in 7 folders, 455 KB

Notes for OCR A-Level Biology A (H420), in folders for the course's six modules in their order, with one note for each topic or pair of related topics and the practical work in the topics it belongs to. A first folder covers practical skills and a last one the mathematical skills the course uses. Delete the folders your course leaves out if you take AS only (modules 1 to 4 are the AS content).

Adding them puts a copy in your notes, in a folder of its own with the folders below, for you to change and turn into flashcards or a question deck. Download gives you a zip of markdown files, which opens in any notes app.

What is inside

  • Practical skills
    • Planning and carrying out investigations8 KB
    • Processing data and evaluating results7 KB
  • Foundations in biology
    • Microscopy and magnification7 KB
    • Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells8 KB
    • Water, inorganic ions and the building blocks of biological molecules6 KB
    • Carbohydrates6 KB
    • Lipids5 KB
    • Proteins6 KB
    • Biochemical tests, colorimetry and chromatography7 KB
    • Nucleotides, DNA and ATP6 KB
    • DNA replication and protein synthesis7 KB
    • Enzymes6 KB
    • Cofactors, inhibitors and enzyme practicals7 KB
    • Membrane structure and permeability6 KB
    • Movement across membranes10 KB
    • The cell cycle and mitosis6 KB
    • Meiosis5 KB
    • Specialised cells, tissues and stem cells7 KB
  • Exchange and transport
    • Surface area to volume ratio and exchange surfaces5 KB
    • Gas exchange and ventilation in mammals7 KB
    • Gas exchange in bony fish and insects7 KB
    • Circulatory systems, blood vessels and tissue fluid7 KB
    • The heart, the cardiac cycle and ECGs8 KB
    • Haemoglobin and the transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide6 KB
    • Transport of water in plants10 KB
    • Translocation in the phloem6 KB
  • Biodiversity, evolution and disease
    • Pathogens, transmission and plant defences6 KB
    • Non-specific defences and phagocytosis6 KB
    • The specific immune response and antibodies6 KB
    • Immunity, vaccination, medicines and antibiotics8 KB
    • Biodiversity, sampling and measuring diversity8 KB
    • Maintaining biodiversity and conservation7 KB
    • Classification and phylogeny6 KB
    • Variation, adaptation and natural selection9 KB
  • Communication, homeostasis and energy
    • Cell signalling, homeostasis and temperature control7 KB
    • Excretion, the liver and the kidney8 KB
    • Control of blood water potential, kidney failure and diagnosis from urine8 KB
    • Neurones and nerve impulses8 KB
    • Synapses7 KB
    • Hormones, blood glucose and diabetes9 KB
    • Plant responses and plant hormones9 KB
    • The nervous system, reflexes and heart rate7 KB
    • Skeletal muscle and contraction7 KB
    • Photosynthesis, the light-dependent stage9 KB
    • Photosynthesis, the Calvin cycle and limiting factors8 KB
    • Respiration: glycolysis, the link reaction and the Krebs cycle7 KB
    • Oxidative phosphorylation and chemiosmosis5 KB
    • Anaerobic respiration, respiratory substrates and the respiratory quotient8 KB
  • Genetics, evolution and ecosystems
    • Gene mutations, control of gene expression and body plans10 KB
    • Patterns of inheritance8 KB
    • Linkage, epistasis and the chi-squared test7 KB
    • Selection, genetic drift and the Hardy-Weinberg principle7 KB
    • Speciation and artificial selection7 KB
    • DNA sequencing, PCR, electrophoresis and DNA profiling9 KB
    • Genetic engineering and gene therapy10 KB
    • Cloning in plants and animals8 KB
    • Microorganisms, biotechnology and immobilised enzymes11 KB
    • Ecosystems and biomass transfer7 KB
    • Recycling nitrogen and carbon7 KB
    • Succession, populations and sustainability11 KB
  • Maths skills
    • Statistics and the tests biologists use8 KB
    • Calculations used across biology9 KB

The first note

Practical skills / Planning and carrying out investigations

## Designing an investigation An investigation starts with a question that can be answered by measurement, and a prediction (a hypothesis) that follows from the biology. The **independent variable** is the one the investigator changes, the **dependent variable** is the one measured, and every other factor that could affect the dependent variable is a **control variable** that has to be kept constant or monitored. If a variable cannot be held constant, for example room temperature over several days, it is recorded so that its effect can be judged afterwards. A plan that can be followed by someone else states: - the range and intervals of the independent variable (at least five values, evenly spaced, unless the biology suggests otherwise); - what is measured, with which apparatus, in which units and how often; - how each control variable is kept constant, and how; - how many repeats are made at each value, so that a mean can be calculated and anomalies spotted; - the control experiment, which differs from the test only in the factor being tested, and shows that the result is caused by that factor. A tube with boiled enzyme, or with water in place of enzyme, is a typical control; - the hazards and how the risk is reduced. ## Implementing the plan Using apparatus correctly means measuring in the right units, to the resolution the instrument allows, and recording observations and data in a table or a drawing as they are made. ### Choosing apparatus The apparatus must measure the…

And 61 more once you add or download them.

Reviews

No written reviews yet. Add these notes to yours and you can be the first to leave one.