Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) Active Recall Guide (9BN0)
Edexcel · A-Level
Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 9BN0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 1,892 questions across 8 topics and 136 subtopics, covering all three papers with no optional content left out.
- Edexcel
- A-Level
- Specification 9BN0
- 1,892 questions
Guide overview All 8 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel A-Level Biology A is the Salters-Nuffield course, eight topics assessed by three written papers of 2 hours and 100 marks each, a third of the A-level apiece. Paper 1 examines Topics 1 to 6. Paper 2 examines Topics 1 to 4 plus 7 and 8. Paper 3 draws on all eight with synoptic questions.
There is no optional content, so the recall load is fixed from the first day of Year 12. Topics 1 to 4 are examined on every paper, which makes them the highest-value content on the course.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 The Natural Environment and Species Survival |
Topics 1 to 6: lifestyle and health, genes, the genome, biodiversity, ecology and climate, and immunity Multiple-choice, short open, open-response, calculation and extended writing questions Includes questions on experimental method and on mathematics at Level 2 or above |
2 hours | 100 marks | 33⅓% |
|
Paper 2 Energy, Exercise and Co-ordination |
Topics 1 to 4, 7 and 8: the core content, then exercise physiology and the nervous system Multiple-choice, short open, open-response, calculation and extended writing questions Includes questions on experimental method and on mathematics at Level 2 or above |
2 hours | 100 marks | 33⅓% |
|
Paper 3 General and Practical Applications in Biology |
Drawn from all eight topics, with synoptic questions spanning two or more of them A scientific article released eight weeks beforehand underpins one section Every question is set in a context and broken into parts |
2 hours | 100 marks | 33⅓% |
What is in the guide
All 8 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
Water and the carbohydrates
What is a disaccharide?
Show the answer
A carbohydrate formed from two monosaccharide units joined together. -
Gas exchange surfaces and Fick's Law
State Fick's Law in words.
Show the answer
The rate of diffusion is proportional to the surface area multiplied by the concentration difference, divided by the thickness of the exchange surface. -
Prokaryotic cells
What is the function of the capsule found in some prokaryotic cells?
Show the answer
It acts as a protective layer outside the cell wall. -
Biodiversity, species richness and the index of diversity
State the formula for calculating the heterozygosity index (H).
Show the answer
H = number of heterozygotes ÷ total number of individuals in the population. -
Photosynthesis: the light-dependent reactions
What would happen to GP levels in a chloroplast if light were suddenly removed?
Show the answer
GP levels would increase because GP would continue to be formed by carbon fixation but could not be reduced to GALP without ATP and reduced NADP from the light-dependent reactions. -
Decomposition, succession and forensic entomology
Describe the advanced decay stage of decomposition.
Show the answer
Most soft tissue has been removed; decomposition slows significantly and remaining tissue dries out. -
Muscles and Movement
Why do muscles need to work in pairs to produce movement at a joint?
Show the answer
Because muscles can only generate force by contracting (pulling) and cannot push, so a second muscle is needed to produce movement in the opposite direction -
The structure of neurones and myelination
What structural features of relay neurones allow them to integrate signals from multiple sources?
Show the answer
They have short axons and numerous dendrites.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
-
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Lifestyle, Health and Risk200
- Genes and Health259
- Voice of the Genome194
- Biodiversity and Natural Resources287
- On the Wild Side319
- Immunity, Infection and Forensics180
- Run for Your Life213
- Grey Matter240
- Why do gas exchange surfaces have a large surface area to volume ratio?
- How does the thickness of a gas exchange surface affect its efficiency?
- Why must gas exchange surfaces maintain a steep concentration gradient?
- How does surface area affect the rate of diffusion?
- What is the relationship between the thickness of an exchange surface and the rate of diffusion?
- How does concentration difference affect the rate of diffusion?
- State Fick's Law in words.
- In Fick's Law, what does the symbol A represent?
- In Fick's Law, what does ΔC represent?
- To maximise the area available for diffusion.
- Gas exchange surfaces are thin to minimise the diffusion distance, which increases the rate of diffusion.
- To maximise the rate of diffusion across the surface.
- The rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the surface area.
- The rate of diffusion is inversely proportional to the thickness of the exchange surface.
- The rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the concentration difference.
- The rate of diffusion is proportional to the surface area multiplied by the concentration difference, divided by the thickness of the exchange surface.
- Surface area.
- The concentration difference (or concentration gradient).
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Am I on Biology A or Biology B?
Edexcel runs two A-Level Biology specifications. This guide is Biology A, Salters-Nuffield, 9BN0, taught as eight context-led topics. The other is Biology B, 9BI0, the concept-led route with ten topics, organised completely differently.
The code is on your exam timetable. If yours says 9BI0 you need the Biology B guide instead.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 examines Topics 1 to 6. Paper 2 examines Topics 1 to 4 plus Topics 7 and 8. Paper 3 draws on all eight. The full breakdown is here.
Topics 1 to 4 appear on every paper, which is why they are worth doing first and returning to most often.
Is the Practical Endorsement in it?
The Endorsement itself is marked by your teacher across the course and reported separately as a pass, so it is not examined and not in the guide.
The eighteen core practicals are also examined on the written papers, and that content is in the guide inside the topics it belongs to.
Are the calculations covered?
Yes. Magnification and scale, rates from gradients, chi-squared and the choice of statistical test, standard deviation, the Hardy-Weinberg equation, dilution and concentration, and percentage change.
Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.