Edexcel A-level Biology A (SNAB)

What is included

What this course covers

• Topic 1 — Lifestyle, Health and Risk

  • 1.1 – Why animals have a heart and circulation
  • 1.2 – Water as a solvent in transport
  • 1.3 – The structures of blood vessels and their functions
  • 1.4 – The cardiac cycle and the structure and operation of the mammalian heart
  • 1.5 – Atherosclerosis and the blood-clotting process
  • 1.6 – Risk factors for cardiovascular disease
  • 1.7 – Analysing data on illness and mortality, and evaluating the design of studies
  • 1.8 – Perceptions of risk and actual risk
  • 1.9 – Energy budgets, diet and the consequences of energy imbalance
  • 1.10 – Monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides and their roles in providing and storing energy
  • 1.11 – Glycosidic bonds: condensation and hydrolysis reactions
  • 1.12 – Triglycerides, ester bonds, and saturated and unsaturated lipids
  • 1.13 – Blood cholesterol, HDLs and LDLs, and cardiovascular disease
  • 1.14 – Reducing the risk of coronary heart disease: obesity indicators, exercise and smoking
  • Core practical 1: Investigate the effect of caffeine on heart rate in Daphnia
  • 1.15 – Ethical issues in the use of invertebrates in research
  • Core practical 2: Investigate the vitamin C content of food and drink
  • 1.16 – Treatments for cardiovascular disease: benefits and risks

• Topic 2 — Genes and Health

  • 2.1 – Gas exchange surfaces, Fick's Law of Diffusion and the mammalian lung
  • 2.2 – Cell membranes and the fluid mosaic model
  • Core practical 3: Membrane structure: the effect of alcohol concentration or temperature on permeability
  • 2.3 – Osmosis
  • 2.4 – Passive and active transport, endocytosis and exocytosis, and carrier and channel proteins
  • 2.5 – Mononucleotides, DNA and RNA, and the DNA double helix
  • 2.6 – Protein synthesis: transcription, translation, the genetic code and genes
  • 2.7 – Amino acids, polypeptides and the structure of proteins
  • 2.8 – Enzymes: mechanism of action, specificity and activation energy
  • Core practical 4: Enzyme and substrate concentrations and the initial rates of reactions
  • 2.9 – DNA replication and Meselson and Stahl's experiment
  • 2.10 – Mutations from errors in DNA replication, and cystic fibrosis
  • 2.11 – Monohybrid inheritance and genetic pedigree diagrams
  • 2.12 – Cystic fibrosis and the gaseous exchange, digestive and reproductive systems
  • 2.13 – Genetic screening and its social and ethical issues

• Topic 3 — Voice of the Genome

  • 3.1 – Cells and the ultrastructure of eukaryotic cells
  • 3.2 – The rough endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus in protein transport
  • 3.3 – The ultrastructure of prokaryotic cells, and recognising organelles in electron microscope images
  • 3.4 – Mammalian gametes and fertilisation
  • 3.5 – Loci, the linkage of genes and sex linkage
  • 3.6 – Meiosis and genetic variation
  • 3.7 – Mitosis and the cell cycle
  • Core practical 5: Prepare and stain a root tip squash to observe the stages of mitosis
  • 3.8 – Stem cells, pluripotency and totipotency
  • 3.9 – Cell specialisation through differential gene expression, and tissues, organs and systems
  • 3.10 – Genotype, the environment and epigenetic changes
  • 3.11 – Polygenic inheritance and continuous variation

• Topic 4 — Biodiversity and Natural Resources

  • 4.1 – Biodiversity and endemism, species richness, the heterozygosity index and the index of diversity
  • 4.2 – The niche, adaptation and natural selection
  • 4.3 – The Hardy-Weinberg equation, reproductive isolation and the formation of new species
  • 4.4 – Classification, the species concept and the three domains of life
  • 4.5 – The ultrastructure of plant cells, and recognising organelles in electron microscope images
  • 4.6 – Starch and cellulose, and cellulose microfibrils in plant cell walls
  • Core practical 6: Identifying sclerenchyma fibres, phloem sieve tubes and xylem vessels in stems
  • 4.7 – Sclerenchyma fibres, xylem vessels and phloem
  • 4.8 – The importance of water and inorganic ions to plants
  • Core practical 7: Investigate plant mineral deficiencies
  • Core practical 8: Determine the tensile strength of plant fibres
  • 4.9 – The development of drug testing: from William Withering's digitalis soup to three-phased testing
  • 4.10 – The conditions required for bacterial growth
  • Core practical 9: The antimicrobial properties of plants, with aseptic techniques
  • 4.11 – Plant fibres and starch for sustainability
  • 4.12 – Zoos and seed banks in the conservation of endangered species

• Topic 5 — On the Wild Side

  • 5.1 – Ecosystems, communities, populations and habitats, biotic and abiotic factors, and the niche
  • Core practical 10: The ecology of a habitat: quadrats, transects and abiotic factors
  • 5.2 – Succession from colonisation to a climax community
  • 5.3 – The overall reaction of photosynthesis, and ATP
  • 5.4 – The light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis
  • 5.5 – The light-independent reactions: the Calvin cycle and its products
  • Core practical 11: Investigate photosynthesis using isolated chloroplasts (the Hill reaction)
  • 5.6 – The structure of chloroplasts
  • 5.7 – Gross and net primary productivity, and the efficiency of biomass and energy transfers
  • 5.8 – The evidence for climate change and its causes
  • 5.9 – Models of future climate change, and its effects on plants and animals
  • 5.10 – Temperature and the rate of enzyme activity
  • 5.11 – Evolution through gene mutation and natural selection
  • 5.12 – The scientific community validating new evidence, including proteomics and genomics
  • 5.13 – Isolation, gene flow and allopatric and sympatric speciation
  • Core practical 12: Temperature and the initial rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction, to include Q10
  • Core practical 13: The effects of temperature on the development of organisms
  • 5.14 – Scientific conclusions on controversial issues such as climate change
  • 5.15 – The carbon cycle, reforestation and the use of sustainable resources

• Topic 6 — Immunity, Infection and Forensics

  • 6.1 – Determining the time of death, and micro-organisms in decomposition and the recycling of carbon
  • 6.2 – DNA profiling and the polymerase chain reaction
  • Core practical 14: Use gel electrophoresis to separate DNA fragments of different length
  • 6.3 – The structure of bacteria and viruses
  • 6.4 – How Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV infect human cells
  • 6.5 – The non-specific responses of the body to infection
  • 6.6 – Antigens, antibodies, plasma cells, macrophages and antigen-presenting cells
  • 6.7 – B cells and T cells in the immune response
  • 6.8 – One gene, more than one protein: post-transcriptional changes to mRNA
  • 6.9 – The routes pathogens take into the body, and the barriers to infection
  • 6.10 – Developing immunity, and the 'evolutionary race' between pathogens and hosts
  • 6.11 – Bacteriostatic and bactericidal antibiotics
  • Core practical 15: Investigate the effect of different antibiotics on bacteria
  • 6.12 – Hospital acquired infections and codes of practice

• Topic 7 — Run for your Life

  • 7.1 – Muscles, tendons, the skeleton and ligaments in movement
  • 7.2 – The sliding filament theory of muscle contraction
  • 7.3 – Aerobic respiration as a many-stepped, enzyme-controlled process
  • 7.4 – Glycolysis in aerobic and anaerobic respiration
  • 7.5 – The link reaction and the Krebs cycle
  • 7.6 – Oxidative phosphorylation, and lactate after anaerobic respiration
  • Core practical 16: Investigate rate of respiration
  • 7.7 – Cardiac muscle, the electrical activity of the heart and electrocardiograms
  • 7.8 – Cardiac output, and the control of heart rate and ventilation rate
  • Core practical 17: The effects of exercise on tidal volume, breathing rate and oxygen consumption
  • 7.9 – Muscle fibres, and fast and slow twitch fibres
  • 7.10 – Negative and positive feedback, homeostasis and thermoregulation
  • 7.11 – Exercising too much and too little
  • 7.12 – Medical technology in sport, and performance-enhancing substances
  • 7.13 – Transcription factors and hormones switching genes on and off

• Topic 8 — Grey Matter

  • 8.1 – Sensory, relay and motor neurones, effectors, and the pupil
  • 8.2 – The action potential and saltatory conduction
  • 8.3 – Synapses and neurotransmitters
  • 8.4 – Rods, rhodopsin and the detection of stimuli
  • 8.5 – Phytochrome and IAA in plant responses
  • 8.6 – Nervous and hormonal co-ordination, and the cerebral hemispheres, hypothalamus, cerebellum and medulla
  • 8.7 – MRI, fMRI, PET and CT scans in medical diagnosis and the investigation of the brain
  • 8.8 – The critical period, animal models including Hubel and Wiesel, and the ethics of animals in research
  • 8.9 – Habituation
  • Core practical 18: Investigate habituation to a stimulus
  • 8.10 – Brain chemicals, ill health, and the effects of drugs on synaptic transmission
  • 8.11 – Genome sequencing and personalised medicine
  • 8.12 – Drugs from genetically modified organisms, and their risks and benefits
  • 8.13 – Nature and nurture in brain development

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