AQA GCSE Biology
View Course TimetableTheme 1: Cell Biology
Cell Structure (7 lessons)
Explore cell structure in Biology.
Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes
Learn how eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells differ, and measure tiny cells using standard form.
Start LessonAnimal and Plant Cells
Learn what each part of animal, plant and bacterial cells does, and compare their sizes.
Start LessonSpecialised Cells and Differentiation
How sperm, nerve, muscle and plant cells are built for their jobs, and how cells differentiate.
Start LessonMicroscopes and Magnification
How microscopes developed, light versus electron microscopes, and calculating magnification, image size and real size.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Looking at Cells Under a Microscope
Prepare, stain and focus slides of plant and animal cells, then draw and label them.
Unlock Full CourseCulturing Microorganisms
Grow bacteria safely using aseptic technique, then calculate population size and colony area.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Antibiotics and Bacterial Growth
Test antibiotics and antiseptics on bacteria, measure zones of inhibition and calculate their areas.
Unlock Full CourseCell Division (2 lessons)
Explore cell division in Biology.
Chromosomes, Mitosis and the Cell Cycle
Chromosomes, genes and DNA, then the three stages of the cell cycle including mitosis.
Unlock Full CourseStem Cells
What stem cells are, where they are found, medical uses, risks, ethics, and plant cloning.
Unlock Full CourseTransport in Cells (5 lessons)
Explore transport in cells in Biology.
Diffusion
How substances move in and out of cells by diffusion, and what makes it faster.
Unlock Full CourseSurface Area to Volume Ratio and Exchange Surfaces
Why large organisms need exchange surfaces, and how surface area to volume ratios compare
Unlock Full CourseOsmosis
How water moves across cell membranes by osmosis, and how to measure and graph it
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Osmosis in Plant Tissue
How to investigate osmosis in potato cylinders, process the results and evaluate the method
Unlock Full CourseActive Transport
How active transport moves substances against a gradient using energy from respiration
Unlock Full CourseTheme 2: Organisation
Principles of Organisation (1 lessons)
Explore principles of organisation in Biology.
Cells, Tissues, Organs and Systems
Learn how cells, tissues, organs and organ systems fit together, using the digestive system.
Unlock Full CourseAnimal Tissues, Organs and Systems (11 lessons)
Explore animal tissues, organs and systems in Biology.
Enzymes and the Lock and Key Model
Learn what enzymes are, how the lock and key model works, and how to calculate rates.
Unlock Full CourseDigestive Enzymes and Bile
How amylase, proteases, lipases and bile break food into small molecules the body can absorb.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Food Tests
Learn how to test foods for sugars, starch, protein and lipids using colour-change reagents.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: pH and the Rate of Amylase Activity
Investigate how pH affects amylase using iodine sampling, rate calculations, graphs and error analysis.
Unlock Full CourseThe Heart
How the heart pumps blood in a double circulatory system, its chambers, vessels and pacemakers.
Unlock Full CourseBlood Vessels and the Lungs
How arteries, veins and capillaries suit their jobs, blood flow rates, and gas exchange in lungs.
Unlock Full CourseBlood
Blood as a tissue: plasma, red and white blood cells and platelets, their jobs and adaptations.
Unlock Full CourseCoronary Heart Disease and Its Treatments
Coronary heart disease, stents, statins, faulty valves, transplants, artificial hearts and evaluating treatments.
Unlock Full CourseHealth and Disease
Health, how diseases interact, reading disease data in charts, and why sampling matters
Unlock Full CourseLifestyle and Non-Communicable Diseases
Risk factors for non-communicable disease: diet, smoking, alcohol, carcinogens, costs and reading risk data
Unlock Full CourseCancer
Cancer as uncontrolled cell growth, benign and malignant tumours, and lifestyle and genetic risk factors
Unlock Full CoursePlant Tissues, Organs and Systems (3 lessons)
Explore plant tissues, organs and systems in Biology.
Plant Tissues and the Leaf
How plant tissues suit their jobs and how they fit together to build the leaf.
Unlock Full CourseTranspiration and Translocation
How plants move water, mineral ions and sugars: root hairs, xylem, phloem and stomata.
Unlock Full CourseMeasuring the Rate of Transpiration
How temperature, humidity, air movement and light affect transpiration, and how to measure and analyse it.
Unlock Full CourseTheme 3: Infection and Response
Communicable Diseases (7 lessons)
Explore communicable diseases in Biology.
Pathogens and How Disease Spreads
What pathogens are, how they spread, how they cause illness and how spread is reduced.
Unlock Full CourseViral Diseases
Measles, HIV and AIDS, and tobacco mosaic virus: symptoms, spread and effects.
Unlock Full CourseBacterial, Fungal and Protist Diseases
Salmonella, gonorrhoea, rose black spot and malaria: how they spread, symptoms and control.
Unlock Full CourseHuman Defence Systems
How skin, nose, airways and stomach block pathogens, and how white blood cells fight them.
Unlock Full CourseVaccination
How vaccines prepare white blood cells, protect individuals, and give whole populations herd immunity.
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How antibiotics kill bacteria, why they fail against viruses, and what painkillers do.
Unlock Full CourseDiscovering and Developing New Drugs
How new medicines are discovered, tested in the lab, trialled on people and peer reviewed.
Unlock Full CourseMonoclonal Antibodies (1 lessons)
Explore monoclonal antibodies in Biology.
Monoclonal Antibodies
How monoclonal antibodies are made from hybridoma cells and used in tests, research and cancer treatment.
Unlock Full CoursePlant Disease (1 lessons)
Explore plant disease in Biology.
Plant Disease and Defence
How plant disease is detected, ion deficiencies, and plant defence responses.
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Photosynthesis (4 lessons)
Explore photosynthesis in Biology.
Photosynthesis and the Uses of Glucose
Learn the photosynthesis equation, why it is endothermic, and how plants use glucose.
Unlock Full CourseRate of Photosynthesis
Learn how temperature, light, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll change photosynthesis rate, and read rate graphs.
Unlock Full CourseLimiting Factors and Greenhouses
Explain graphs with several limiting factors, the inverse square law for light, and greenhouse economics.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Light Intensity and Photosynthesis
Plan and run the pondweed investigation into how light intensity changes the rate of photosynthesis.
Unlock Full CourseRespiration (3 lessons)
Explore respiration in Biology.
Aerobic and Anaerobic Respiration
Learn how cells transfer energy by aerobic and anaerobic respiration, with equations and fermentation in yeast.
Unlock Full CourseResponse to Exercise
How exercise changes heart rate and breathing, and why lactic acid and oxygen debt build up.
Unlock Full CourseMetabolism
How cells use energy to build and break down carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, including urea.
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Homeostasis (1 lessons)
Explore homeostasis in Biology.
Homeostasis and Control Systems
How the body keeps internal conditions steady using receptors, coordination centres and effectors.
Unlock Full CourseThe Human Nervous System (5 lessons)
Explore the human nervous system in Biology.
The Nervous System and Reflexes
How neurones, the CNS and effectors produce responses, and how reflex arcs work.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Reaction Time
How to plan and run the ruler drop reaction time investigation, with repeats, means and graphs
Unlock Full CourseThe Brain
Learn the brain's main regions, what each controls, and how scientists map and treat it.
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Learn the eye's structures, how it focuses, and how sight defects are corrected.
Unlock Full CourseControlling Body Temperature
How the brain, skin receptors, blood vessels, sweat glands and muscles keep body temperature steady.
Unlock Full CourseHormonal Coordination in Humans (9 lessons)
Explore hormonal coordination in humans in Biology.
The Endocrine System
How glands release hormones into the blood to coordinate the body, and where they are.
Unlock Full CourseControlling Blood Glucose
How the pancreas uses insulin to control blood glucose, and how glucagon helps at Higher tier.
Unlock Full CourseDiabetes
The two types of diabetes, how each is treated, obesity risk and glucose graphs.
Unlock Full CourseWater Balance and the Kidneys
How the kidneys keep water balance, make urine and, at higher tier, how ADH works.
Unlock Full CourseKidney Failure: Dialysis and Transplants
How dialysis cleans the blood, how a kidney transplant works, and weighing up each treatment.
Unlock Full CourseHormones in Human Reproduction
How reproductive hormones control puberty, egg release and the menstrual cycle in humans.
Unlock Full CourseContraception
How hormonal and non-hormonal contraception works, and how to evaluate each method.
Unlock Full CourseHormones and Infertility Treatment
How hormones are used to treat infertility, including the steps and drawbacks of IVF.
Unlock Full CourseAdrenaline, Thyroxine and Negative Feedback
How adrenaline prepares the body for fight or flight and how negative feedback controls thyroxine.
Unlock Full CoursePlant Hormones (3 lessons)
Explore plant hormones in Biology.
Plant Hormones and Tropisms
Learn how auxin makes shoots bend to light and roots grow down.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Light, Gravity and Seedling Growth
Plan and carry out an investigation into how light or gravity affects seedling growth.
Unlock Full CourseUsing Plant Hormones
Learn how auxins, ethene and gibberellins are used in farming, and how weed killers affect biodiversity.
Unlock Full CourseTheme 6: Inheritance, Variation and Evolution
Reproduction (10 lessons)
Explore reproduction in Biology.
Sexual and Asexual Reproduction
Compare sexual and asexual reproduction: gametes, fusion, variety, clones, and meiosis versus mitosis.
Unlock Full CourseMeiosis
How meiosis makes four different gametes with half the chromosomes and fertilisation restores the full number.
Unlock Full CoursePros and Cons of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction
Advantages of sexual and asexual reproduction, and organisms that use both methods.
Unlock Full CourseDNA and the Genome
Learn the double helix structure of DNA, genes, the genome and why the human genome matters.
Unlock Full CourseDNA Structure
How DNA is built from four nucleotides and how three bases code for amino acids
Unlock Full CourseProtein Synthesis and Mutations
How proteins are made on ribosomes, fold into shape, and how mutations change them
Unlock Full CourseGenes, Alleles and Inheritance
Alleles, genotype and phenotype, dominant and recessive alleles, homozygous and heterozygous, and multiple genes
Unlock Full CoursePunnett Squares and Genetic Crosses
Complete Punnett squares, predict genetic cross outcomes as ratios and probabilities, and read family trees.
Unlock Full CourseInherited Disorders and Embryo Screening
Learn how alleles cause polydactyly and cystic fibrosis, and weigh up the issues of embryo screening.
Unlock Full CourseSex Determination
Learn how sex chromosomes XX and XY decide sex and show it in a genetic cross.
Unlock Full CourseVariation and Evolution (5 lessons)
Explore variation and evolution in Biology.
Variation
How genes and the environment cause variation, and how mutations produce new phenotypes.
Unlock Full CourseEvolution by Natural Selection
What evolution is, how natural selection works and how new species form.
Unlock Full CourseSelective Breeding
How humans breed plants and animals for useful traits, plus the benefits, risks and ethics.
Unlock Full CourseGenetic Engineering
How genes are moved between organisms, with GM crops, insulin, benefits, risks and objections.
Unlock Full CourseCloning
Learn how plants and animals are cloned and the benefits, risks and ethics of cloning.
Unlock Full CourseUnderstanding Genetics and Evolution (5 lessons)
Explore understanding genetics and evolution in Biology.
Darwin, Lamarck and the Theory of Evolution
Learn how Darwin developed his theory, why it was resisted, and why Lamarck's idea is rejected.
Unlock Full CourseWallace and Speciation
Learn what Wallace added to evolution theory and the steps that form new species.
Unlock Full CourseMendel and the Discovery of Genes
How Mendel's plant experiments, chromosomes and DNA built up our understanding of genes.
Unlock Full CourseEvidence for Evolution and Fossils
Learn the evidence for evolution, how fossils form, and why the fossil record is incomplete.
Unlock Full CourseExtinction and Resistant Bacteria
Learn what causes extinction and how antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA arise and spread.
Unlock Full CourseClassification (1 lessons)
Explore classification in Biology.
Classification of Living Organisms
Learn the Linnaean system, binomial names, the three-domain system and how to read evolutionary trees.
Unlock Full CourseTheme 7: Ecology
Adaptations, Interdependence and Competition (3 lessons)
Explore adaptations, interdependence and competition in Biology.
Ecosystems, Communities and Competition
Learn how living things are organised in ecosystems and how competition and interdependence shape communities.
Unlock Full CourseAbiotic and Biotic Factors
Learn the non-living and living factors that affect communities, and how to explain and interpret changes.
Unlock Full CourseAdaptations
Learn how structural, behavioural and functional adaptations help organisms survive, and meet extremophiles in extreme environments.
Unlock Full CourseOrganisation of an Ecosystem (7 lessons)
Explore organisation of an ecosystem in Biology.
Food Chains and Predator-Prey Cycles
Learn how food chains start with producers and why predator and prey numbers cycle.
Unlock Full CourseSampling with Quadrats and Transects
Use quadrats and transects to sample species, then calculate means, modes and medians and plot graphs.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Measuring Population Size
Estimate a population with quadrats and use a transect to test how light affects distribution
Unlock Full CourseThe Carbon and Water Cycles
How carbon and water cycle through ecosystems and how microorganisms return carbon dioxide and mineral ions
Unlock Full CourseDecomposition
How temperature, water and oxygen change the rate of decay, plus compost, methane and biogas.
Unlock Full CourseRequired Practical: Temperature and the Rate of Decay
Investigate how temperature affects the rate of decay of milk using pH change.
Unlock Full CourseEnvironmental Change and Species Distribution
How temperature, water and atmospheric gases change where species live, and how to evaluate it.
Unlock Full CourseBiodiversity and Human Impact (3 lessons)
Explore biodiversity and human impact in Biology.
Biodiversity and Waste Management
Learn what biodiversity is, why it matters, and how waste and pollution reduce it.
Unlock Full CourseLand Use, Deforestation and Global Warming
Learn how land use, peat destruction and deforestation reduce biodiversity and contribute to global warming.
Unlock Full CourseMaintaining Biodiversity
Learn the programmes that protect biodiversity and why people disagree about how to use land.
Unlock Full CourseTrophic Levels in an Ecosystem (2 lessons)
Explore trophic levels in an ecosystem in Biology.
Trophic Levels and Pyramids of Biomass
Number the trophic levels in a food chain and draw accurate pyramids of biomass.
Unlock Full CourseTransfer of Biomass
Explain why biomass falls at each trophic level and calculate the efficiency of biomass transfer.
Unlock Full CourseFood Production (2 lessons)
Explore food production in Biology.
Food Security and Farming Techniques
Explain what food security is, what threatens it, and how intensive farming raises efficiency.
Unlock Full CourseSustainable Fisheries and Biotechnology
Explain how fisheries are kept sustainable and how biotechnology and GM help feed people.
Unlock Full CourseTheme 8: Working Scientifically
Scientific Thinking (1 lessons)
Explore scientific thinking in Biology.
How Science Works
How scientific ideas change, how models work, weighing risk and ethics, and why peer review matters.
Unlock Full CourseExperimental Skills (1 lessons)
Explore experimental skills in Biology.
Planning Experiments and Variables
Writing hypotheses, planning fair tests, controlling variables, working safely, sampling and evaluating methods.
Unlock Full CourseAnalysing and Evaluating Data (2 lessons)
Explore analysing and evaluating data in Biology.
Presenting and Processing Data
Presenting data in tables and graphs, finding slopes, means and ranges, and showing uncertainty.
Unlock Full CourseInterpreting and Evaluating Data
Spotting patterns, testing hypotheses, judging data quality, finding errors and anomalies, and suggesting improvements.
Unlock Full CourseUnits and Maths Skills (1 lessons)
Explore units and maths skills in Biology.
Units, Prefixes and Significant Figures
Scientific vocabulary, SI units, prefixes and powers of ten, unit conversions and significant figures.
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