Cambridge A Level Biology Tutors Online

Cambridge A Level Biology is syllabus 9700. This page works from the syllabus for exams in 2025, 2026 and 2027. Exams are available in the June and November series, and also in the March series in India.

An A Level candidate sits five papers. Papers 1, 2 and 3 are the AS Level papers. Papers 4 and 5 are new at A Level, and candidates following an A Level route are eligible for grades A* to E.

The weighting is the first thing to understand, because it is close to a clean half. Paper 1 at 15.5 per cent, Paper 2 at 23 per cent and Paper 3 at 11.5 per cent add up to exactly half the A Level. Paper 4 at 38.5 per cent and Paper 5 at 11.5 per cent make up the other half. So the second year genuinely counts for as much as the first.

Paper 1 is Multiple Choice. It lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, carries 40 marks and 40 four-choice questions, and is based on the AS Level syllabus content. It is worth 15.5% of the A Level.

Paper 2 is AS Level Structured Questions. It lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and carries 60 marks, also based on AS Level content. It is worth 23% of the A Level.

Paper 3 is Advanced Practical Skills. It is a 2 hour practical test carrying 40 marks, worth 11.5% of the A Level. It tests the practical skills in a laboratory, and the syllabus notes that the context of the questions may be outside the syllabus content.

Paper 4 is A Level Structured Questions, and it is the paper that decides most grades. It lasts 2 hours, carries 100 marks, and is worth 38.5% of the A Level. No other paper comes close: Paper 4 alone is more than twice the weight of the multiple choice paper, and it is worth more than Papers 1, 2 and 3 combined on their own separate merits.

Paper 4 is based on the A Level syllabus content, and the syllabus states plainly that knowledge of material from the AS Level syllabus content will be required. So nothing from Year 12 can be set aside.

Paper 5 is Planning, Analysis and Evaluation. It lasts 1 hour 15 minutes and carries 30 marks, worth 11.5% of the A Level. Questions are based on the practical skills of planning, analysis and evaluation, and the context may be outside the syllabus content.

Paper 5 is the detail families most often get wrong. It is a written paper and the syllabus says explicitly that it will not require laboratory facilities. It is not a second practical exam. It asks candidates to plan an investigation on paper, and then to analyse and evaluate data they are given.

The paper consists of two or more questions totalling 30 marks, and the marks split almost evenly across two halves. Planning accounts for 14 to 16 of those 30 and covers defining the problem and methods. Analysis, conclusions and evaluation accounts for the same again and covers dealing with data, conclusions and evaluation.

The syllabus lists exactly what Paper 5 candidates are required to do. They must use extended structured writing, use appropriate diagrams and tables, design an experimental method for a given problem using given information or a specific piece of apparatus, express a prediction linking independent and dependent variables either as a written hypothesis or as a graph showing the expected result, analyse and evaluate given experimental data presented as tables, graphs or written statements, and identify appropriate mathematical or statistical methods to process experimental data.

That last requirement is worth pausing on. Candidates are expected to recognise which statistical test suits a set of data. A student who has never chosen a test for themselves, only followed a method given to them, will find Paper 5 harder than the content suggests.

The assessment objectives explain how differently the papers behave. At A Level the qualification splits AO1 knowledge and understanding at 40 per cent, AO2 handling, applying and evaluating information at 40 per cent, and AO3 experimental skills and investigations at 20 per cent.

Per paper the split is stark. Papers 1 and 2 are 50 per cent AO1 and 50 per cent AO2, with no AO3 at all. Paper 4 is also 50 per cent AO1 and 50 per cent AO2, with no AO3. Papers 3 and 5 are 100 per cent AO3.

So the whole of the experimental skills objective is examined in Paper 3 and Paper 5, and none of it appears in the three theory papers. A student who is excellent in the laboratory but weak on theory has 20 per cent of the qualification available and 80 per cent at risk. The reverse is also true.

The content divides cleanly. AS Level candidates study topics 1 to 11: cell structure; biological molecules; enzymes; cell membranes and transport; the mitotic cell cycle; nucleic acids and protein synthesis; transport in plants; transport in mammals; gas exchange; infectious diseases; and immunity.

A Level candidates study all of those and eight more. Topic 12 is energy and respiration. Topic 13 is photosynthesis. Topic 14 is homeostasis. Topic 15 is control and coordination. Topic 16 is inheritance. Topic 17 is selection and evolution. Topic 18 is classification, biodiversity and conservation. Topic 19 is genetic technology.

Those eight topics are where the second year lives, and several of them are the ones universities care about most. Homeostasis and control and coordination together cover the nervous and endocrine systems. Inheritance goes into dihybrid crosses, linkage and the chi-squared test. Selection and evolution moves from natural selection into speciation. Genetic technology covers the tools of modern biology.

The syllabus states that the content of the AS Level learning outcomes is assumed knowledge for the A Level components. So Paper 4 draws on Year 12 material as a matter of course, and a student who has forgotten cell membranes will lose marks in a question about transport.

There are three routes. Route 1 is AS Level only, taking Papers 1, 2 and 3 in the same exam series. Route 2 is the A Level staged over two years, with Year 1 as the AS Level and Year 2 completing the A Level. Route 3 is the A Level with all five components taken in one exam series.

On Route 2, Year 2 is Papers 4 and 5 only. The AS papers are not retaken. Candidates carry forward their AS Level result rather than a grade, subject to the rules and time limits described in the Cambridge Handbook.

Practical work underpins the whole qualification, not just the two papers that examine it. The syllabus asks that learners spend at least 20 per cent of their time doing practical work individually or in small groups, and states that this 20 per cent does not include time spent observing demonstrations of experiments and simulations.

The syllabus also explains why. It says that practical work should develop the skills needed for experimental and investigative work, reinforce the theoretical content, and instil an understanding of the relationship between experimentation and theory in scientific method.

Where the practical papers use unfamiliar materials or techniques, full instructions are given, and where questions include theory or equipment that would be unfamiliar, the information is provided in the question. So neither practical paper is a memory test of apparatus.

The command words are worth knowing because they carry marks. Assess means make an informed judgement. Comment means give an informed opinion. Compare means identify similarities and differences. Contrast means differences only. Determine means establish an answer using the information available. Discuss means write about the topic in depth in a structured way. Predict means suggest what may happen based on available information. Suggest means apply knowledge to situations where there are a range of valid responses.

Compare and contrast are not the same instruction, and a student who answers a contrast question with similarities has wasted the opening of the answer.

The qualification is graded A* to E for an A Level candidate. Grade a to e belongs to the AS Level route only and is not available to a candidate completing all five papers.

This page is written for Year 13 students completing the A Level.