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BiologyStandard Grade(0300 01)

Biology/ Human Biology

Course outline

The Course is based on seven prescribed topics:

These topics are derived from three general aspects of Biology, namely, the biological basis for life, relationships and application of biological principles in work, health and leisure activities.

The Elements of the Course are Knowledge and Understanding, Problem Solving, Practical Abilities and Attitudes. Attitudes will not be assessed for certification purposes.

Course assessment

The assessable Elements of the Course are Knowledge and Understanding, Problem Solving and Practical Abilities.

The Elements of Knowledge and Understanding and Problem Solving are assessed externally by means of a question paper at each of the two levels, General and Credit. The duration of the question papers and the grades available are as follows:

Each paper may contain multiple-choice items, short-answer questions, extended-answer questions and interpretation questions. In the case of the General level paper, grade 5 will be awarded to candidates who narrowly fail to meet the criteria for grade 4.

The Practical Abilities Element, which involves the candidate in carrying out practical techniques and conducting investigations, is assessed by the teacher/lecturer. For each candidate, a grade for Practical Abilities, based on the aggregate mark gained for performance in Carrying out Techniques and in Designing and Carrying out Investigations, should be determined in the light of guidance issued by SQA, and all grades should be submitted to SQA (for submission dates see NQ key dates contained on the Operational Help Centre at www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/15094.html).

The Elements have a weighting of 2:2:1 in favour of the two externally-assessed Elements. The overall award for the subject is the mean of the weighted Element grades.

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