Which A level biology exam board is the easiest?

AQA, OCR, EDEXCEL, WJEC, EDUQAS. Why are there so many? Which is the easiest? As a new tutor, should I try and teach all or focus on just one? These are just some of the questions I am often asked by students, parents and wannabe tutors.

Which exam board is the most popular?

In a previous life as a medical research scientist, my days were data driven. Observing, recording and analysing formed a big part of my (working) life.  It seems that old habits die hard; recording and data crunching is something I haven’t been able to let go of. My tutoring spreadsheets span many years listing the exam boards, the grades needed and the grades my students achieved. I also have notes on the course each student went on to study, and where they went, those I helped with personal statements and interviews, and whether they got offers. Being a bit of a data nerd, I recently felt the urge to do something with the information I have accumulated. Needless to say, in person tuition was the norm until recently so the data are skewed to my local catchment area of West Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, but I thought it might be interesting for wannabe tutors to glance at one tutor’s experience of the scope of what to expect when taking up tutoring.

Choose one exam board when you start tutoring, AQA is the most popular

These are the A level (and IB) exam boards and specifications I, as a biology tutor, have had to get my head around over the years.  In the early days I, like any sensible tutor would I am sure agree, chose to focus on just one or two exam boards until confident in increasing my teaching repertoire. As any experienced tutor knows, each awarding body is unique in focus and approach, in type of questions and mark schemes, even what appears (at first) to be the same question. At A level biology, in terms of mark schemes, one size doesn’t fit all.

In case you’re curious, all my students thought their exam board was the hardest, and I agree absolutely with each and every one of them!

Pie chart: A level and IB: exam boards taught.

Interested in becoming a tutor yourself? Contact Jude and I’ll help you find your tutoring feet.