How to write the AQA biology A level essay. Do’s and don’ts.
Paper 3 is 30% of the AQA Biology A level and 25 marks of the 78 available for this paper are available for the last question; the essay. This means the essay is worth 9.6% of the A level. With this high mark allocation, it’s no wonder the essay is the part of the A level all students are nervous about the most; and for neurodiverse, especially dyslexic students, it can be a serious contributor to pre-exam anxiety.
Practice makes perfect
Overstretched teachers simply don’t have the time to give as much attention to the essay as they would like. To mark a whole class-worth of essays is resource expensive. My teacher friends tell me it takes them up to 30 min to mark each essay, and with class sizes of up to 30 students, that’s up to 15 hours marking. And that’s just for one essay per student. Some schools and colleges use peer-marking. My students tell me they don’t like this. A tutor can help you write the biology AQA essay by giving guidance and importantly, marking several essays or essay plans and giving critical feedback before Paper 3.
How to write a biology essay
A successful essay pulls together topics from different areas of the specification, and uses them to illustrate an underlying theme. You need to include around several topics, this means a minimum of 4, so it makes sense to choose the essay title and topics you are confident about writing about, even if they are not the most interesting ones. The best way to start is to write, draw or mind-map, a quick plan or even a picture. This gives you ‘headings’ that you can then populate with appropriate content once you get going. Do include examples and evidence to back up your statements.
Keep focused
Don’t get involved writing about what you find interesting. It’s easy to end up down a rabbit hole and you’ll be wasting your time. Refer back to the title every few minutes, are you still on theme? And if you’re wondering, the answer is no. The anonymous exam marker won’t appreciate your genius if they have to spend more time on your essay than someone else’s. Remember, examiners are paid by the hour!
If you could benefit from help with the AQA essay, contact Jude for your one-to-one AQA essay writing brainstorming session and essay marking service.
