Higher Biology Essay Writing

1. Higher Biology Essay Writing

2. Exam • Section C of the exam • Two essays are required both worth 10 marks each • Select one essay from each pair of choices • One will be structured, the other will be unstructured

3. Essay tips - 1 • Read the essay question carefully • STOP and THINK about what the essay question is actually asking • Biggest mistake is to write a fabulous essay that doesn’t actually answer the question set

4. Essay tips - 2 • Write an ESSAY PLAN • This is especially important for the unstructured essay question • Write down paragraph headings and then put these in order before starting the essay • This gives you the basic structure • Don’t score out your plan as it may be marked and get you some marks if you run out of time

5. Essay tips - 3 • Your writing STYLE is important • Take care not to ramble as irrelevant information will cost you a mark • Rambling also wastes valuable time • Use a brief, impersonal writing style, not conversational!! • Short sentences help reduce waffle and are less likely to include errors

6. Essay tips - 4 • Diagrams can be useful in an essay – ‘A picture paints a thousand words’!! • These help to show your understanding of finer points and illustrate relationships • However, do not include diagrams that are irrelevant to the essay question • All diagrams should be fully annotated to collect additional marks

7. Essay tips - 5 • Overall a completed essay should contain no irrelevancies – 2 or more irrelevancies will cost you a mark!! • The essay should be arranged in paragraphs • It should fit onto one A4 page • Essay should take no more than 15 minutes (including 3 minutes for the plan) – Don’t worry this will come with practice!!

8. Essay 1 – Structured • Must be written under the headings given • Pay attention to the mark allocation for each heading • Don’t write ‘bad’ biology otherwise it will negate otherwise correct answers • If you don’t know something well don’t write it down

9. Essay 2 - Unstructured • There are no headings given for you to write under with this question • You must provide the structure by writing in paragraphs or under headings and sub headings • Group relevant information together – Coherence • Only include information relevant to the question - Relevance

10. Group Essay • Give an account of respiration under the following headings: (i) glycolysis 5 marks (ii) the Krebs (Citric acid) cycle 5 marks Total 10 marks From 2007 Past Paper

11. Essay Marking Scheme • (i) Glycolysis – any 5 from: 1 – occurs in cytoplasm 2 – glucose broken down to/converted to/reduced to/oxidised to (2 molecules of) pyruvic acid 3 – C6 compound broken down to 2 x C3 4 – step by step breakdown by enzymes OR series of enzyme controlled reactions 5 – net gain/production of ATP/explanation of net gain of ATP 6 – NAD accepts hydrogen/NADH produced and transferred to cytochrome system/cristae/electron transfer system NOT stage 3 7 – oxygen not required/anaerobic Occurs in aerobic and anaerobic conditions

12. Marking scheme continued • (ii) Krebs Cycle – any 5 from: 1 – occurs in the mitochondrion matrix 2 – requires oxygen OR aerobic phase 3 – C2 acetyl group produced from pyruvic acid 4 – acetyl group joins with CoA 5 – acetyl CoA reacts/combines with a C4 compound to form C6 compound/citric acid 6 – cyclical series of reactions back to the C4 compound 7 – carbon dioxide produced/given off/released 8 – NAD accepts hydrogen/NADH produced and transferred to cytochrome system 9 – Krebs cycle needs/requires/is controlled by enzymes