Key term
WJEC AS-Level Biology 601-5290-0
Chemical Elements Are Joined Together to Form Biological Compounds
Topic overviewInorganic IonsBiological Importance of WaterCarbohydrates: Monosaccharides and DisaccharidesCarbohydrates: Polysaccharides and Alpha/Beta Glucose IsomerismLipids: Triglycerides and PhospholipidsLipids: Saturated and Unsaturated Fat in Human HealthAmino Acids and Proteins: Primary to Quaternary StructureAmino Acids and Proteins: Fibrous and Globular FormsCondensation and Hydrolysis: Peptide and GlycosidicFood Tests for Biological Molecules
Cell Structure and Organisation
Topic overviewEukaryotic Cell Ultrastructure: OrganellesEukaryotic Cell Ultrastructure: FunctionsProkaryotic Cells, Viruses and Cell Theory: Comparing Cell StructuresProkaryotic Cells, Viruses and Cell Theory: Electron MicrographsLevels of Organisation and Light Microscopy: Tissues and OrgansLevels of Organisation and Light Microscopy: Organ Systems and Microscope CalibrationLevels of Organisation and Light Microscopy: Magnification and Scientific Drawing
Cell Membranes and Transport
Topic overviewPlasma Membrane Structure and Permeability: Fluid-Mosaic ModelPlasma Membrane Structure and Permeability: Factors Affecting PermeabilityTransport Across Membranes: Diffusion, Osmosis and Water PotentialTransport Across Membranes: Facilitated Diffusion, Active Transport and PinocytosisTransport Across Membranes: Phagocytosis and Exocytosis
Biological Reactions Are Regulated by Enzymes
Topic overviewEnzymes as Biological Catalysts: Metabolism, Extracellular Action and Induced FitEnzymes as Biological Catalysts: Activation EnergyFactors Affecting Enzyme Activity: Temperature and SubstrateFactors Affecting Enzyme Activity: Enzyme Concentration, Denaturation and BuffersEnzyme InhibitionImmobilised Enzymes in Industry
Nucleic Acids and Their Functions
Topic overviewNucleotides, Chemical Energy and ATP: StructureNucleotides, Chemical Energy and ATP: Role as Energy CarrierDNA and RNA StructureSemi-conservative Replication, Meselson and Stahl experimentThe Genetic Code: Triplet CodeThe Genetic Code: Exons and IntronsProtein Synthesis: Transcription, Translation and tRNAProtein Synthesis: One Gene-One Polypeptide and Polypeptide Modification
Genetic Information Is Copied and Passed on to Daughter Cells
Topic overviewThe Cell Cycle and Mitosis: Interphase and StagesThe Cell Cycle and Mitosis: Cytokinesis, Significance in Renewal and RepairThe Cell Cycle and Mitosis: Root Tip Squash and Mitotic IndexMeiosis: Meiosis I and Meiosis II, crossing over and independent assortmentMeiosis: differences from mitosis
All Organisms Are Related Through Their Evolutionary History
Topic overviewClassification: Hierarchical Groups, Need and Tentative NatureClassification: Three Domains and Five KingdomsAssessing RelatednessSpecies Concept and Binomial SystemBiodiversity and Its Assessment: Habitat LevelBiodiversity and Its Assessment: Genetic Level and Molecular LevelNatural Selection as the Source of Biodiversity and Anatomical, Physiological and Behavioural Adaptations
Adaptations for Gas Exchange
Topic overviewSurface Area to Volume Ratio and Gas Exchange in Small Organisms: AmoebaSurface Area to Volume Ratio and Gas Exchange in Small Organisms: Flatworm and EarthwormSpecialised Respiratory Surfaces and Ventilation in Bony Fish: Counter-currentSpecialised Respiratory Surfaces and Ventilation in Bony Fish: Parallel FlowGas Exchange in Terrestrial Animals: Human Breathing SystemGas Exchange in Terrestrial Animals: VentilationGas Exchange in Terrestrial Animals: the Insect Tracheal SystemThe Angiosperm Leaf: StructureThe Angiosperm Leaf: Photosynthetic RoleThe Angiosperm Leaf: Stomatal Control of Gas Exchange
Adaptations for Transport
Topic overviewVascular Systems Across Animal Groups: Earthworm and InsectVascular Systems Across Animal Groups: Fish and MammalThe Mammalian Heart and Circulation: Blood Vessels and Cardiac CycleThe Mammalian Heart and Circulation: Sino-atrial Node, Purkyne Fibres and ElectrocardiogramsBlood and the Transport of Respiratory Gases: Erythrocytes, Plasma and Dissociation CurvesBlood and the Transport of Respiratory Gases: Bohr Effect and Chloride ShiftTransport of Nutrients, Hormones, Excretory Products and HeatTissue Fluid, Lymph and OedemaWater Uptake and Movement Through the Root: Dicotyledon Root Structure and ApoplastWater Uptake and Movement Through the Root: Symplast, Vacuolar Pathways and EndodermisXylem, the Transpiration Stream and Plant Water Adaptations: Cohesion-Tension TheoryXylem, the Transpiration Stream and Plant Water Adaptations: Hydrophytes and XerophytesPhloem Structure and Translocation from Source to Sink: Mass Flow ModelsPhloem Structure and Translocation from Source to Sink: Experimental Evidence
Adaptations for Nutrition
Topic overviewModes of Nutrition: Autotrophic, Heterotrophic and HolozoicModes of Nutrition: Parasitic, and Digestion in Amoeba and Hydra to Tube GutsThe Human Gut: Adaptations to an Omnivorous DietThe Human Gut: EnzymesThe Human Gut: ConditionsHerbivore, Carnivore and Parasite Adaptations: Guts and DentitionHerbivore, Carnivore and Parasite Adaptations: Ruminants, Taenia and Pediculus
Working Scientifically: Practical Skills
Topic overviewThe A2 Unit 5 Practical Examination Tasks: Experimental TaskThe A2 Unit 5 Practical Examination Tasks: Practical Analysis TaskIndependent Thinking and Use of Scientific Methods and Practices: Solving Problems in Practical ContextsIndependent Thinking and Use of Scientific Methods and Practices: Identifying and Following InstructionsIndependent Thinking and Use of Scientific Methods and Practices: Making and Keeping RecordsIndependent Thinking and Use of Scientific Methods and Practices: Presenting DataNumeracy in Practical Contexts, Research and Referencing: Plotting, Interpreting Graphs and ProcessingNumeracy in Practical Contexts, Research and Referencing: Analysing Data, Margins of Error and AccuracyNumeracy in Practical Contexts, Research and Referencing: Precision and OnlineNumeracy in Practical Contexts, Research and Referencing: Offline Research Skills
Use of Apparatus and Techniques
Topic overviewMeasurement and Laboratory Technique: Quantitative ApparatusMeasurement and Laboratory Technique: InstrumentationMeasurement and Laboratory Technique: Glassware Including Serial DilutionsMicroscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: Light MicroscopeMicroscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: Annotated Drawings and Food TestsMicroscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: ChromatographyWorking with Organisms and Aseptic TechniqueViable Counts, Dissection and Fieldwork SamplingMark-Release-Recapture, Quadrats and ICT for Data Collection
Mathematical Requirements (Appendix C)
Topic overviewArithmetic and Numerical Computation: Appropriate Units, Decimal and Standard FormArithmetic and Numerical Computation: Ratios, Percentages and Estimating ResultsArithmetic and Numerical Computation: Power, Exponential and Logarithmic FunctionsHandling Data: Significant Figures, Arithmetic Means and MeanHandling Data: Median, Frequency Tables and HistogramsHandling Data: Scatter DiagramsProbability, Sampling, Statistical Tests and Uncertainty: Simple Probability and SelectingProbability, Sampling, Statistical Tests and Uncertainty: Using the Chi-squared TestProbability, Sampling, Statistical Tests and Uncertainty: Correlation CoefficientProbability, Sampling, Statistical Tests and Uncertainty: Standard DeviationAlgebra and Magnification: Mathematical Symbols and Changing the Subject of an EquationAlgebra and Magnification: Substituting Values, Solving Equations and Using LogarithmsGraphs: Translating Between Graphical, Plotting Two Variables and Linear RelationshipsGraphs: Intercepts, Rate of Change and Slope of a Tangent to a CurveGeometry: Circumferences, Surface Areas and Volumes of Regular Shapes
How Science Works (Appendix D)
Topic overviewDeveloping and Communicating Scientific Explanations: Using Theories, Models and IdeasDeveloping and Communicating Scientific Explanations: Posing Scientific QuestionsScientific Methodology, Evidence and Evaluation: Appropriate Methodology Including ICTScientific Methodology, Evidence and Evaluation: Analysing and Conflicting DataScience, Society and Ethics: How Scientific Knowledge Develops Over TimeScience, Society and Ethics: Risks, Ethical Treatment of Humans and Other OrganismsScience, Society and Ethics: Environment and How Society Uses Science
Use of Apparatus and Techniques
- 9 subtopics
- 27 things to know
- All units
What Use of Apparatus and Techniques covers
Use of Apparatus and Techniques is assessed throughout WJEC Biology and in the unit 5 practical examination rather than in one unit of its own. 93 recall questions across 9 subtopics.
Where it is assessed
All units
Skills assessed throughout, and in the unit 5 practical examination.
Check the WJEC specification ↗The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Biology students sit this topic in the first year.
- Measurement and Laboratory Technique: Quantitative ApparatusRecall questions on Quantitative Apparatus.Open →
- Measurement and Laboratory Technique: InstrumentationRecall questions on Instrumentation.Open →
- Measurement and Laboratory Technique: Glassware Including Serial DilutionsRecall questions on Glassware Including Serial Dilutions.Open →
- Microscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: Light MicroscopeRecall questions on Light Microscope and Graticule.Open →
- Microscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: Annotated Drawings and Food TestsConventions for scientific drawings and annotations, calculating magnification, and the qualitative reagents for reducing and non-reducing sugars, starch, protein and lipid, with redox indicators.Open →
- Microscopy, Scientific Drawing and Separation and Identification Techniques: ChromatographyRecall questions on Chromatography and Electrophoresis.Open →
- Working with Organisms and Aseptic TechniqueRecall questions on Working with Organisms and Aseptic Technique.Open →
- Viable Counts, Dissection and Fieldwork SamplingViable counts of bacteria and suitable plate counts, safe and ethical dissection with what to identify in a fish head, and random quadrat sampling with percentage cover, frequency and belt transects.Open →
- Mark-Release-Recapture, Quadrats and ICT for Data CollectionEstimating population size by mark-release-recapture and its assumptions, minimising habitat damage, and using data loggers, computer models and data-processing software in biological investigations.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
How is a non-reducing sugar identified, why must the sample be neutralised, and how is starch detected?
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In the emulsion test, why must the sample be dissolved in ethanol before water is added, and what would a negative result look like?
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How does the mark-release-recapture method estimate the size of an animal population?
Evaluation
State the apparatus you would use to deliver 25.0 cm³ of solution accurately.
Evaluation
What advantage does a pH meter have over universal indicator paper?
Key term
Why is the shoot cut under water and the potometer assembled under water?
Numbers
1 cm³ of a 1.0 mol dm⁻³ glucose stock is mixed with 3 cm³ of distilled water. State the concentration of the diluted solution.
Key term
Distinguish between magnification and resolution.
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Which four pigments are separated from a chloroplast extract by chromatography?
Evaluation
Why is a plate carrying roughly 20 to 100 colonies chosen for counting?
Evaluation
Which structures are the point of a fish head dissection?
Key term
Why is a large number of quadrats taken rather than two or three?
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Which filter would you select for a red beetroot pigment solution, and why?
Key term
How is the total magnification of a compound light microscope worked out?
Numbers
A pigment travels 60 mm while the solvent front travels 80 mm. Calculate its Rf value.
Key term
In the investigation of starch digestion by germinating seeds, how is digestion made visible?
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Why is the neck of a culture bottle passed through a flame after the cap is removed?
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Name the six quantities you are expected to be able to measure with appropriate apparatus in practical biology.
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In the beetroot membrane permeability investigation, what does an increase in absorbance indicate?
Key term
Why is a fresh sterile pipette used at every step of a serial dilution?
Numbers
Fifty eyepiece graticule divisions line up with twenty stage micrometer divisions of 10 μm each. Calculate the value of one eyepiece division.
Key term
What is the difference between a label and an annotation?
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Which pigment travels furthest up the chromatogram and why?
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Why is the inoculating loop flamed both before and after use?
Key term
What result would you expect when fresh and stale milk are compared by viable count, and why?
Key term
Sixty snails are marked and released. A later sample of 80 snails contains 15 marked individuals. Estimate the population size.
Take Use of Apparatus and Techniques further
The same content, four other ways.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Name the six quantities you are expected to be able to measure with appropriate apparatus in practical biology.
Model answer
Mass, time, volume, temperature, length and pH.
- 2
Which instrument measures the mass of potato cylinders in an osmosis investigation, and how precise should it be?
Model answer
An electronic balance reading to at least 0.01 g, so that the small changes in mass can be detected.
- 3
Why are potato cylinders blotted before they are reweighed?
Model answer
To remove surface liquid, which would otherwise add to the recorded mass and give a falsely high final value.
- 4
State the apparatus you would use to deliver 25.0 cm³ of solution accurately.
Model answer
A 25 cm³ volumetric pipette, because it is calibrated to deliver that single volume with a very small uncertainty.
- 5
Why is a 100 cm³ measuring cylinder a poor choice for measuring 1.0 cm³ of enzyme solution?
Model answer
The uncertainty of the scale is a very large proportion of 1.0 cm³, so the percentage error is high; a graduated pipette or syringe should be used instead.
- 6
What advantage does a pH meter have over universal indicator paper?
Model answer
A pH meter gives a numerical reading to at least 0.1 of a pH unit, whereas indicator paper relies on subjective colour matching and only gives whole numbers.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Use of Apparatus and Techniques revision questions
- Is Use of Apparatus and Techniques examined at AS in WJEC Biology?
- Yes. It sits in All units, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
- What does Use of Apparatus and Techniques cover in WJEC AS-Level Biology?
- 9 subtopics: measurement and laboratory technique: quantitative apparatus, measurement and laboratory technique: instrumentation, measurement and laboratory technique: glassware including serial dilutions, microscopy, scientific drawing and separation and identification techniques: light microscope, microscopy, scientific drawing and separation and identification techniques: annotated drawings and food tests, microscopy, scientific drawing and separation and identification techniques: chromatography, working with organisms and aseptic technique, viable counts, dissection and fieldwork sampling and mark-release-recapture, quadrats and ict for data collection. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Use of Apparatus and Techniques organised?
- By the WJEC 601-5290-0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Use of Apparatus and Techniques, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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