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A-level biology grade boundaries 2025 and exam dates

It’s often difficult to find the A-level biology grade boundaries and exam dates all in one place, so I hope this is helpful. 🙂

Grade boundaries for the 2025 A-level biology exams

AQA A-level biology grade boundaries:
Based on 2024 AQA A-level biology results
A* 74% (192/260 marks), 63% A (165/260), 54% B (140/260), 44% C (115/260) (scores rounded to nearest mark)
2023 grade boundaries
A* 69% (180/260 marks), 59% A (153/260), 48% B (125/260), 38% C (98/260)

Edexcel (Salters Nuffield) A-level biology grade boundaries:
Based on 2024 Edexcel A-level biology results
A* 66% (199/300 marks), 57% A (171/300), 48% B (144/300), 39% C (117/300) (scores rounded to nearest mark)
2023 results
A* 74% (222/300 marks), 64% A (192/300), 54% B (162/300), 44% C (132/300)

OCR A-level biology grade boundaries:
Based on 2024 OCR A-level biology results
A* 68% (187/270 marks), 57% A (160/270), 48% B (136/270), 39% C (112/270) (scores rounded to nearest mark)
2023 results
A* 68% (183/270 marks), 57% A (155/270), 48% B (130/270), 39% C (106/270)

Exam dates for the 2025 A-level biology exams

AQA A-level biology (based on this page)
Paper 1 – 5th June pm (2 hours)
Paper 2 – 13th June am (2 hours)
Paper 3 – 18th June am (2 hours)

Edexcel Biology A (Salters Nuffield) (Based on this page)
Paper 1 – 5th June pm (2 hours)
Paper 2 – 13th June am (2 hours)
Paper 3 – 18th June am (2 hours)

OCR A (Based on this page)
Paper 1 – 5th June pm (2 hours 15 min)
Paper 2 – 13th June am (2 hours 15 min)
Paper 3 – 18th June am (1 hour 30 min)

Good luck! Hope these help 🙂

Best wishes,

John

Dr John Ankers

Specialist online A-level biology tutor and academic wellbeing coach

https://wooltontutors.co.uk

How to avoid losing marks in A-level biology exams

Matching the mark schemes in A-level biology can be frustrating. Often students say “I just don’t know what the question is asking for”, or “I keep missing out on full marks”. Here are some tips on how to avoid losing marks in A-level biology exams.

Go further with the question’s command word

When answering a question, notice the number of marks available – these are the number of points you should make in your answer. If you’re missing something, focus on the command word – describe, explain etc. – and let yourself go into more detail. It’s a “describe” question? Describe in more depth what the graph shows. For an explain question, go further into the explanation of the science. The key is to see what the question wants and dive deeper into the detail.

Nothing is “too obvious”

Students often say “I didn’t write that because I thought it would be too obvious”. Say the obvious thing! Students, often the brightest ones, often miss the first or last marks in a mark scheme answer because they think the examiner already knows this information. Yet these are the marks where you tie your answer to the question. Always complete your thoughts even if it’s as simple as saying “so photosynthesis increases” or “so the plant would die.”

Use the correct terminology

Examiners often want to see you use the correct A-level terminology – this means “hydrolyse” instead of “break down”. Energy is “transferred” not made. When a substance moves, does it actually “diffuse”? Maybe it’s “actively transported”. Complementary is a great word – you can use it whenever two shapes are matched – enzymes and substrates, antibodies and antigens, complimentary nucleotides…

Avoid using “it” in your answers – either say the name of the protein, chemical or species you mean or use another noun to help free up your writing – perhaps – process, relationship, variable, data (plural) or “piece of data”.

Spot your patterns

Analyse your last mock exam paper – are you missing marks from an entire question? This might suggest an area of knowledge needs improving. Or are you missing single marks that mount up? Rather than lack of knowledge, this suggests you may not be completing your answers, or missing terminology. It might be that some of the tips above will help. The key is to communicate clearly.

Perhaps a one-to-one tutoring session with me leading up to the exams might give you a boost?

You can also take a look at some of my other blogs on evaluate questions, describe and explain questions and application questions.

Good luck!

There’s much more help with exam questions in our shiny eBook available in our shop. A purchase from our shop gives you a month’s free subscription to “ask an expert” – very useful for some exam practice 🙂

If you’d like to work through some A-level biology statistics questions, from exam boards like AQA, please get in touch with me at Woolton Tutors, and we can set up some online A-level biology tutoring sessions. Alternatively, AQA students might be interested in my weekly A-level biology masterclass sessions for practice on exam technique.

Best wishes,

John

Dr John Ankers

Specialist online A-level biology tutor and academic wellbeing coach

https://wooltontutors.co.uk

How to deal with maths anxiety

Maths anxiety is very common. I’ve worked with people of all ages who want to improve their maths but struggle with the idea. Sometimes emotions get in the way. Perhaps you need to pass a qualification at work? Or want to handle your finances better? Maybe you’re facing your maths anxiety “gremlins” following a bad experience at school. These can be brave choices.

Here are a few tips and ideas to help you feel better about maths:

Focus on what you need from maths

Maths is a broad subject covering everything from addition and subtraction, to shapes and statistics. Although school qualifications tend to offer a taste of all of this – if you’re returning to maths after a while away you might not need to deal with every aspect of maths. Instead, decide on what you DO need. Perhaps you want to be able to perform drug calculations for a nursing qualification? Or engineering equations? Do you simply need to refresh your knowledge for handling your accounts?

Make a list of exactly what you want from the subject. What can maths do for you? Put yourself in control.

Demystify the maths

Maths can feel impenetrable, like an ancient language, but we can soften the subject be looking calmly at what it actually is. It’s true: mathematics is a language – a language of numbers, letters and symbols that we can use to describe the world and its rules. Maths is supposed to help – to aid communication rather than act as a barrier. Sometimes mathematicians forget this. Mathematical equations are just statements about relationships between things. These “things” are often represented by letters (this is algebra) and the story of their relationship traced by a line (on a graph). One of my first aims when tutoring students with maths anxiety is to take the sting out of it. (See below for more about our tutoring services.)

Banish the maths gremlins

Many of my adult maths students are returning to the subject after a number of years having pushed maths away. They say things like “I was never good at maths”, or “I can’t do maths” or even “I dreaded maths at school”. Sometimes they are angry, sometimes there are surprised by tears. Returning to the subject if often about more than crunching numbers, it’s actually a way to heal from a bad experience in the past. Facing these complicated feelings is incredibly brave. I am a qualified coach as well as a professional tutor. Helping people with maths anxiety draws on all these skills. With experience I will say: you can face maths gremlins from the past, and you can fill any gaps they left – and yes, you can absolutely have a smile on your face while you do it 😊

Practice your maths skills

Part of strategy for becoming comfortable with maths is practice. Firstly, because like any fear – facing it brings confidence. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it! Once you’re comfortable approaching maths, on whatever level you choose, practice helps you keep your skills sharp. Like learning a language, practice little and often is the best way to ensure you get the most out of these skills. I’m happy to recommend books, apps, or websites like National numeracy.

Get help with your maths

If you decide you need some help with your maths you might consider a private tutor. I’ve been tutoring maths for over 10 years, and have a PhD in biology and mathematics. I’ve worked with many students from GCSE up to adult learners. My advice is to find a tutor who is right for you – who puts the concepts across in a way you understand. If you want some advice on the best way forward for you, please get in touch.

Best of luck with your maths,

John.

Dr John Ankers

Specialist online science and maths tutor
John@wooltontutors.co.uk
https://wooltontutors.co.uk

How to choose statistical tests in A-level biology

Statistical tests are tools scientists use to spot important results – those rising above the randomness or “noise” in the universe. We use statistical tests in A-level biology, too. Even if a change in our data “looks” dramatic by eye, the test provides the unbiased reassurance to make our conclusions confidently.

Statistical tests work by setting a threshold (called the probability value level, p-value level or confidence level) used to spot significant changes from differences that could be explained by randomness in our measurements. Only data rising above this threshold gain the title “significant”.

But how do we know which statistical test to use?

Choosing statistical tests in A-level biology

Firstly, some good news – you don’t need to memorize any mathematical formulae! If you need them in the exam, they will be given to you. But you do need to know how and when use the tests. (And if you are with the OCR or Edexcel exam boards you may have to actually do some calculations.)

Which statistical test we use depends on what best suits your data. We have a choice of three different statistical tests in A-level biology:

Chi-squared test – used when looking at differences between frequencies (data that is counted) in different categories (known as discrete data).

Student’s t-test – used to look at differences between means (averages) of data involving measurements (like lengths, or times).

Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test– used to look at the correlation between two variables in measured data.

Here is a diagram to help you choose:

Hopefully this helps with you choose between statistical tests in A-level biology exam questions! This blog is part of a larger study guide to A-level biology statistics (see below). I’ve also written about how to answer A-level biology evaluate questions, and application questions, but what about “Describe” and “explain” questions.

Good luck!

There’s much more help with statistical tests, p-values, significance etc. (and model answers to exam questions) in our shiny eBook “How to use statistical tests in A-level biology”, available in our shop. A purchase from our shop gives you a month’s free subscription to “ask an expert” – very useful for some exam practice 🙂

Best wishes,

John

Dr John Ankers

Specialist online A-level biology tutor and academic wellbeing coach

https://wooltontutors.co.uk