Don’t forget to add
dates to your checklist
as you complete each
task
Hermann Ebbinghaus demonstrated that we become
less able to remember and recall information as the
time elapsed since first learning it increases. In
other words, regular re-reading following learning
improves your ability to remember, recall and
ultimately understand what you have covered in
lesson.
How to get the best out of this booklet
During the lesson: Make a set of notes for a topic.
The same day: At home, re-read your class notes from the lesson.
The next day: At home, highlight and add more detail to your class notes in
your booklet.
Next lesson: Complete a ‘Thinking ladder’ task relating to the topic.
The next week: At home, complete an exam question relating to the topic.
Within the next 3 weeks: Complete a test or exam questions and
complete your flight path. (Lesson time)
Core Biology GCSE Revision
Booklet
The Thinking Ladder.
Complete tasks to consolidate and
extend your learning. Track which
tasks you complete by filling in your
booklet and dating when you
completed these.
The tasks start off easy at the
bottom of the ladder but increase
with difficulty as you get nearer the
top. The more challenging the task
the more advanced the skills required
and therefore the higher the grade
you are working towards.
Activities
Create 1. Create a comic strip or storyboard on a topic.
2. Write a short exam question and mark scheme.
3. Create a song or video.
4. Write an article on the topic for a revision guide.
5. Create a game or animation
Evaluate 1. Opinionated octopus. Evaluate the topic using 4 strengths and 4 weaknesses
2. Treasoning
3. Use a piece of evidence or data and write an evaluation on it.
4. Kerboodle questions
Analyse 1. Create a mind map showing links between each part of the topic.
2. Create a flow chart to show a key process.
3. Explain a piece of evidence for and against a theory or perspective.
4. Conduct a small scale experiment to prove a key point in the topic.
Apply 1. Explain a real life example for each key point.
2. Think about the topic and explain this using a cartoon character or TV character.
3. Complete the exam questions/ end of topic questions in the AQA book or in your
revision guide.
4. kerboodle revision tasks
Understand 1. Create a set of true or false statements and ask a friend to answer them.
2. Hungary caterpillar: place all the key terms from a topic in a logical order and link
the words together to form a caterpillar
3. Pick out 5 key points and explain them in detail, 200 words each.
Remember 1. Write down everything you can remember about the topic from memory.
2. Write down all the key terms and define them.
3. Make a set of keyword flashcards.
4. Make an acronym to help you remember a process or list.
Topic 1a – Keeping Healthy
List the 7 parts of a balanced diet and explain the function of each in the body
Food group Function
Describe what the term ‘malnourished’ means in relation to a balanced diet
Explain the effects on the body of taking in too many or too few calories (energy)
Too many:
Too few:
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder
exam
question hw
Date
completed
Define the term metabolic rate and describe what affects it in a person
State the function of cholesterol in the body
List the dangers of having a raised cholesterol level
Describe the effects of exercise on the body
Topic 1a – Keeping Healthy thinking ladder task
Topic 1a – Keeping Healthy exam question
Topic 1b – Disease
Define the term microorganism
Define the term pathogen
Complete this table to summarise types of pathogen
Bacteria Viruses
Example of a disease it
causes
Relative size
How it makes you ill
What did Ignaz Semmelweis observe?
What did Semmelweis make doctors do and what was the impact?
Why were his ideas poorly accepted?
Describe 4 ways that pathogens can be transmitted (passed from person to person)
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
List 3 ways in which the body prevents pathogens from infecting the body
1)
2)
3)
Explain these 3 ways by which white blood cells defend your body
1) Ingesting microbes
2) Producing antibodies
3) Producing antitoxins
What is a vaccine?
Describe the stages involved when the body is vaccinated
Why can you not treat a cold with antibiotics?
Describe how to aseptically transfer bacteria from one culture medium to another
(hint: agar plates)
Explain how bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics.
Define the terms epidemic and pandemic
Epidemic
Pandemic
Topic 1b –Disease thinking ladder task
Topic 1b – Disease exam question homework
Topic 2 – Coordination and control
Define the term stimulus and give an example of a stimulus that causes a reflex action
List the 5 senses and the organs that contain receptors to each sense
Sense Organ that contains the receptor
Describe the journey of a reflex action from stimulus through to response
Explain how a message is transmitted across a synapse.
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
Complete this table to summarise the role of hormones in the menstrual cycle
Hormone Where it is
secreted from
What it does to the body What it does to
other hormones
FSH
Oestrogen
LH
Progesterone
Why does the contraceptive pill contain oestrogen?
Why are women who are receiving IVF treatment given injections of FSH?
Outline the benefits and drawbacks of fertility treatment (IVF)
Benefits Drawbacks
Define the term homeostasis
Describe how the body controls water and ion levels – why is this vital for good health?
Describe how the body controls core temperature – why is this vital for good health?
When we are too hot…
When we are too cold…
We must control temperature because if not….
Describe how the body controls blood sugar levels
Draw a diagram to explain how plants use auxin to respond to light and gravity
Topic 2 – Control and Coordination Thinking Ladder Task
Topic 2 – Control and Coordination exam question
Homework
Topic 3 – Medicines
Describe the 4 features of a good medicine:
Explain why medicines are tested on animals prior to testing them on human volunteers
Define the term placebo
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
Define the term double blind trial – what does this remove from an investigation?
Identify what thalidomide was first used for
What were the side-effects of using thalidomide and how was this allowed to happen?
What other diseases can thalidomide now be used for?
Describe how illegal drugs might harm the body
Define the term withdrawal symptoms
Which drugs might be used illegally in sport and what do they do to the body?
Outline the reasons why someone would justify using drugs in sport
Topic 3 – Medicines Thinking Ladder Task
Topic 3 – Medicines exam question Homework
Topic 4 – Adaptations
Define what an extremophile is and describe how it is different to other organisms
Explain why surface area to volume ratio is important in determining where an animal
can live
How do animals adapt to cold conditions?
How do animals adapt to hot/dry conditions?
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
Describe 3 ways that plants are adapted to collect, store and limit the loss of water in
dry conditions
1) Collect water
2) Store water
3) Prevent water loss through stomata
Describe 3 things animals compete for – for each one suggest an adaptation that helps
them to compete successfully
1)
2)
3)
State 4 resources that plants compete for:
Describe how plants avoid competition or adapt to cope with it
Explain how non-living factors affect the distribution of living things
Define the term pollution indicator
Describe how lichens can be used as a pollution indicator
Describe how water invertebrates can be used as a pollution indicator.
Topic 4 – Adaptations exam question Task
Topic 4 – Adaptations exam question Homework
Topic 5 – Energy in biomass
Write down one food chain
Explain the role of solar radiation in food chains
Draw a pyramid of numbers and biomass for your food chain and label each bar
Explain why the pyramid of biomass is wider at the base and narrower at the top
Explain how energy is “lost” as it passes along a food chain.
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam h/w
Date
completed
Define the term decomposer and give some examples of decomposers.
Explain why the following three conditions are needed for decay:
1) Warmth
2) Moisture
3) Plenty of oxygen
Explain how a compost heap works. Use a diagram if you wish.
Sketch the carbon cycle
Explain the importance of the following process within the carbon cycle:
1) Photosynthesis
2) Respiration
3) Decay
4) Combustion
Topic 5 – Energy in biomass Thinking Ladder Task
Topic 5 – Energy in boimass exam question Homework
Topic 6 – Variation
Explain why we resemble both our parents
Define the term gene and state where they are found within the cell
Describe the differences between asexual and sexual reproduction, using the table
below.
Asexual reproduction Sexual Reproduction
Number of parents
Does fertilisation occur?
How do the offspring
compare to the parents
Examples of species that
use this kind of
reproduction
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
Complete the table below, identifying the type of variation:
Genetic Environmental Both
Eye colour
Skin colour
Scars
Blood type
Height
Accent
Draw a diagram to explain what embryo cloning is
Suggest why embryo cloning is used
Describe below how we take cuttings, how we carry out tissue culture and how these
two processes are different?
Steps in the process Why do we use this method?
Cuttings
Tissue
Culture
Draw a diagram to explain how adult cell cloning is performed
Explain why the baby animal is a clone of only one of the ‘parent’ animals
Summarise the benefits and drawbacks of adult cell cloning
Benefits Drawbacks
Draw a diagram, to explain how genetically engineered insulin is produced
Define the terms plasmid, enzyme and gene in relation to the process above
Plasmid:
Gene:
Enzyme:
Outline the benefits and drawbacks of producing genetically modified organisms
Benefits Drawbacks
Topic 6 – Variation thinking ladder task
Topic 6 – Variation exam question homework
Topic 7 – Evolution
Describe how Lamark explain the evolution of the giraffes long neck
Explain how Darwin explain the evolution of the giraffes long neck
Notes Re-read
notes
Highlighted
notes
Thinking
ladder c/w
exam
question h/w
Date
completed
Suggest why Darwin’s theory was not accepted when he published it
Define the term survival of the fittest
Define the term natural selection
Explain how organisms are classified into groups
What are the 5 Kingdoms?
What is the definition of a species?
What is meant by a common ancestor?
Topic 7 – Evolution thinking ladder task
Topic 7 – Evolution exam question homework
Top Related