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