2. Understanding Standards Biology (Advanced Higher)
An overview of course assessment

3. What this presentation covers
an overview of revised course assessment for Advanced Higher Biology from session onwards
information on what is changing and what is not changing
detailed information on the coursework component (project)

4. Revised Advanced Higher content
The revised course content is required from session onwards.

5. Overview of course assessment
Structure of course assessment
Two components:
question paper
project

6. Overview of course assessment —question paper
Unchanged
knowledge and skills assessed
level of demand
conditions for assessment

7. Overview of course assessment — question paper
Time — 3 hours
Section 1
multiple choice questions
20 marks
Section 2
restricted and extended response questions
80 marks

8. Overview of course assessment —project
Project assessment task
instructions for teachers and lecturers
marking instructions
instructions for candidates

9. Overview of course assessment — project
project report
30 marks
word count applies

10. Assessment conditions
Both stages of the project are conducted under some supervision and control.
The teacher or lecturer must not provide specific advice on how to rephrase or improve responses, and they must not provide model answers.

11. Assessment conditions
Processes must be put in place to monitor progress
and ensure that the work is the candidate’s own.
These could include:
regular progress meetings
spot-check interviews
reviewing lab-books
completing checklists

12. An overview of what is not changing
There are no changes to the following sections of the project:
abstract
introduction
discussion
presentation

13. An overview of what is changing
There are changes to what is expected in the following sections of the project:
procedures
results

14. Procedures

15. Results

16. General guidance Candidates must: agree the choice of topic
have different aims
plan their own experimental work and collect data from this
address issues relating to validity and reliability when planning and carrying out their experiments
gather information to support their understanding of the underlying biology.

17. General guidance Candidates should keep a lab-book.
Their entries should be written in such a way that they will find it easy to follow and understand when they use it to produce their report.