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I am supporting this petition because I strongly believe that this year’s AQA Biology Paper 1 did not fairly assess students’ biological knowledge and understanding.
Biology is a subject I genuinely love and one that is incredibly important to my future aspirations of studying Medicine. Throughout my entire course, I have consistently achieved A/A* grades in every Biology mock, assessment, and test. I have always been a high-performing student in the subject and have worked tirelessly to achieve the best possible grades. In the months leading up to this examination, I completed numerous past papers and regularly achieved scores of 87 marks or higher. I dedicated countless hours to revision because I was determined to achieve the A* I have been working towards for years.
However, this year’s Paper 1 felt completely different from what students had been preparing for. Traditionally, Paper 1 focuses more heavily on assessing biological knowledge and understanding of the specification content, while Paper 2 tends to place a greater emphasis on application and interpretation. Instead, this paper contained an unusually high amount of application, evaluation, and complex interpretation, making it feel far more like a Paper 2 examination.
As someone who is not particularly strong in English, I found this extremely challenging. Many of the questions were lengthy, confusing, and difficult to interpret. Rather than testing my understanding of Biology, I often felt that I was being tested on my ability to decipher complicated wording. Despite knowing the content, I found myself spending a significant amount of time rereading questions simply to understand what they were asking.
As a result, I lost valuable time trying to interpret the information provided and eventually ran out of time altogether. I was unable to attempt approximately 10 marks worth of questions, not because I lacked the biological knowledge needed to answer them, but because so much of the exam was spent trying to understand the wording and requirements of the questions. I believe this placed students who are less confident in English at a considerable disadvantage.
What makes this particularly upsetting is that I have worked relentlessly for this subject. I have consistently achieved A/A* grades throughout the course, performed exceptionally well in past papers, and entered this examination believing that my hard work would be reflected in my final result. Instead, I left feeling shocked, frustrated, and disappointed. It feels as though years of effort may be undermined because the paper assessed skills very differently from previous years and did not provide enough opportunities for students to demonstrate their biological knowledge.
I feel that my chances of achieving the A* I have worked so hard for, and strengthening my application for Medicine, have been unfairly placed at risk. Students should be assessed on their understanding of Biology, not on their ability to decode unusually complex wording under intense time pressure.
I urge AQA to carefully review this paper and consider whether it was a fair and accurate assessment of students’ biological knowledge, whether the balance of question types was appropriate for a Paper 1 examination, and whether students were given a genuine opportunity to demonstrate the understanding they had spent years developing.
Anonymous supported: AQA A-LEVEL BIOLOGY PAPER 1 REVIEW.I would simply like to articulate, with the utmost gravity, the catastrophic impact this examination has had upon my academic trajectory. As an individual once in possession of exceedingly distinguished predicted grades, my actual mark will stand in grotesque, laughable contrast beside them, a mere juxtaposition so jarring it borders on satirical. Having previously demonstrated consistent excellence in my mock examinations, I fear I have made a rather generous contribution to the decimation of the grade boundary. As a fellow autistic student, this paper precipitated a complete loss of verbal communication. I have been rendered entirely non-verbal since my return home. I no longer harbour aspirations of reading Biology at Oxford. I no longer harbour aspirations of reading anywhere. And so I extend my most sardonic gratitude to AQA, for their remarkable efficiency in extinguishing the academic ambitions of every neurodivergent student unfortunate enough to sit their examinations. You have ensured we feel as though we were never meant to be in the room to begin with.
Asena supported: AQA A-LEVEL BIOLOGY PAPER 1 REVIEW.I went into this paper feeling so confident after practicing every single past paper and coming out with A*s… I’ve worked so hard and literally burnt myself out with the amount of revision I’ve slaved over doing for this paper. All I wanted was an A just so I can get into my dream uni. I know I struggle with application/maths questions it’s always been my weakest area as it’s something we’re not taught and you’re somehow expected just to know it. I’ve worked so hard and really felt confident about this paper after doing the 2018 one this morning that was supposedly the ‘hardest’ in the past and coming out with an A*. As soon as I opened that paper from the very first question I knew that all my revision was for nothing. What is the point in having a subject that is so ridiculously content heavy if none of it is going to be assessed - even the extended response question at the back wasn’t even content it was practical-based. I regret revising for the paper at all, which I did at the expense of my other subjects, as no amount of revision can help you when the questions literally make no sense and the maths questions are so ridiculously confusing that you waste all your time trying to understand them before even answering.
mia supported: AQA A-LEVEL BIOLOGY PAPER 1 REVIEW.You’re not alone — a community of supporters is ready to back you.
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