The Advanced Information
The main aim of the Advanced Information is to help you use your revision time effectively. In the case of Human Biology, you will see that the advice consists of a list of topics which will be the “major focus” of questions in each exam paper, plus a separate list of topics that will not appear on that paper.
To understand this fully, you will need to study these lists carefully and relate them to the rest of your studies and your personal revision plan.
Comparing the lists, you will see that there are 2 major topics which will not appear in either exam:
- Topic 3 Movement of substances in and out of cells (Spec 3.1–3.3)
Topic 4 Bones, muscles and joints (Spec 4.1–4.6)
In addition, we are told that Topic 12 will not be examined on Paper 1, and Topics 6 Nutrition and energy, 7 Respiration and 8 Gas exchange will not appear on Paper 2. Only Topics 1 Cells and tissues and 2 Biological molecules will feature on both papers.
Please take the time to make a full comparison – it will make planning your study time between now and the summer much easier.
Study the whole course
If a topic is on the ‘out’ list, it does not mean you can ignore it. Every topic on the specification may be relevant to the answer of some question or the focus of a question with a smaller number of marks. Our general advice is to complete all lessons but to keep this list of topics close to hand during the revision process and make sure you are particularly well prepared to answer questions on the 4 or 7 topics that are expected to appear on each paper.
Key Takeaways
- If a topic is not on the list, it does not mean you can ignore it
- complete all lessons and Tutor Marked Assignments
- Use the Advanced Information to tailor your revision
Subject Updates
Pearson/Edexcel may issue updated information or additional guidance at any point. Please check the subject page for Human Biology regularly.
Edexcel International GCSE Human Biology (2017) | Pearson qualifications
R Papers
If you are taking your exams in the following countries
- Australia
- Azerbaijan,
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Korea
- Laos
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- New Zealand
- Oman
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- Vietnam.
You will be studying for an R paper.
R papers are papers which are sat by students in different timezones so that they don’t have to take their exams in the middle of the night!
There are different questions and topics in the Advanced Information for R papers.
If you are planning to take your exam in a foreign country, please check with your exam centre which paper you will be taking. If you are taking an R paper, please discuss how this will affect your revision with your tutor.
