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CCEA AS Biology past papers and mark schemes

CCEA AS Biology is examined in three units: AS 1 (molecules and cells), AS 2 (organisms and biodiversity) and AS 3 (practical skills). Below is every series published for the current specification, what each paper tends to ask, and how to mark your own attempt honestly. Papers and mark schemes are published by CCEA; BioCCEA is an independent study tool and is not endorsed by CCEA.

Every published CCEA AS Biology series

These are the exam series available for the current CCEA GCE Biology specification (first taught 2016). CCEA publishes each question paper and mark scheme in its own past-papers archive — open it, choose the series, then download the paper for the unit you are revising.

SeriesUnits examinedNotes
Summer 2025AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFull-length paper — usable as a timed mock.
Summer 2024AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFull-length paper — usable as a timed mock.
Summer 2023AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFull-length paper — usable as a timed mock.
Summer 2022AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsReduced content — check what was removed before using it as a full mock.
2020 (no summer exams)AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsGrades were awarded without exams, so no live summer paper exists.
Summer 2019AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFull-length paper — usable as a timed mock.
Summer 2018AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFull-length paper — usable as a timed mock.
Summer 2017AS 1, AS 2 written papers + practical skillsFirst series of the 2016 specification.
Open CCEA’s official past papers & mark schemes

What each AS paper actually asks

AS 1 · Molecules and Cells

AS 1 written paper (1 hour 30 minutes)

  • Enzyme rate graphs: describe the trend with figures, then explain it with collision and denaturation ideas.
  • Membrane transport comparisons (diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport, osmosis) in a single linked answer.
  • 6-mark QWC answers on the immune response — antigen, antibody, plasma cell, memory cell, secondary response.
AS 1 topic list

AS 2 · Organisms and Biodiversity

AS 2 written paper (1 hour 30 minutes)

  • Data questions on transpiration rate using a potometer — units, controls and limitations.
  • Comparing gas exchange surfaces against the same three criteria: surface area, thinness, maintained gradient.
  • Sampling calculations: quadrats, transects, percentage cover and species diversity index.
AS 2 topic list

AS 3 · Practical Skills in AS Biology

AS 3 practical booklet plus a written practical-skills paper (1 hour)

  • Rewriting a flawed method: identify the variable not controlled, then state the fix and why it matters.
  • Percentage change and rate calculations shown to the correct number of significant figures.
  • Evaluations that name one specific improvement and the error it removes.
AS 3 topic list

How to use a past paper so it actually raises your grade

  1. 1Sit it timed and closed-book. An open-book attempt tells you what you recognise, not what you can retrieve under pressure.
  2. 2Mark it against the CCEA mark scheme literally. If the scheme says 'water potential' and you wrote 'concentration', that is not a mark.
  3. 3Log every lost mark by unit topic, not by question number — that list is your revision plan.
  4. 4Re-answer only the questions you dropped marks on, 48 hours later, from memory.
  5. 5Repeat the same topic in a different series. Same content, unfamiliar wording, is what the real paper does to you.

Get your AS paper marked in CCEA mark-scheme language

Photograph a written answer and BioCCEA marks it the way a CCEA examiner would — marking points hit, marking points missed, and the exact wording that would have earned them. Free to try, no account needed.

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