Higher Biology
Essay Writing
Exam
 Section C of the exam
 Two essays are required both worth 10
marks each
 Select one essay from each pair of
choices
 One will be structured, the other will
be unstructured
Essay tips - 1
 Read the essay question carefully
 STOP and THINK about what the essay
question is actually asking
 Biggest mistake is to write a fabulous
essay that doesn’t actually answer the
question set
Essay tips - 2
 Write an ESSAY PLAN
 This is especially important for the
unstructured essay question
 Write down paragraph headings and then
put these in order before starting the essay
 This gives you the basic structure
 Don’t score out your plan as it may be
marked and get you some marks if you run
out of time
Essay tips - 3
 Your writing STYLE is important
 Take care not to ramble as irrelevant
information will cost you a mark
 Rambling also wastes valuable time
 Use a brief, impersonal writing style, not
conversational!!
 Short sentences help reduce waffle and are
less likely to include errors
Essay tips - 4
 Diagrams can be useful in an essay – ‘A
picture paints a thousand words’!!
 These help to show your understanding of
finer points and illustrate relationships
 However, do not include diagrams that are
irrelevant to the essay question
 All diagrams should be fully annotated to
collect additional marks
Essay tips - 5
 Overall a completed essay should contain no
irrelevancies – 2 or more irrelevancies will
cost you a mark!!
 The essay should be arranged in paragraphs
 It should fit onto one A4 page
 Essay should take no more than 15 minutes
(including 3 minutes for the plan) – Don’t
worry this will come with practice!!
Essay 1 – Structured
 Must be written under the headings given
 Pay attention to the mark allocation for each heading
 Don’t write ‘bad’ biology otherwise it will negate
otherwise correct answers
 If you don’t know something well don’t write it down
Essay 2 - Unstructured
 There are no headings given for you to write under
with this question
 You must provide the structure by writing in
paragraphs or under headings and sub headings
 Group relevant information together – Coherence
 Only include information relevant to the question -
Relevance
Group Essay
 Give an account of respiration under the
following headings:
(i) glycolysis
5 marks
(ii) the Krebs (Citric acid) cycle 5 marks
Total 10 marks
From 2007 Past Paper
Essay Marking Scheme
 (i) Glycolysis – any 5 from:
1 – occurs in cytoplasm
2 – glucose broken down to/converted to/reduced
to/oxidised to (2 molecules of) pyruvic acid
3 – C6 compound broken down to 2 x C3
4 – step by step breakdown by enzymes OR series of enzyme
controlled reactions
5 – net gain/production of ATP/explanation of net gain of
ATP
6 – NAD accepts hydrogen/NADH produced and transferred
to cytochrome system/cristae/electron transfer system
NOT stage 3
7 – oxygen not required/anaerobic
Occurs in aerobic and anaerobic conditions
Marking scheme continued
 (ii) Krebs Cycle – any 5 from:
1 – occurs in the mitochondrion matrix
2 – requires oxygen OR aerobic phase
3 – C2 acetyl group produced from pyruvic acid
4 – acetyl group joins with CoA
5 – acetyl CoA reacts/combines with a C4 compound to form
C6 compound/citric acid
6 – cyclical series of reactions back to the C4 compound
7 – carbon dioxide produced/given off/released
8 – NAD accepts hydrogen/NADH produced and transferred
to cytochrome system
9 – Krebs cycle needs/requires/is controlled by enzymes