Flow diagram showing the menstrual cycle on one page, suitable for OCR Gateway GCSE biology. Clean modern design, easy to follow. Explains roles of follicle stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, oestrogen and progesterone, the pituitary gland and ovaries, as well as the hormonal contraception methods. Two versions are included. One includes details of contraception methods, one doesn’t to give you a version with less text. This version of these notes is designed for OCR Gateway GCSE biology. I have an alternative version of this diagram for the AQA and Edexcel courses (amongst others) which contains some extra content, including more details about progesterone.

Two-page worksheet for students to fill in covering reflex actions, case studies, synapses and drop tests, targeting the AQA 9-1 biology GCSE but suitable for other courses like Edexcel. An in-depth mark scheme is included. Questions consulted include the 84612H specimen paper and the 2018 paper. Update, December 2023: based on student feedback, added more hints and re-ordered some questions to make the pack flow more naturally.

Fill-in-the-blanks two page worksheet covering blood glucose regulation for AQA GCSE 9-1 biology. Topics covered include the meaning of homeostasis, type I and II diabetes, treatments and effects if not treated. The worksheet is particularly written for supporting one-on-one and small group tuition where the tutor can continuously guide the student, as there’s a lot of answers to fill in to practice spelling and writing key words. A diagram of blood glucose regulation and a full mark scheme is included. Based on personal experience, the worksheet was written with a goal of sensitivity to any students who have diabetes or relatives who do; links to trustworthy medical sources are given for students who want/need more information. The worksheet was written based on checking mark schemes such as the 2019 paper.

One-page reference giving a case study of how to answer questions on experiment design. Suitable for GCSE and A-level students. The case study is testing catalase-catalysed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide at different temperatures. This set of notes is oriented towards exam technique and how to answer multi-mark questions on this kind of topic: the need to define and set up an independent variable, to measure a dependent variable, define some control variables, and maybe plot the data and mention some safety precautions. I specifically mention that you don’t need to give too many control variables-students often think they can get more marks listing dozens.

I’ve found respiration is one of the most important things for students to get right studying biology. The equations are so important, but many GCSE and even some weaker A-level biology students can’t instantly give them. I explain to students that they’re an instant grade boost. Here’s a worksheet and set of notes on one page on the most common respiration questions. There’s the word equations, a guide through the standard question about how your heart and breathing rate change with exercise, and there’s links to some recommended videos. Versions included for colour and black and white printing. Full mark scheme included with the worksheet. Remembering the equations for respiration is one of the last things I always go over with students just before their exams, because it’s such a morale booster to instantly get full marks on one of these questions. I will never forget what one student told me in 2021: “It came up! Exactly what you said, it came up!” Although this worksheet and set of notes works for students taking any exam board and A-level students who need a recap, it was particularly written with an eye to AQA 9-1 GCSE mark schemes. Questions consulted included: 8461/1H 2021, question 7 8461/1F 2020, question 4 8461/2F 2018, questions 7 and 11 BL2HP 2017, question 5 I’ve got a separate set of notes for Edexcel iGCSE which uses the term “lactate” instead of lactic acid.

When doing tuition using an online platform like Zoom or Skype, you often need to put formulas into the chat box or onto an online whiteboard that wasn’t designed for scientific use and doesn’t support constructing superscript and subscript characters. Also, you may need to write out formulas very quickly if your student asks something unexpected. So this is a list of a huge number of formulas for the major GCSE and iGCSE chemistry courses using the Unicode superscript and subscript characters, indexed and ready to go for tuition. (For other countries, it should be suitable for tuition of students up to around age 16.) Covering thirteen pages, sections include: common ions organic chemistry: combustion, alkene hydration, alcohol oxidation acid-base: acids with metals, carbonates, oxides, hydroxides, ammonia reactions common reversible reactions: Haber process, syngas, the Contact process inorganic reactions: thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate, electrolysis (water, sodium chloride, copper sulfate with graphite or copper electrodes), displacement, thermite, metals reacting with oxygen and water, halogen displacement, both with overall and ionic and half-equations) the chemical tests: precipitation, hydroxide tests the chemical reactions of biology: respiration and photosynthesis core maths equations that might be needed in science, such as area of a circle, volume of a sphere, volume of a cylinder etc. some prebuilt unit conversions Versions of important equations are included in multiple forms, such as with or without state symbols, so you can select one that matches the level you’re working at with the student and keep the lesson flowing. I’ve used these formulas for a huge number of paid tuition jobs, and couldn’t do anything without them-they’ve really helped me make things clear to students, keep lessons moving and give a professional impression. Many students have asked me how I make equations appear looking good in the chat of a call, or even asked me for this document to use themselves! The document is an editable rtf and docx file with the equations and all the superscripts and subscripts and some common symbols at the start. You can build your own equations if you need them or edit or reorganise the document to suit your way of working.

This two-page resource lists pathogens, transmission routes, disease effects, treatment methods and other facts for the human diseases on the Eduqas A-level biology course. The large number of disease case studies on the course is something students need a lot of help with. A blank worksheet version is also included for students to fill in themselves. To help students build up a common sense knowledge of the kind of issues surrounding these diseases that could be important in future and likely topics of exam questions, there’s a section on “other things to know” explaining issues like malaria potentially being spread by global warming. That should make this set of notes particularly useful for students aiming high and looking to study medicine, nursing and biosciences degrees in future or getting ready for interviews. It wasn’t possible to fit every topic onto two pages (e.g. flu recombination is skipped) but this worksheet gives a good concise summary of the key ideas of the topic. This worksheet should also be suitable for WJEC A-level biology students, although I don’t teach people for that course currently. I’ve had positive feedback from students who found it interesting and felt that it gave them a sense of issues in modern medicine-one student studying history A-level said it helped put studying AIDS in history in context.

This two-page resource lists pathogens, transmission routes, disease effects, treatment methods and other facts for the human diseases on the Cambridge International A-level biology course. The large number of disease case studies on the course is something students need a lot of help with. A blank worksheet version is also included for students to fill in themselves. To help students build up a common sense knowledge of the kind of issues surrounding these diseases that could be important in future and likely topics of exam questions, there’s a section on “other things to know” explaining issues like malaria potentially being spread by global warming. That should make this set of notes particularly useful for students aiming high and looking to study medicine, nursing and biosciences degrees in future or getting ready for interviews. Although flu is not one of the “official” case studies on the course, because it’s covered in the vaccination topic notes on it are also included. I’ve had positive feedback from students who found it interesting and felt that it gave them a sense of issues in modern medicine-one student studying history A-level said it really helped put studying AIDS in history in context.

Notes and diagrams on epigenetics for the AQA course, starting from some simple analogies to the real world. I also give the core definition AQA have asked for of epigenetics, which isn’t clearly stated in the textbook but came up on a specimen paper. There’s links to tons of YouTube videos explaining how epigenetics works, and a mnemonic for remembering euchromatin and heterochromatin. Length is two very well-filled pages: you could print it double-sided as a resource for students to keep. Could also be useful for students taking OCR as extension material.

One-page set of notes on differential ultracentrifugation to extract organelles, covering homogenization, the ice-cold, buffered, isotonic solution, extracting different organelles and links to recommended videos. This set of notes is particularly targeted towards revising the practical come exam time-it doesn’t go into a detailed practical methodology for fractionation but gives exam-oriented explanation of how a centrifuge works, what a cold, buffered, isotonic solution is and why it’s needed. These notes should be suitable for all major A-level courses, but they’re particularly designed to help AQA students taking into account points on the mark schemes for the 74011 specimen paper Q1, 74023 2018 Q5 and 74011 2018 Q7, which would be great for practice alongside these notes.

Two-page link-up-the-boxes worksheet and two-page written worksheet recapping definitions of community, habitat, ecosystem and biotic/abiotic factors, along with case study questions. For the Edexcel 9-1 biology GCSEs. The link-up-the-boxes worksheet is deliberately written to be very easy for students with low knowledge and confidence. The written worksheet covers biotic factors, quadrats, transects and competition, along with a calculation question and practice identifying types of habitat. Versions for colour and black and white printing and a mark scheme are included. Could also be suitable as a quick recap exercise for A-level students. These worksheets are very similar to my set for AQA, if you tutor both courses you don’t really need the other version. For the Edexcel iGCSE, I intend to do a version of this worksheet specific to that course in future, but for now this worksheet is fine to use; a few questions (10 and 11 on the written worksheet, 3 on the link-the-boxes worksheet) aren’t things students need to memorise but those questions would still be fine for students to do as “suggest” questions.

Worksheet on homeostasis and thyroid function, covering thyroxine, TSH and nutrient deficiencies as well as revising homeostasis and negative feedback generally. This two-page worksheet has plenty of illustrations and diagrams to help students remember the topic. Targets the Edexcel 9-1 biology GCSE. There’s an in-depth mark scheme and versions for colour and black and white printing. Doing AQA? I have a separate version of the worksheet for the AQA course. Doing the Edexcel iGCSE? This worksheet isn’t needed, that course doesn’t go into so much depth on the topic. 2024 update: following feedback from students, added more space for answers.

Two-page worksheet on plant hormones for the AQA 9-1 GCSE. Covers phototropism, geotropism, gibberellins and their industrial uses, ethene and an experiment design question. Versions in colour and for black and white printing. There’s an in-depth mark scheme. Doing a different course? I have similar worksheets for AQA biology A-level, Edexcel GCSE and Cambridge iGCSE.

Two-page worksheet and mark scheme on the use of positron emission tomography scans in medical imaging of the brain and cancer, a topic on the current Edexcel biology GCSE, with a range of diagrams, pictures and links to recommended videos. The worksheet is also suitable for teaching in physics as a case study. Worksheet assumes a bit of basic knowledge of radioactivity and gamma rays (safety precautions, hazards) so may be worth coordinating with physics that those topics have been covered, although it’s only at a common sense level of knowledge. A version of the worksheet converted to black and white is included too. Specification reference: brain and spinal cord problems, B2.11B and B2.12B, higher tier.

One-page set of notes on confocal microscopy targeting A-level biology (especially OCR A) with some selected images and a link to a recommended video. Although suitable for other courses, these notes were specifically targeted at OCR A-level biology A. The focus is on the images produced by confocal microscopy rather than on the details of how the mirror system works. Questions studied writing this pack (and recommended for exam technique) included: AS-level unit 2, question 1 from 2017 AS-level unit 2 specimen, question 6 (MCQ) A-level 2020 paper 1, question 2 (MCQ)

Worksheet for the AQA specification on two pages covering genetic definitions and genetic crosses. Dominant and recessive, alleles and genes and Punnet squares are all covered as questions. Sensitivity note: the worksheet includes cystic fibrosis as a case study. Topic reference: B13.7, 13.8, 13.9. This pack is almost identical to my pack for Edexcel covering this topic, you could use either if you teach both courses.

Two-page illustrated worksheet on Salmonella bacterial disease, covering infection, effects, epidemiology, treatment and vaccination against bacteria, for the AQA 9-1 GCSE biology specification (B5.7). Versions with images in colour and converted to black and white are included, as well as an in-depth mark scheme.