How does the heart pump blood around the body? How do organisms develop, grow and reproduce? Investigate the answers to these and other fascinating questions in a course which focuses on life itself. This home study course explores the way biology affects your everyday life and how you can evaluate the scientific material that you come across on the web, in newspapers and magazines and on television.

Biology is one of the English Baccalaurate subjects.

Key Aims

This home-study course aims to enable you to:

• become confident in the world of technology, and to recognise the usefulness and limitations of the scientific method;
• develop abilities and skills that are relevant to Biology, useful in everyday life, and that encourage efficient and safe practice;
• develop attitudes such as concern for accuracy and precision, objectivity, integrity, inquiry, initiative and inventiveness;
• understand the value of caring for the environment.

The Syllabus and Assessment

The course prepares you for the Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Biology syllabus 0610, for examination in either May or November of each year. 

Assessment is by three written papers: a multiple choice paper of 45 minutes (30%), an Extended theory paper of 1 hour and 15 minutes (50%), and an alternative to practical paper of 1 hour (20%), which will test your familiarity with practical procedures which you will have been taught during the course.

Our course is for the Extended curriculum which enables you to achieve grades A*- C.

The Home Study Course

The course starts from first principles and assumes no previous background in Biology whatever.

Your Cambridge endorsed study text together with the web-based material in your online folder will contain everything you need to start studying right away. The course is designed specifically to cover the above syllabus. So you can be confident that you will learn everything you need to achieve a high grade in the examination. This stimulating online programme is packed full of drawings, diagrams and graphs to help you master each topic without difficulty. It also includes a wealth of home-based practical activities to ensure that you can tackle the practical test requirements.

Your Tutor and your Assignments 

Your tutor is your online personal learning coach whom you can email at any time, and  to whom you can also talk via Skype.  He or she will give you detailed feedback on your learning assignments, and plenty of advice and encouragement throughout your course. 

You will have assignments with exam type questions to complete at regular intervals during the course. These are a key part of your learning process. They will prepare you thoroughly for your exam and will enable you and your tutor to gauge your progress throughout. Completing the course assignments will greatly increase your chances of a good exam grade.   

When you’ve finished each assignment, you email it to your tutor for assessment via your online file. Your tutor will provide you with rapid and detailed feedback, so you'll see your skills and knowledge developing month by month. 

Course Fee

Course fees include:

• All the required course books.  There are no extra charges for books, other than for postage outside the UK. 
• Assessment and feedback on all assignments within 5 working days.
• Access to your personal tutors via email and Skype.
• Access to all online resources through WHOLE (Wolsey Hall Online Learning Environment)

Course fees do NOT include examination fees, which are payable to the examination centre.