Home > Subjects > Biology > Level 3 > 3.1 Practical investigation > Key tips
- Subject: Biology
- AS: AS 91601
- Level: 3
- Credits: 4
- Internal
Biology 3.1 Carry out a practical investigation in a biological context, with guidance
Key tips
When carrying out a practical investigation covering the complete investigation process you will be expected to: plan and carry out the investigation, collect primary data, process and interpret data, and report on the investigation.
You may make changes to your initial method as you work through the investigation. Write up the final method you used to carry out the investigation in the report.
Highlight important information in the instructions given to you by your teacher. This will help you to find out things such as:
- what you are investigating
- time available and due date of the assessment
- equipment and/or resources that are available for you to use
- safety guidelines
- format of the report.
The difference between achieved, merit and excellence is in validity of the method used, validity of the conclusion reached, discussion of the biological ideas related to the investigation and justification of the choices use to make the investigation valid.
For achieved you are expected to develop a hypothesis and method, collect, record and process relevant data, interpret data to reach a conclusion relevant to the data and purpose, and include relevant information from another source.
For merit you are expected to develop a valid method, record and process relevant data to identify a trend, reach a valid conclusion, explain biological ideas based on your findings and ideas from other sources.
For excellent you are expected to investigate comprehensively by justifying choices made to produce a valid method or reliable data, state a conclusion discusses biological ideas relevant to the investigation and ideas from other sources.
