How To Study For Biology O Level
Irati Klute
Biology, the study of life, is an exciting and rapidly developing subject. Breakthroughs in Biology are playing a key role in addressing global challenges, from disease and poverty to biodiversity loss and climate change.
This newly revised and upgraded Oxford Biology course was first introduced in 2019. The structure of the course encourages a cross-disciplinary approach. Following an introduction to fundamental biological principles in the first year, the second and third years allow students to choose options of particular interest and specialise in these areas with increasing depth. The options cover a comprehensive range of topics, which currently include but are not limited to:
The course offers an optional fourth year. This means that students can either leave after three years with a BA or choose to stay on and complete an extended research project under the supervision of qualified academic staff. Progression to the 4-year MBiol is contingent on satisfactory academic performance in the first three years.
The Biology degree is taught by the Department of Biology, with almost all teaching taking place in the University's Science Area. Additional resources include the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Botanic Garden, the Herbarium, the Arboretum, the John Krebs Field Station and Wytham Woods. There is a compulsory UK residential field course to study ecology in the first year, and optional residential field courses in the UK and overseas are available in the second year.
Skills training in the second year is also compulsory and covers a whole range of more advanced practical and quantitative skills essential for a modern biologist. Students can choose from a range of extended skills courses that last one or two weeks. Examples include ecological fieldwork (in the UK or overseas), genome sequencing and genome editing.
In the third year, students specialise on a narrower range of options, and skills training continues in the form of journal clubs and computer classes. Please note that despite the University's efforts to subsidise the course, fieldwork in the second, third and fourth years requires financial contributions from the student.
'With biology, there's no shortage of new and exciting research going on, and the breadth of content in the first year is just mind-blowing! It's a really great idea to give students a taste of all aspects of the subject today, as from the second year onward there are increasing opportunities for specialisation. That ability to drop less interesting topics and really focus on the ones you love is a most welcome form of flexibility.'
Lectures and practical class sizes will vary depending on the options chosen, ranging from as few as 20 students in a class up to potentially 120 students in a class. In the third and fourth years, variable hours are also spent on research projects.
Most tutorials, classes, and lectures are delivered by staff who are tutors in their subject. Many are world-leading experts with years of experience in teaching and research. Some teaching may also be delivered by trained PhD students and early career researchers with hands-on research experience.
* Students can choose to leave after three years and graduate with a BA, or they can continue to a fourth year and graduate with an MBiol. Progression to the MBiol is contingent on satisfactory academic performance in the first three years.
All applicants must apply for the MBiol. Students can choose to leave after three years and graduate with a BA, or they can continue to a fourth year and graduate with an MBiol. Progression to the MBiol is contingent on satisfactory academic performance in the first three years.
The process is rigorous but sympathetic. Applicants may be asked to examine and comment on biological diagrams or images, or to interpret a graph, a written passage or a simple set of data, provided during the interview.
Around 40% of Oxford biology graduates go on to further study such as a research doctorate or postgraduate course in an applied field, while the vast majority of the remainder embark on a professional career after graduating in areas as diverse as education, research, not for profit, health, environmental work, media, marketing, and consultancy.
The new Biology course was introduced for the first time in 2019; hence only career data for a single cohort of graduates is currently available. The information reported here is therefore based on the more extensive data from the previous 3-year BA in Biological Sciences, corroborated by information from the first cohort of graduates from the new course.
We don't want anyone who has the academic ability to get a place to study here to be held back by their financial circumstances. To meet that aim, Oxford offers one of the most generous financial support packages available for UK students and this may be supplemented by support from your college.
Living costs for the academic year starting in 2024 are estimated to be between 1,345 and 1,955 for each month you are in Oxford. Our academic year is made up of three eight-week terms, so you would not usually need to be in Oxford for much more than six months of the year but may wish to budget over a nine-month period to ensure you also have sufficient funds during the holidays to meet essential costs. For further details please visit our living costs webpage.
In 2024 Oxford is offering one of the most generous bursary packages of any UK university to Home students with a family income of around 50,000 or less, with additional opportunities available to UK students from households with incomes of 32,500 or less. The UK government also provides living costs support to Home students from the UK and those with settled status who meet the residence requirements.
First-year students are required to undertake a UK-based residential field course in the summer term (typically 6 days). You will study living organisms in a range of environments, both terrestrial and marine, and the content is assessed as part of the first-year examinations. The University covers all costs for this compulsory trip, including food and accommodation.
Towards the end of the second year, you will complete a two-week skills course. A range of courses will be offered and will include some optional field trips away from Oxford. In 2024, this will include:
If you stay on for the fourth year, as part of your course requirements, you will undertake a project. Depending on your choice of topic and the research tools required, you may have to contribute to costs, but only in exceptional circumstances, for example, if you choose to conduct extensive fieldwork in expensive locations. You may choose a project that will incur no extra costs.
Unistats course data from Discover Uni provides applicants with statistics about a particular undergraduate course at Oxford. For a more holistic insight into what studying your chosen course here is likely to be like, we would encourage you to view the information below as well as to explore our website more widely.
College tutorials are central to teaching at Oxford. Typically, they take place in your college and are led by your academic tutor(s) who teach as well as do their own research. Students will also receive teaching in a variety of other ways, depending on the course. This will include lectures and classes, and may include laboratory work and fieldwork. However, tutorials offer a level of personalised attention from academic experts unavailable at most universities.
Intensive inquiry into a field of study. Students desiring more knowledge about a subject area than is covered by formal lecture or laboratory courses may enroll in X490 for the purpose of expanding their knowledge about a discipline or specific topic.
Preparation for postgraduate study. Students planning to continue their education beyond the B.A./B.S. level often enroll in X490 to prepare themselves for the rigor and routine of laboratory/field/library research activities which occupy the professional scholar.
Fulfillment of Honors Degree requirements. X490 research DOES NOT fulfill an upper-level lab requirement for the biology degree UNLESS it is earned with Biology Departmental Honors. (NOTE: X490 cannot fulfill the Intensive Writing Requirement. A student earning X490 credit in a SPEA lab CANNOT convert that research to a Biology upper level lab, nor will research in a SPEA lab count for Biology Departmental Honors.)
X490 presents an opportunity for maximum flexibility in project selection. At one extreme, students might collaborate with a faculty member to perform a set of field observations or laboratory based experiments. At the other extreme, students may elect to carry out library research on a specific topic. The scope of an individual X490 program depends entirely on the agreement reached between the student and faculty advisor.
It should be emphasized that a student who desires to enroll in X490 need not have a project idea in mind before approaching a prospective faculty advisor. Frequently, faculty have X490 project ideas which are a part of a major, on-going research program. In some cases, faculty will offer students a choice of potential X490 projects.
Talk with prospective faculty advisors and determine with whom you will do Individual Study. Prior to registration for the semester in which you will begin X490, make arrangements with the faculty member concerning the following:
Pick up an X490 Application form from the Biology Advising Office, JH A115. Complete the form and have it approved and signed by the faculty advisor and return it to the advising office in exchange for an online authorization. You must have an X490 section authorization in order to actually register for X490.
An Honors program provides a more intense, comprehensive, and demanding experience than an X490 course alone normally provides. As a major part of the X490 course, a prospective honors student works on a goal-oriented research program for at least two semesters and a minimum of 6 credit hours total. Writing a research report based upon the results of field observations or laboratory research is the ultimate goal of the X490 efforts.
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