When Biology Becomes Clear... (AS Level Biology A Revision Guide - Richard Parsons)

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	AS Level Biology A Revision Guide - Richard Parsons
Date:	11/08/09 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Layout, Clear, Good Diagrams + Images + Graphs, Easy To Read, Useful, Entertaining

Disadvantages: Few Mistakes

The CGP range is excellent and I found this revision guide especially useful through the Advanced Subsidiary course and the full A level. You can buy the revision guide from places such as WHSmith, Bookworld and Waterstones. It will usually cost the RRP of £9.99, but you may find it a bit cheaper online.

The book is black and has a slight gradient from an orange/brown colour at the bottom. On the front in large bold letters, it says 'AS-Level Biology, The Revision Guide', which is also printed on the spine too so it's easily spotted. It will help you through the AS but you will need it for the A2 as well with synoptic papers and also due to the fact that in biology, you build on your previous knowledge.

This book covers a range of topics including cell structure, biological molecules, enzymes, cell membranes, DNA and RNA, reproduction, ecosystems and the environment, applications of biology, disease and immunology, exchange and transport in animals and exchange and transport in plants. The AS-level isn't as exciting as the A2 with a bit of biochemistry in there and molecules and stuff. However, it's not too hard and needs to be learnt!

The layout of the book is excellent with a full range of colours to entice you into revising. There are also a few jokes throughout the book including my all time favourite, in this book - 'The name's bond - peptide bond.' It's a very sad joke but little bits of humour like this are actually entertaining as it's sad enough having to revise anyway.

Each page is filled with boxes, bold titles and other bold bits, which are important. There are diagrams, images, photos and graphs to help explain everything. There is a lot of labeling in biology, and this book has some great diagrams and labels. At the end of every topic are some practice questions followed by exam questions. The answers to the exam questions are in the back, and this is a useful way of testing your knowledge.

However, this book shouldn't be purely used for revision as it doesn't have all the detail you need to know. It makes an excellent side tool though and really helps to simplify subjects. It does have a few errors like all books, but there are also different ways to say things in biology, so things can crop up from this. I'd recommend this revision guide as it really helped me during my course. It gave me some different material to revise from and helped simplify topics I struggled with. It has clear pages and it was very useful for making my own notes.

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A superb revision guide, which makes an excellent side tool for revision