Group 4: Experimental Sciences

Biology
The IB allows you to study a broad range of topics in biology without compromising on the depth of understanding.

Topics are supported by a comprehensive practical scheme of work which allows you to develop your skills regularly throughout the course. The assessment gives more opportunity to express your scientific knowledge through extended prose allowing you to show just how much you know.

The Group 4 Project allows you to investigate anything you want, looking at it from different scientific aspects and understanding how the scientific process works.

Chemistry
In the IB chemistry course, you will have to develop a real understanding of chemical concepts. You get an excellent overview of the inter-connectedness of chemistry because of the linear nature of the course.

Your practical skills are very well developed as the course specifies that at least 60 hours of practical work must be carried out.

You will have to think outside themselves because you are assessed on your ability:

to approach tasks with self-motivation,
to follow tasks through to completion,
to collaborate and communicate in group situations,
to integrate the views of others,
to show a thorough awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses,
to give thoughtful consideration to your learning experience,
to be aware of the environmental impact of your actions.

Physics
Physics is Physics and so the content in A-level and IB is quite similar, although there are some differences in the ways in which this content is studied and assessed.

The IB exam papers are all at the end of the course with no repeats, whilst A-level is modular and some modules can be repeated

The style of questioning is more challenging and requires more sophisticated mathematics in IB. It is widely agreed that a 6 in IB is equivalent to an A at A-level.

Both the IB and A-level assess practical skills through coursework. For the IB there is an identified number of hours at Standard Level and Higher Level which must be undertaken in practical work. Not everything has to be written up but some pieces of work will be formally assessed on Design, Data Collection and Processing, Conclusion and Evaluation, and Personal Skills

In A-level you are assessed on basic practical skills (PSA) throughout the course (9/50 marks) and then have to undertake an investigative skills assignment (ISA) sent by the board followed by an examination on it (41/50 marks).

Personal Skills in IB will be assessed through the Group 4 Project, a 10 hour collaborative exercise between students in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Design and Technology – students plan and carry out a thorough investigation on a topic of their choice. This year it was ‘Cleanliness in the home environment’. This is always an enjoyable part of the course.

Option topics are covered in both A-level (one of Astrophysics, Medical Physics, Applied Physics, and Turning Points in Physics) and IB (two of Biomedical Physics, Historical Physics, Astrophysics, Relativity, Optics, Quantum and Particle Physics, Digital Technology, Communications, Electromagnetic Waves).

At A-level, you will study Particle Physics in more depth, but there is much more on Energy and Climate Change with a very international approach in IB.

Design and Technology
At A-Level students concentrate on the design process. The course covers the three major resistant materials to some depth, and the knowledge of these along with the design process forms the theory aspect of the course. You will do one project a year during the full two-year course, so the design and make flavour is always to the fore.

IB is more of an engineer’s course as the range of materials is broader, but they are studied to a shallower depth. You will do more projects (called investigations) and these can target certain criteria within the design process. You must also carry out a single major project and this is where it differs from all the other Group 4 subjects.

There are advantages to the continuous coursework feel to the IB as the peaks of coursework can be spread more evenly across the two years if planned correctly. Early projects can also be re-approached if the student’s standards significantly change during the course. A-Level deadlines are more immediate and this requires better planning to avoid pressures from other subject areas.