Biology · Advanced Higher
Advanced Higher Biology is cells and proteins, organisms and evolution, and investigative biology — experimental design, statistics and critical analysis are treated as content in their own right, alongside a project.
What it offers you
Biology leads to medicine, veterinary science, dentistry, genetics, ecology and marine biology — and gives you a working understanding of life that stays with you.
What Advanced Higher actually asks of you
Section 1 — objective questions
Short questions across cells and proteins, organisms and evolution, and investigative biology.
Section 2 — extended answer
Longer questions requiring explanation of complex processes, interpretation of experimental data and evaluation of scientific studies.
Project — an extended investigation with statistical analysis, written up as a scientific report.
Exact timings and mark allocations are printed on the front cover of each paper below.
Topics that come up
Papers & marking schemes
SQA publishes the most recent five years of papers. Older papers and specimen papers live on their site — open Biology Advanced Higher on sqa.org.uk.