Northern Ireland · CCEASyllabus
Biology syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the Northern Ireland Biologysyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
Cells and Life Processes
Module overview →- What are the parts of animal and plant cells, how are cells specialised, and how do we measure them under a microscope?Animal and plant cell structures and their functions, examples of specialised cells and their adaptations, the levels of organisation from cell to organism, and using a light microscope including magnification calculations.8 min answer →
- What are enzymes, how do they work, and how do temperature and pH affect them?Enzymes as biological catalysts, the lock and key model and the active site, how temperature and pH affect enzyme activity including denaturing, and investigating enzyme activity experimentally.8 min answer →
- How is a leaf adapted for photosynthesis and gas exchange, and how do stomata control it?The structure of a leaf and how its tissues are adapted for photosynthesis and gas exchange, the role of stomata and guard cells, and how gases diffuse into and out of the leaf.7 min answer →
- What makes up a balanced diet, and how do we test food for the main nutrients?The components of a balanced diet and their sources and functions, the consequences of an unbalanced diet, the energy content of food, and the chemical food tests for starch, reducing sugar, protein and fat.8 min answer →
- How do plants make food by photosynthesis, and what affects the rate at which they do it?The word and symbol equations for photosynthesis, the role of chlorophyll and chloroplasts, the limiting factors of light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and temperature, and experiments to investigate the rate of photosynthesis.8 min answer →
- How does the digestive system break down food and absorb it into the blood?The organs of the digestive system and their functions, the digestive enzymes amylase, protease and lipase with their substrates and products, the role of bile, and absorption in the villi of the small intestine.8 min answer →
Ecology and the Environment
Module overview →- How are organisms organised into ecosystems, and how do they depend on each other?The terms population, community, habitat and ecosystem, the difference between producers, consumers and decomposers, food chains and food webs, and the interdependence of organisms including predator and prey relationships.8 min answer →
- How does energy flow through an ecosystem, and why are food chains short?How energy from the Sun flows through food chains, why energy is lost at each trophic level, pyramids of numbers and biomass, and calculating the efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels.8 min answer →
- How do humans affect the environment, and how can we reduce the damage?The causes and effects of pollution including water and air pollution, the use of indicator species to monitor pollution, the consequences of habitat destruction and deforestation, and conservation measures to protect biodiversity.8 min answer →
- How are carbon and nitrogen recycled through ecosystems?The carbon cycle including photosynthesis, respiration, combustion and decomposition, and the nitrogen cycle including the roles of decomposers and nitrogen-fixing, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria.8 min answer →
- How do scientists sample and measure the organisms living in a habitat?Using quadrats to estimate abundance and percentage cover, using transects to study how distribution changes across a habitat, the meaning of biodiversity, and calculating means and population estimates from sampling data.8 min answer →
Genetics and Cell Division
Module overview →- How is genetic information stored in chromosomes, genes and DNA?The relationship between the nucleus, chromosomes, genes and DNA, the structure of DNA as a double helix with complementary base pairs, the human chromosome number, and how genes control the characteristics of an organism.8 min answer →
- What is the difference between mitosis and meiosis, and why does each matter?Mitosis as cell division producing two genetically identical cells for growth and repair, meiosis as division producing four genetically different gametes with half the chromosome number, and why meiosis creates variation.8 min answer →
- How do we predict the inheritance of a single characteristic using genetic crosses?The terms gene, allele, dominant, recessive, homozygous, heterozygous, genotype and phenotype, and using Punnett squares to predict the ratios and probabilities of offspring in a monohybrid cross.9 min answer →
- How does a gene code for a protein inside the cell?How the base sequence of a gene codes for the order of amino acids in a protein, the roles of transcription and translation, the part played by mRNA and ribosomes, and how mutations can change a protein.8 min answer →
- How is the sex of a baby determined, and how are genetic disorders inherited?How the X and Y sex chromosomes determine sex, using a genetic cross to show the equal chance of a boy or girl, and how genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis are inherited from carrier parents.8 min answer →
Microorganisms and Health
Module overview →- How do pathogens cause disease, and how does the body defend itself?Pathogens as disease-causing microorganisms and how they spread, the body's first-line defences such as the skin, and the role of white blood cells in defending the body by phagocytosis and antibody production.8 min answer →
- How do antibiotics and other medicines work, and why is drug misuse harmful?How antibiotics treat bacterial infections but not viral ones, the problem of antibiotic resistance and how to reduce it, the difference between medical and recreational drugs, and the effects of alcohol and tobacco on health.8 min answer →
- What are microorganisms, and how do we use them in food and biotechnology?The main types of microorganism (bacteria, viruses and fungi), the conditions microorganisms need to grow, their useful roles in food production such as yoghurt and bread, and the use of microorganisms in biotechnology including aseptic technique.8 min answer →
- How does immunity work, and how do vaccines protect us from disease?How the immune system produces memory cells for long-term immunity, how a vaccine uses a dead or weakened pathogen to make the body immune, and how vaccination protects individuals and populations (herd immunity).8 min answer →
Transport, Respiration and Coordination
Module overview →- What is blood made of, and how does the heart pump it around the body?The components of the blood and their functions, the structure of the heart with its chambers and valves, the path of blood through the heart, and how the heartbeat pumps blood around the double circulation.8 min answer →
- How do hormones control the body, and how is blood glucose kept steady?Hormones as chemical messengers carried in the blood, the control of blood glucose by insulin, the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the role of adrenaline, and the difference between nervous and hormonal control.8 min answer →
- What is osmosis, and how do plants take up and transport water?Osmosis as the movement of water across a partially permeable membrane, turgid, flaccid and plasmolysed plant cells, the roles of xylem and phloem, water uptake by root hair cells, and transpiration and the factors affecting it.8 min answer →
- How does the double circulatory system move blood around the body?The double circulatory system, the structure and function of arteries, veins and capillaries, how each blood vessel is adapted to its job, and the effect of lifestyle on the circulatory system including coronary heart disease.8 min answer →
- How does the nervous system carry messages, and how does the eye detect light?The central nervous system, sensory, relay and motor neurones, the reflex arc as a fast automatic response, the structure and function of the eye, and how the eye focuses light and adjusts to light intensity.8 min answer →
- How does the respiratory system get oxygen into the blood, and how does breathing work?The structure of the human respiratory system, the mechanism of breathing in and out, gas exchange in the alveoli and their adaptations, the difference between breathing and respiration, and the effects of smoking.8 min answer →
Variation, Reproduction and Applied Genetics
Module overview →- How do scientists move genes between organisms and make clones?How genetic engineering transfers a gene from one organism to another using enzymes and vectors, examples such as insulin-producing bacteria and GM crops, methods of cloning, and the benefits and ethical issues.8 min answer →
- How does natural selection drive evolution, and what is the evidence?The theory of evolution by natural selection, how variation, competition and survival of the best-adapted lead to a change in a species over time, antibiotic resistance as an example, and the evidence from fossils.8 min answer →
- How do humans breed plants and animals to have useful features?How selective breeding chooses parents with desired characteristics over many generations, examples in crops and farm animals, and the benefits and risks including reduced variation and inbreeding.7 min answer →
- How do reproductive hormones control the menstrual cycle and fertility?The male and female reproductive systems, the hormones oestrogen and progesterone in the menstrual cycle, the role of FSH and LH, and how hormones are used in contraception and fertility treatment such as IVF.8 min answer →
- Why are members of a species different, and where does variation come from?The difference between continuous and discontinuous variation, the genetic and environmental causes of variation, how variation data is presented, and the role of mutation in producing new variation.8 min answer →