OCR A-Level Biology: H420 Continues, H422 Is Being Withdrawn

OCR examines A-Level Biology under two entirely separate specifications: Biology A (H020 AS / H420 A-level) and Biology B, "Advancing Biology" (H022 AS / H422 A-level). OCR is withdrawing Biology B — the final first-teaching date is September 2026, the final assessment series is Summer 2028, and there is no resit after that series. Biology A, H420, continues, assessed across three written papers with no coursework component.

Two Specifications, and Only One Has a Future

OCR's own qualification pages confirm both routes and both sets of codes. The Biology A qualification page is titled "AS and A Level - Biology A - H020, H420"; the separate Biology B qualification page is titled "AS and A Level - Biology B (Advancing Biology) - H022, H422". They are not two names for one qualification — they are graded on different components, to different weightings, and from 2026 onward only one of them is a route a school can still start a student on.

Biology B's current specification PDF carries a withdrawal notice on its own cover: "The final first teach date for A Level Biology B (H422) is September 2026. The final assessment opportunity will be Summer 2028. There is no resit opportunity." OCR's separate qualification-withdrawals register — a different, independently maintained page — confirms the same dates against the formal qualification numbers: H022 (601/4721/0) has June 2027 as its final series, and H422 (601/4720/9) has June 2028, both carrying the same condition, "there will not be a resit opportunity after the final assessment opportunity." Two separately maintained OCR sources giving the same dates is stronger evidence than either alone.

Biology was part of the 2015 A-level reform wave that decoupled AS from the full A-level for the sciences: a government summary of the reform states new AS and A levels in biology (among other subjects) were taught from September 2015, with first AS results in Summer 2016 and first A-level results in Summer 2017, and that "AS and A levels will be decoupled — this means that AS results will no longer count towards an A level." That decoupling is why H020 and H022, the AS awards, sit apart from H420 and H422 as qualifications in their own right rather than as a staging post — a distinction that matters later on this page when H020's own paper structure is set out.

A sourcing note on H420 itself: the current live specification (Version 4.1, April 2026) states on its own cover "For first assessment in 2025" and separately confirms the document "will be certificated from the June 2025 examination series onwards." That is the only first-teaching language the live document asserts. An older section of the same PDF's own changelog traces a section once titled "Introducing... A Level Biology A (from September 2015)" to an August 2023 edit, but that phrase does not appear anywhere in the current body text. Rather than resolve the apparent gap between the two by guessing, this page states only what the current specification itself says and does not publish a single first-teaching year for H420.

A caution about OCR's own website, since much of this page rests on it: a resolving ocr.org.uk URL proves nothing on its own. Fetching a deliberately invented qualification address on the same domain — a made-up "Biology Z999" page — returned an HTTP 200 response of 48,185 bytes, titled simply "Qualification details," with no Biology-specific content anywhere in it, against 61,344 bytes and a populated "AS and A Level - Biology A - H020, H420" title for the genuine page. OCR's site template answers every plausible-looking URL with a page rather than a 404, so every figure on this page is drawn from OCR's specification PDFs and its named subject-update notices, never from a URL taken on trust because it resolved.

Choosing between OCR and another board entirely is a different question, and our A-Level Biology guide sets out how OCR's paper structure compares with AQA, Pearson Edexcel, Eduqas and WJEC — that comparison is not repeated here. And if your child's school is already teaching H422 to a Year 12 group starting this September, our Year 12 OCR A-Level Biology guide covers the AS-entry decision and the full withdrawal timeline in detail; this page instead covers what H420 and H422 actually contain.

H420's Three Written Papers: Marks, Timing and What Each Assesses

H420 is assessed entirely on three written papers — there is no coursework and no NEA. OCR's specification sets out marks, timing and weighting for each component precisely:

The three components total 270 marks (100 + 100 + 70) — OCR does not print that sum as a single figure, but each addend is stated individually against its own component, so the total is directly checkable from the table above. OCR sets Total Qualification Time at 360 hours for the full A-level, the same figure it uses for guided learning time.

Across all three papers, OCR's Assessment Objective weightings run AO1 (knowledge and understanding) at 31–34%, AO2 (application) at 40–43%, and AO3 (analysis, interpretation and evaluation) at 25–28% of the total. AO2 carries the largest share by a clear margin, which is consistent with Component 03's synoptic design — a single 70-mark paper drawing on content from every module is built to test application across topics, not recall within one.

The Maths Floor: 10% of Every H420 Paper, Confirmed Directly by OCR

OCR's specification states the requirement in full: "Within A Level in Biology, 10% of the marks available within written examinations will be for assessment of mathematics (in the context of biology) at a Level 2 standard, or higher. Lower level mathematical skills will still be assessed within examination papers but will not count within the 10% weighting for biology." Ten per cent of 270 raw marks is roughly 27 marks — not a rounding error against a 270-mark qualification, and not confined to one paper; it is spread across all three.

Identical wording appears in the Biology B specification, so the 10% floor applies equally to H422 — it is one of the few requirements common to both routes while they coexist. In practice the skills tested are Level 2 standard: percentage change, rates and gradients from a graph, standard form, ratios, and statistical tests applied to biological data, done under exam time pressure rather than derived from scratch.

OCR's Own Practical Endorsement: the Full PAG1–12 Taxonomy, and a Pass That Never Touches the Grade

The Practical Endorsement is common in structure across every OCR A-level science — Chemistry A and B, Physics A and B, and both Biology routes all share the same Pass/Not Classified mechanism, built around the Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC) used across English awarding organisations. What is genuinely OCR's own is the taxonomy underneath it: twelve named Practical Activity Groups, organised into four labelled bands, from which a school builds the activities a student actually performs.

A student needs a minimum of 12 practical activities, drawn from these groups, each meeting the CPAC requirements set out in the specification's appendices. OCR's own wording is direct: "Candidates who fulfil the requirements and reach the minimum standard will be awarded a Pass grade. Candidates who fail to reach the minimum standard will be recorded as 'Not Classified' and this will also be reported on the certificate." There is no merit and no partial credit — it is a binary outcome, reported alongside the grade rather than inside it: "A learner's result for their Practical Endorsement in Biology component will not contribute to their overall qualification grade... Results for the A Level Sciences Practical Endorsements will be shown independently of the qualification grade on the certificate."

The AS award, H020, sits outside this system entirely. It is assessed on two components only — Breadth in biology (70 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes, 50%) and Depth in biology (70 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes, 50%), each drawing on all four AS modules — and OCR's specification states there is no direct assessment of practical skills for AS qualifications. A student who leaves after Year 12 with the AS award alone never sits an endorsement decision at all; it exists only for students who go on to the full A-level.

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How H420 and H422 Genuinely Differ, While Both Still Exist

OCR describes the two routes' pedagogical approach differently, and the difference is not just marketing language. Biology A "provides a flexible approach to teaching. The specification is divided into topics, each covering different key concepts of biology. Teaching of practical skills is integrated with the theoretical topics and they are assessed through the written papers." Biology B instead "learners study biology using a context based approach. Ideas are introduced within relevant and interesting settings which help learners to anchor their conceptual knowledge" — OCR's own examples include cell structure taught through the blood and photosynthesis taught through food production and environmental management.

That approach carries through into how Biology B is assessed. Its three written components are structured quite differently from H420's:

Two things stand out against H420. First, the total: 110 + 100 + 60 also comes to 270 marks — the same overall total as H420, reached through a completely different split. Second, and more significant for teaching, is what Component 03 actually is. OCR states plainly that "Components 01, 02 and 03 can assess content from all modules (1–5)" — unlike H420, where each paper is tied to specific named modules, any H422 written question can in principle come from anywhere in the course. And where H420's Component 03 is a general synoptic paper, H422's Component 03 is a dedicated 60-mark written paper built specifically to test practical skills and techniques directly, rather than folding practical understanding into a synoptic paper alongside everything else. A student moving between the two routes is not just learning different content in a different order; they are preparing for a structurally different exam.

How Leading Tuition Supports OCR A-Level Biology

We start from the specification code on the exam entry rather than "Biology" as a generic subject, because H420 and H422 are marked on different components, to different weightings, and — while Biology B still runs — on a genuinely different assessment structure. Our tutors are specialist tutors, several of them examiners or practising scientists, and they cover OCR's Biology A and Biology B routes at both AS and A-level alongside AQA, Pearson Edexcel, Eduqas and WJEC. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades, and we are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews.

If your child is still working through GCSE content, our GCSE Biology guide sets out the triple and combined-science routes that feed into A-level study. Our wider Biology tutor service covers GCSE and A-level together, the A-level tutoring hub covers every other subject at this level, and if your child's Year 12 cohort is on H422 specifically, our Year 12 OCR A-Level Biology guide covers the AS-entry decision and the withdrawal timeline in full.

Frequently Asked Questions — OCR A-Level Biology

Checked 9 September 2026: specification codes, paper structure, marks, AO weightings, the maths floor, the Practical Endorsement PAG taxonomy and Biology B's withdrawal dates were verified against OCR's own specification PDFs and its separate qualification-withdrawals register. Last updated 9 September 2026.