National 3 Biology

This explains the overall structure of the Course, including its purpose and aims and information on the skills, knowledge and understanding that will be developed.

• N3 Biology Course Specification June 2013

These provide an outline of what each Unit will cover within the following Unit Specifications and detail the Outcomes and Assessment Standards.

• Biology: Life on Earth (National 3) Unit Specification April 2018
• Biology: Multicellular Organisms (National 3) Unit Specification April 2018
• Cell Biology (National 3) Unit Specification April 2018

These provide advice and guidance for teachers/lecturers on learning, teaching and assessment within the Course and its Units.

• National 3 Biology Course and Unit Support Notes May 2014

These documents contain details of Unit assessment task(s), show approaches to gathering evidence and how the evidence can be judged against the Outcomes and Assessment Standards. Teachers/lecturers can arrange access to these confidential documents through their SQA Co-ordinator.

Qualification Verification Summary Reports distil messages from verification activity from a given session. In 2020 not all planned activity took place, so reports have a more limited scope than in previous years.

• Biology Qualification Verification Summary Report August 2024
• Biology Qualification Verification Summary Report April 2023
• Biology Qualification Verification Summary Report June 2020

Biology: Quality Assurance - external verification

Audio presentation

• Biology Units: assessment and external verification (SCQF level 3 - SCQF level 7) (22.52 MB) Updated September 2023

Changes to Understanding Standards materials

• Changes to published Understanding Standards materials for all subjects

Please note: Understanding Standards materials are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain up to date.