OCR GCSE Gateway Additional Science

About this course

This is the old course which will be running until summer 2012. The Gateway series of courses are also know as Science B, as opposed to the 21st Century courses, which are called Science A.

There are three units – each counting for a third of the total marks:
Unit 1:  Additional Science B Unit 1 – modules B3, C3, P3 (B623)
Unit 2:  Additional Science B Unit 2 – modules B4, C4, P4 (B624)
Unit 3:  Additional Science B Unit 3 – Research Study, Data Task and Practical Skills (B626)

Exam dates for 2012

These are the last dates for this course. There will be an opportunity to do retakes in 2013.

Unit 1 (B623) – Thursday, January 26th and Wednesday, May 30th.
Unit 2 (B624) – Tuesday, January 31st an Monday, May 21st.
Unit 3 is the practical unit and can be taken at any time during the year.

Exam papers

Past papers, marking schemes, examiner’s comments and other resources can be found on the OCR website.

Course content

There are two modules each for Biology (B3, B4), Chemistry (C3, C4) and Physics (Pc, P4). These lead on from the modules studied in Core science.

B3:  Living and growing 
a  Molecules of Life
b Diffusion
c  Keep it moving
d  Divide and Rule
e  Growing Up
f  Controlling Plant Growth
g  New Genes for Old
h  More of the Same

C3:  The Periodic Table – Fundamental Chemical Concepts
a  What are atoms like?
b  How atoms Combine – Ionic Bonding
c  Covalent bonding and the Structure of the Periodic Table
d  The Group 1 Elements
e  The Group 7 Elements
f  Electrolysis
g Transition Elements
h  Metal Structure and Properties

P3:  Forces for Transport
a Speed
b Changing Speed
c  Forces and Motion
d  Work and Power
e  Energy on the Move
f  Crumple Zones
g Falling Safely
h The Energy of Game and Theme Rides

B4:  It’s a Green World   
a  Who planted that there
b Water, water everywhere
c  Transport in plants
d  Plants need minerals too
e Energy flow
f Farming
g Decay
h Recycling

C4:  Chemical Economics – Fundamental Chemical Concepts
a  Acids and Bases
b Reacting Masses
c  Fertilisers and Crop yield
d  Making ammonia – Haber Process and costs
e Detergents
f  Batch or Continuous
g Nanochemistry
h  How pure is our water?

P4:  Radiation for Life
a  Electrostatics – Sparks
b  Electrostatics 2: uses of electrostatics
c  Safe Electricals
d Ultrasound
e Treatment
f  What is radioactivity
g  Uses of radioisotopes
h  Fission

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