The NEW 9477 Syllabus for H2 Biology

The batch of students taking the A Level examinations in 2026 will be the first cohort to tackle the challenging 9477 paper, full of additional topics, application, calculations and a new essay style!

Changes from old 9744 syllabus

The old 9744 syllabus is the first syllabus that started with the 4 core ideas (Cells and Biomolecules, Genetics and Inheritance, Energy and Equilibrium, Evolution) and the 2 extension topics (Infectious Diseases, Climate Change)

The first notable change is that the extension topics will account for 15% of the total H2 Biology curriculum, a 5% points increase from the previous syllabus. This can be seen in the Specimen Paper 2, the percentage of marks allocated to the extension topics almost doubled from the TYS papers for the old syllabus.

Another notable change is the reduction in marks in Paper 2 and Paper 4. There is a reduction in marks from 100 to 90 for the new Paper 2 and a reduction in marks from 55 to 50 in the new Paper 4. This means there are a higher mark weightage of these papers to your overall grade. The planning question now weighs 1 mark less.

Content Changes

MOE justifies the new syllabus change as: students can keep up to date with knowledge that is relevant for their participation in a technology-driven economy and as a global citizen cognisant of threats of emerging infectious diseases and the impacts of climate change.

So what are these changes and their potential future implications? We have created a list below, in order of the syllabus:

Microscopy of cytoplasm and cell wall: As our technology becomes more advanced, students are now expected to recognise the features of the cytoplasm and cellulose cell wall. Do expect to strain your eyes in practical; you may need to study the inner details of a cell!
Removal of structure of GPLR: This topic was really just added in 2017 for fun huh? Because now, they have decided to remove it! To be fair, unlike haemoglobin and collagen, which have special molecular features such as the haem prosthetic group and the 33% glycine ratio, GPLR is just a transmembrane receptor protein with a ligand binding site and a G-protein interaction site. Furthermore, the structures of haemoglobin and collagen are important to study due to physiological diseases that could alter their structure and function.
Removal of the ethical advantages of iPSCs: Nowadays, people are not too concerned about iPSCs. Many reward them for their innovative treatment advantages that minimises the risk of tissue rejection.
Removal of prokaryotic gene expression and regulation: The syllabus is now focused on building the key concepts and application while removing large chunks of memory work to make it easier for students to focus on application.
Removal of T4 phage: The T4 phage undergoes the lytic cycle only. This change helps make it easier for students to focus on one phage (lambda phage) that undergoes both lysogenic and lytic cycles.
Addition of the ethical advantages and concerns of genetic screening: Now this is a major area of concern. People are valuing their privacy more and more often in this digital age. DNA test kits are also an emerging trend that people have hopped on. This learning outcome replaces the ethics learning outcome of iPSCs.
Removal of incomplete dominance: Not like this chapter was ever tested before in Papers 2, 3 and 4.
Removal of Himalayan rabbits: We have a feeling this learning outcome was removed because it is very similar, in concept, to the learning outcome of effects of temperature on insects and vector spread.
Removal of effects of substrate type on respiration: This is a good change because the syllabus does not explicitly focus on the structure of disaccharides in Core Idea 1.
Removal of other species concepts except biological species concept: This is the main species concept used to explain the mechanism of speciation, so it makes sense to remove the redundant species concepts.
Addition of Hardy Weinberg equilibrium and R0: This is another key focus of the syllabus change. In recent years in the old syllabus, there has been a higher weightage on calculation questions in the written papers 2 and 3. For example, 2017 Paper 3 had this Hardy Weinberg equation, 2020 Paper 3 had this R0 question, but there were also other calculations such as % changes, magnification, and even basic arithmetic manipulation.

The New Essay

Previously, the essay is a 25 mark question split into 2 parts, usually 15m and 10m. Here is an example from 2024 Paper 3:

As you can see, the first part is usually a regurgitation question from one topic of the syllabus. In this case, 4(a) is on gene expression and 5(a) is on meiosis and inheritance. The second part is the discuss question where you need to apply your knowledge and potentially interlink to different areas of the syllabus. In this case, 4(b) is heavily genetic related but could apply to HIV/influenza and telomere DNA and 5(b) has some links to inheritance, but can be applied to infection, cancer and evolution.

Now this is the 20-mark essay in the Specimen Paper 3.

These questions are more open-ended and less guided. While you may think it is easy to regurgitate whatever you know about a particular topic such as haemoglobin and collagen, the truth is these questions are level descriptor questions. Yes, they are now actually essay questions. You will need sufficient breadth and depth to score well on these questions.

Moreover, argumentation and communication have a higher weightage for these questions. 3 marks are dedicated to the quality of your argumentation, and 2 marks are dedicated to how well you could communicate your ideas to the examiner. This is vastly different from the 2 marks allocated in the previous syllabus, which just required you to have some breadth.

In the old syllabus, you could answer Q4 by regurgitating the roles of haemoglobin, collagen, GPLR and typical intracellular enzymes in the cytosol and hit a solid 20 marks. This is because the previous syllabus allocated marks according to key words, not so much on breadth and depth. Now, to score 15 marks for content (the maximum mark for mere content without argumentation and communication), you would need to cover at least 4 distinct areas. For example, if you were to talk about the role of RTK and GPLR and glycoproteins, that would be 1 area under cell signalling. However, if you discussed a glycoprotein but applied it to infectious diseases in B lymphocytes, that would be another area under immune response.

This is ignoring the fact that you must write your answer without errors/misconceptions or whatever that you have said will be void! For example, if you discussed the role of haemoglobin as present in the blood rather than in the cells, this would be a severe misconception that would prevent you from covering one area on transport roles of proteins.

In fact, Q4 and Q5 in the Specimen Paper 3 were previous H3 questions. This is Q4 and the mark scheme:

Conclusion

The H2 Biology syllabus is only getting tougher. On the surface, the removal of many learning outcomes may seem like a blessing for students struggling with memory work. However, the truth is that this subject demands a higher order of application and interlinking of concepts, especially in Paper 3 with the new essay question and a greater weightage on application questions. Remember, if you are struggling with H2 Biology for a long time, it is okay to seek help from trusted tutors and centres who can give you a solid foundation to excel!