CAIE 9700 Biology Past Papers

Cambridge International (CAIE) AS & A Level 9700 Biology: 4 papers, 84 past papers from 2021 to 2025 (including v1–v3 variants); 32 can be taken online on Sagacia.

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Papers

Paper	Type	Marks	Minutes	Papers	Online
Paper 1 Multiple Choice (AS)	multiple choice	40	75	19	12
Paper 2 AS Level Structured Questions	written	60	75	19	9
Paper 4 A Level Structured Questions	written	100	120	19	11
Paper 5 Planning, Analysis and Evaluation	practical	30	75	27	0

Past papers by series

Gold = available online; grey = coming soon. Click for the paper page.

Series	Paper 1	Paper 2	Paper 4	Paper 5
May/June 2025	v1 v2 v3 v4	v1 v2 v3 v4	v1 v2 v3 v4	v1 v2 v4
Feb/March 2025	v2	v2	v2	v2
Oct/Nov 2024	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3
May/June 2024	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3
Feb/March 2024	v2	v2	v2	v2
Oct/Nov 2023	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3
May/June 2023	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3	v1 v2 v3
Feb/March 2023	v2	v2	v2	v2
Oct/Nov 2022				v1 v2 v3
May/June 2022				v1 v2 v3
Feb/March 2022				v2
Oct/Nov 2021				v2 v3

Grade threshold overview

Grade thresholds are the minimum raw marks published by the exam board for each series and variant. A single paper has grades A–E (A–G for IGCSE); A* is awarded only on the whole-subject total. The table averages the latest 8 series (all variants).

Paper	Max	A	B	C	D	E
Paper 1 Multiple Choice (AS)	40	30 (75%)	27 (67%)	23 (59%)	20 (51%)	18 (44%)
Paper 2 AS Level Structured Questions	60	37 (61%)	32 (53%)	26 (44%)	21 (35%)	15 (25%)
Paper 4 A Level Structured Questions	100	63 (63%)	54 (54%)	46 (46%)	38 (38%)	29 (29%)
Paper 5 Planning, Analysis and Evaluation	30	20 (68%)	17 (58%)	15 (50%)	12 (42%)	10 (35%)

Topic coverage (share of marks)

Based on fully verified past papers, sorted by share of marks.

Paper 1 Multiple Choice (AS)

2 Biological molecules76 marks · 16%

1 Cell structure73 marks · 15%

8 Transport in mammals49 marks · 10%

6 Nucleic acids and protein synthesis43 marks · 9%

7 Transport in plants43 marks · 9%

5 The mitotic cell cycle39 marks · 8%

Paper 2 AS Level Structured Questions

7 Transport in plants60 marks · 11%

6 Nucleic acids and protein synthesis59 marks · 11%

2 Biological molecules56 marks · 10%

11 Immunity54 marks · 10%

10 Infectious diseases54 marks · 10%

1 Cell structure53 marks · 10%

Paper 4 A Level Structured Questions

16 Inheritance172 marks · 16%

15 Control and coordination166 marks · 15%

13 Photosynthesis148 marks · 14%

19 Genetic technology139 marks · 13%

18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation135 marks · 12%

17 Selection and evolution117 marks · 11%

Paper 5 Planning, Analysis and Evaluation

E1 Planning an investigation165 marks · 40%

E3 Data processing, graphs and statistics127 marks · 31%

E5 Conclusions and evaluation77 marks · 19%

E2 Measurement, apparatus and techniques36 marks · 9%

E4 Uncertainties and errors3 marks · 1%