This question could be rephrased as Place the following items in order of importance for a biological sciences degree course. As written the last question is ambiguous. You must be explicit if you are to avoid confusion. There are a variety of designs for a scaled response. One of the most common scaled-response formats is the 5 point Likert scale.
Abortion is morally inexcusable under all circumstances.
Disagree A rating scale requires respondents to rate some item or quality on a specific scale. You may wish to ask several questions that have the same style of answer. In such cases a matrix of items and answers can be useful. This format has the advantage of speed, the respondent will tend to answer the questions faster and may be less liable to lose interest.