Hey all,
Because it's year 12 this year I thought that I would dish out a bit of money on resources, the problem is I dont know where to best spend my money!
I'm tossing up between whether course notes/summaries like the connect, Atar notes or A+ notes would be the most useful, or whether my money would be better spent on checkpoints, practise exams and Atar notes study guides. If so which companies in particular offer the best bang for buck!
Thanks I appreciate the help!
Hello
I did 3/4 biology last year and achieved a study score in the 40s but take what I say with a grain of salt as every student is different!
I highly recommend making your own detailed notes using the textbook initially and then learning the content from those. As for additional course notes, I used the ATARNotes one for a different perspective on each of the topics and for brief revision because the notes were concise which I really liked! I'm actually a huge fan of Checkpoints and because I bought it midyear, I wasn't able to complete the questions as we covered the topics in class. However, I still managed to complete every question in it prior to practice exam season and I honestly found that it was the best resource that I had used. I also had the NEAP SmartStudy questions which I exhausted but Checkpoints was still my favourite! If you decide to get Checkpoints, try to complete the relevant questions as you cover it in class! (fyi they're sorted out by topic)
Also, I agree with Sine; your teacher should provide you with practice exams, there are past ones on the VCAA website and if you ask past biology students, I'm sure they are happy to share them with you.
Anyways, I believe it would be beneficial to buy practice question type resources over summary note resources! (but that's just me
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EDIT:
Thanks guys!
The main problem I feel like I will have is making sure I have all the material down in my notes to start with, as our teacher often misses notes from the study design that we have to go back over to make sure we've covered everything. But then again i've also found that in the past when doing practise questions if you come across something you haven't covered you will naturally go off and learn about it anyway, and so it may be more beneficial to just buy checkpoints and what not and learn material that way?
I had a separate book I used for when I got questions wrong - I would copy out the question and write the correct answer to it. Normally, I would understand what I got wrong from looking at the answer but if I'm still unable to comprehend it, I'd make a diagram or seek clarification from my teacher! Also, that's a reason why I like making my own notes - because I know I've triple checked the study design to make sure I've covered all the relevant content!