Hey guys,
As I've recently graduated from high school, I thought it might be helpful to do a series of External Exam "survival guides" for each of my previous QCE subjects for the upcoming Year 11s and Year 12s (and Year 10s if you're keen!). So, without further ado, here's what I learnt throughout my QCE Biology External Exam:
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The QCAA is extremely picky. It may sound weird, but from what I can tell, the QCAA values preciseness, especially in Biology. Hence, it's important to
memorise the QCAA definitions word for word. Trust me, one word goes a long way so remember as much of each definition as you can. I really don't want to rain on your parade, but one of the biggest things to consider is that even if you trip up with one wrong word, you'll get penalised and not receive any marks even if you partially have the definition. Yes, it's harsh I know.
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In the exam, you may never know the Unit 3 to Unit 4 content ratio. In my exam, there was more Unit 3 content than Unit 4 content, but
please do not use this as a guide as it would vary and change on a year to year basis. I was extremely annoyed, as, in my revision process, I put a lot more emphasis on the Unit 4 content as it is what I struggled with the most and I partially neglected the Unit 3 content so please don't repeat my mistakes.
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When you're in the exam, pretend you're teaching the content to someone else (but in your head). This may not help everyone, but this has certainly helped me throughout all of my exams! Throughout my years of high school, my teachers essentially knew me as the "rambler" as I had no sense of direction and I was constantly lost on a tangent. But when I used this tip throughout my exam, it honestly helped me for the better because I knew that my rambling wouldn't be beneficial for my imaginary/non-existent student!
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Don't just learn the content, understand it. This may sound extremely obvious but a lot of people (me included) fell into the trap of just memorising the content just for the sake of puking it back out in the exam. But unfortunately, this process isn't beneficial at all. A lot of people say
you're what you eat but how much can you really eat in one go? Trust me, if you're treating yourself to a burger or something, you wouldn't just eat it all in one go, you would take it one bite at a time and savour the taste. Treat your study and revision like that - take it one small step at a time and really understand what you're learning.
Try the processes of visual aids (e.g. diagrams), summarising, spaced repetition, active recall and mnemonics as well as experimenting with notetaking styles/methods!-
Trust me, your syllabus is honestly like a bible. Since the QCAA is extremely picky, consult your syllabus as much as possible! From what I can tell, one of the main study resources for students in other states (primarily NSW and VIC) are their syllabi - write notes underneath each dot-point, inform yourself of the different types of cognitive verbs, exactly what you need to know content wise and a detailed overview of what to expect/what's ahead if you're keen.
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While this isn't mentioned in the syllabus, there are certain requirements to getting full marks in questions. This is a bit of a controversial one but hear me out: you may have heard that you need to memorise the QCAA definitions word for word, but did you know that in the "compare" type questions, you're required to discuss the similarities and differences as well as the
significance of these similarities and differences? Yeah me neither until the biology teachers at my school preached about this during the tutorials we had in our exam preparation.
Here's a brief overview of what's expected of you in the QCAA "compare" type questions:
- Similarity
- The significance of this similarity.
- Difference
- The significance of this difference.
It may be a little bit confusing at first but the best way to think about the
significance of a particular biological concept or process, is to think about how the similarity or difference is
purposeful or
important to the biological process or concept. For example, if we're comparing Meiosis and Mitosis, the answer may look something like this:
- Similarity: Both processes of Meiosis and Mitosis undergo DNA Replication.
- Significance: DNA Replication is significant as it ensures that the two new daughter cells must contain the same genetic information (DNA) as the parent cell.
- Difference: In the process of Mitosis, recombination and crossing over does not occur.
- Significance: Recombination and Crossing Over are significant as these process enhances the genetic variation in the offspring and also ensures that the genes assort independently from one another.
That's all I can think of for now (but I can definitely update the thread if you guys need anymore advice) but I would really love and appreciate if the biology students of the Class of 2020 could contribute to this thread as well. The more advice, the merrier as I'm sure the upcoming biology students would really appreciate it
Have a great week and kind regards,
Darcy Dillon.