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March 29, 2024, 07:31:42 am

Author Topic: Advice for VCE Biology  (Read 27313 times)  Share 

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TheAspiringDoc

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #15 on: September 15, 2014, 05:46:17 pm »
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Where is a good place to find practice exams? engage education is the only site with free exams i could find.

nondiscrypt

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #16 on: September 15, 2014, 08:21:01 pm »
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Where is a good place to find practice exams? engage education is the only site with free exams i could find.

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/biology/exams.aspx

Reus

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2014, 10:32:34 pm »
+1
Yacoubb my man.
2015: Bachelor of Science & Bachelor of Global Studies @ Monash University

waftj

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #18 on: October 03, 2014, 04:37:31 pm »
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WOW This is a really well structured and informative post! :) Cheers man.
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Yacoubb

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #19 on: October 03, 2014, 06:40:16 pm »
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WOW This is a really well structured and informative post! :) Cheers man.

No worries :-) best of luck with Biology!!

Yacoubb

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #20 on: October 27, 2014, 02:39:59 pm »
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Haven't posted here for a while!

Okay guys :) a few days and you'll all be sitting the Biology exam. A few things to take care of before D-day.
(1.) Try and polish that expression. Work on punchy, concise and to-the-point responses. Consult any VCAA assessment reports if need be.
(2.) Go over any concepts (read over your notes) for anything that seems a bit fishy. This is the time to squash any areas of concern and make sure you've got it down pat.
(3.) Handwriting - don't put yourself in a position where illegible writing makes you lose marks. You never know - you may just miss out on a 50 because you've lost one more mark for a word you wrote properly that the assessor couldn't see. Dramatic? Yes. Possible? Yes.

Final note - best of luck to all of you doing Biology. I sincerely wish you all the best, and hopefully you smash it and get what you want!! It's time to finish the race, you've been at it for a long time working hard, and it's time to seal the deal!!! :)

sparkyblossom

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #21 on: October 27, 2014, 05:32:31 pm »
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Haven't posted here for a while!
...

Yacoubb, what specific advice do you have for answering application-type questions? :)

Yacoubb

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #22 on: October 27, 2014, 05:35:05 pm »
+2
Yacoubb, what specific advice do you have for answering application-type questions? :)

Contextualise your knowledge to the question. For instance:

You know that proteins are made up of amino acids.

If the question asks you to discuss the synthesis of a dipeptide made out of glycine and leucine, you would say:

The dipeptide is synthesised in a condensation reaction. When the amine group of glycine reacts with the carboxyl group of leucine, a water molecule is formed and eliminated, to form a covalent (peptide) bond between glycine and leucine. The dipeptide is formed.

^ Don't just say amino acids. Use what they've given. This'll demonstrate sound application of knowledge and give your answers oomf! :)

sparkyblossom

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2014, 05:39:29 pm »
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Contextualise your knowledge to the question. For instance:

You know that proteins are made up of amino acids.

If the question asks you to discuss the synthesis of a dipeptide made out of glycine and leucine, you would say:

The dipeptide is synthesised in a condensation reaction. When the amine group of glycine reacts with the carboxyl group of leucine, a water molecule is formed and eliminated, to form a covalent (peptide) bond between glycine and leucine. The dipeptide is formed.

^ Don't just say amino acids. Use what they've given. This'll demonstrate sound application of knowledge and give your answers oomf! :)

Thank you! Wish me luck for Friday :)

LiquidPaperz

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #24 on: October 27, 2014, 05:51:18 pm »
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Bit off topic, but i dont do biology atm, however i was thinking of doing it as a option for next year, might change a subject for it. Im interested in the human body and the way it operates, but i was wondering if there is heaps to remember. This is because if it is, it can be characterised as more of a year 11 subject when time is at your disposal however i dont want it to influence my other year 12 subjects such as methods, spesh, english etc..

if anyone can give me a quick summary of pros and cons in their opinion, that would be awesome!!

thanks

nerdmmb

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #25 on: October 27, 2014, 07:09:10 pm »
+1
Bit off topic, but i dont do biology atm, however i was thinking of doing it as a option for next year, might change a subject for it. Im interested in the human body and the way it operates, but i was wondering if there is heaps to remember. This is because if it is, it can be characterised as more of a year 11 subject when time is at your disposal however i dont want it to influence my other year 12 subjects such as methods, spesh, english etc..

if anyone can give me a quick summary of pros and cons in their opinion, that would be awesome!!

thanks

If you love learning about the human body then it's definitely a great subject to take.
In Unit 3, you cover a lot about cells and the immune system which is actually really enjoyable and overlaps quite a bit with year 10 Biology. Unit 4, you cover gene technology and evolution. I was honestly expecting evolution to be hard and boring but it was quite interesting.
I think the subject isn't just about memorising- you only memorise definitions and other than that, it's mostly about understanding how things work and linking the information together. The only thing that I found was quite challenging was wording answers which I struggled with a lot but practice really helps. So I'd definitely recommend taking the subject :)

Tyleralp1

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #26 on: October 27, 2014, 07:51:27 pm »
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Definitely knows what to say :)

Thanks dude!!
The GOAL: Attain a RAW study score of 40+ in all my subjects.

Courses I would like to study in order of preference include: Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Biomedicine or Bachelor of Science.

2014: Biology [42]
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Molel Sunil

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #27 on: April 08, 2017, 02:18:51 pm »
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Hi!!
 Currently I'm doing VCE year 12 biology units 3 and 4 and so far I'm finding it difficult. I did my first sac and got a low mark 14/50,which was very unexpected because last year I used to be at the top of class. My teacher said it's because I didnt answer questions smartly enough and I was writing too much for questions, which were 1 mark.
Do you have any advice on how to apply your knowledge by how to answer questions properly? :) thxs

Quantum44

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #28 on: April 08, 2017, 05:54:10 pm »
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Hi!!
 Currently I'm doing VCE year 12 biology units 3 and 4 and so far I'm finding it difficult. I did my first sac and got a low mark 14/50,which was very unexpected because last year I used to be at the top of class. My teacher said it's because I didnt answer questions smartly enough and I was writing too much for questions, which were 1 mark.
Do you have any advice on how to apply your knowledge by how to answer questions properly? :) thxs

Don't worry too much, 'biological' expression is something you develop over the course of the year as you answer more questions. My advice is always answer one mark questions with one sentence (unless the question requires multiple steps of reasoning, which is highly unlikely) and structure your answers to multi-mark questions with dot points according to how many marks are available. This should help you in making your answers concise while giving them a logical rhythm and flow. It's quite a struggle at first but after a while you'll get the hang of it.
UAdel MBBS

Molel Sunil

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Re: Advice for VCE Biology
« Reply #29 on: April 08, 2017, 06:33:35 pm »
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Thanks! :)