VCE biology; absorbing volumnes of infomation?

[happyhappyland]

I feel biology is quite different than subjects such as chemistry, physics and accounting. There is alot of information and the study design is quite vague.

In my opinion, VCE has always been learning a set amount of stuff and regurgitating all of it out perfectly, but for Biology is more about different volumnes of information and interpretation. For example, the study design says you really need to know about the inputs and outputs of each phase of cellular respiration and photosynthesis, but in order to do well on the exam you may need to know a bit more. The more you know, the easier it is to interpret exam questions.

There was a VCAA exam question on photosynthesis either in 2008 or 2007 where they gave a diagram of the calvin cycle. Having only read my heinamann book for photosynthesis, since I hate plant biology, I was confused about the question and took me a 10 mins to actually understand what it was asking.

What are you opinions on Biology, and is there really a set amount of knowledge to attain a 50 and only "regurgitate" it like many VCE subjects? or if you do extra reading and understand the concepts further to get that perfect score?

[slothpomba]

You could basically deconstruct all the VCE and even education and indeed learning to picking up things and spitting them out. You could argue thats what learning is.. basically picking up things and remembering them.

If you had a perfect memory and never forgot anything (some people come very close) you would do fantastic in VCE.

Hopefully we have none of those people this year.

While i think its a half decent strategy and it DOES look good on the surface to just rote learn a whole bunch of stuff what i think is a better strategy is to deeply understand the concepts and they all kind of link together and you get that deeper understanding of it. I mean there are some things youd just have to rote learn.

I think just learning and memorising huge slabs out of the text book without remembering it isnt the best way to go.

You'll eventually learn half the stuff as you go anyway... looking back from my notes from term 1... i emphasised very much so what a monomer and a polymer was and listed all the nucleotides and such but know i remember it just because we've done it so many times. Theres less than there looks like to remember (still a lot though)
(A lot of VCE subjects can be classified as mostly memory work...Biology...IT....im sure people can list others but some rely much less on memory work than on skill talent and understanding... like mathematics...chemistry and english to some degree as well...)

[kyzoo]

In my opinion, VCE has always been learning a set amount of stuff and regurgitating all of it out perfectly

I disagree, especially for Chem and Physics. I had that attitude towards studying in Y10, and since I've discarded, studying for exams and tests and SACs has become a lot less stressful, as well my performance has improved a lot.

For Maths, as well as non-explanation questions for Chem/Physics, there's nothing to regurgitate, and there is very little theory you need to know. Being able to apply principles instinctively to problems is on a whole different level to regurgitating the theory. In Spesh for example, you can write the definition of linear independence in 2 or 3 lines, but it takes much more than just that to be able to instantly recognize when you can apply it. There are heaps of math problems that require concepts that everyone knows, yet not everyone can do them.

Words and numbers are just a method of communication; they are not the actual concept itself.

[happyhappyland]

In my opinion, VCE has always been learning a set amount of stuff and regurgitating all of it out perfectly

I disagree, especially for Chem and Physics. I had that attitude towards studying in Y10, and since I've discarded, studying for exams and tests and SACs has become a lot less stressful, as well my performance has improved a lot.

For Maths, as well as non-explanation questions for Chem/Physics, there's nothing to regurgitate, and there is very little theory you need to know. Being able to apply principles instinctively to problems is on a whole different level to regurgitating the theory. In Spesh for example, you can write the definition of linear independence in 2 or 3 lines, but it takes much more than just that to be able to instantly recognize when you can apply it. There are heaps of math problems that require concepts that everyone knows, yet not everyone can do them.

Words and numbers are just a method of communication; they are not the actual concept itself.

Well in methods you still memorise all the formulas and do tons of practise exams to attain that "perfection". I mean to get a 50 in methods you pretty much need almost 100% in both exams, in Further maths you DO in 100% in both exams. Its very different in Uni, where 80% is actually a very high mark (H1), and that learning in uni isnt about perfection but more about exploration. I feel that biology is sort of half way towards that exploration notion of learning, well right now I do.

[simpak]

Don't just use a textbook, you must must must summarize.
When I'm finished with my six assessments and I have time, I'm going to post a thread about what I did to score a 50 in Biology.
So watch out for that

[crayolé]

Don't just use a textbook, you must must must summarize.
When I'm finished with my six assessments and I have time, I'm going to post a thread about what I did to score a 50 in Biology.
So watch out for that

looking forward to it ;]

[akira88]

Don't just use a textbook, you must must must summarize.
When I'm finished with my six assessments and I have time, I'm going to post a thread about what I did to score a 50 in Biology.
So watch out for that

Looking forward to that too

[happyhappyland]

Don't just use a textbook, you must must must summarize.
When I'm finished with my six assessments and I have time, I'm going to post a thread about what I did to score a 50 in Biology.
So watch out for that

Looking forward to that too

Same here... right now im just summarising stuff over and over again

[slothpomba]

Don't just use a textbook, you must must must summarize.
When I'm finished with my six assessments and I have time, I'm going to post a thread about what I did to score a 50 in Biology.
So watch out for that

Im also looking forward to this