Calling all biology 09ers and previous biology students!

[Hielly]

Hey all!

I am freaken out at the moment. The maximum time i study a night is only 20 minutes!.. i have no idea what to do more. i see other students in this form that does copious amounts of hours studying!

All i do for biology is revise all the stuff we've learnt in class, and that's it. Only takes me 20 minutes!

So please, if there are anyone that can tell me what i really need to study to get a 40+ study score, that will be great!

it seems like all the 40+ achievers study several hours a night per subject!

Thanks!

P.s im also in year 11 so biology can be my main focus! i am willing to put all my effort in this subject

[hard]

no, not all 40+ achievers study for several hours.
on avg i study 1.30 or 2 hours a day i.e. taking out the breaks.
Biology takes up 45 mins of it while methods takes up 15-20 minutes, english takes me like 15 mins depending on whether i got essays or assignments due to which this increases and chemistry = 5 mins or less. Aiming for above 20 in chem tbh lol.
so yer, you don't need to put in a large amount of time, just enough is all you need. If you think 20 mins is enough than so be it.
btw what you up to in bio?

[jackinthepatch]

Don't worry, your 20 minutes is more study than I'm doing across my whole 5 subjects per night.

[shinny]

Well you say you go over what you do in class, and if you can do that in 20 minutes, then I assume you're understanding it pretty well and hence there's no reason to be scared really. Just because others are spending more time than you doesn't mean they understand it better than you do, and that's what counts really. It's the same  in most subjects, particularly things like Maths. Plenty of students will spend hours doing maths exercises, but will never reach the level of some students who skip entire chapters as they understand the theory straight off and have no need to practise it. The ultimate test in VCE is to what extent you know the material; not how much time you've spent on it.

[TrueLight]

Well you say you go over what you do in class, and if you can do that in 20 minutes, then I assume you're understanding it pretty well and hence there's no reason to be scared really. Just because others are spending more time than you doesn't mean they understand it better than you do, and that's what counts really. It's the same  in most subjects, particularly things like Maths. Plenty of students will spend hours doing maths exercises, but will never reach the level of some students who skip entire chapters as they understand the theory straight off and have no need to practise it. The ultimate test in VCE is to what extent you know the material; not how much time you've spent on it.

perfectly agree nicely told

[Hielly]

no, not all 40+ achievers study for several hours.
on avg i study 1.30 or 2 hours a day i.e. taking out the breaks.
Biology takes up 45 mins of it while methods takes up 15-20 minutes, english takes me like 15 mins depending on whether i got essays or assignments due to which this increases and chemistry = 5 mins or less. Aiming for above 20 in chem tbh lol.
so yer, you don't need to put in a large amount of time, just enough is all you need. If you think 20 mins is enough than so be it.
btw what you up to in bio?

im still up to biomacromolecules, my class pace is so slow, i think i might try study ahead. You know all those lipids,proteins,nucleic acids and carbohydrates stuff? the information is really straight forward so when i studied for 20 minutes i understood it.

Yep thanks shinny.. i was just afraid i wasn't doing enough compare to other biology students out there

[iamdan08]

You might find that the further you get into the year, the more stuff you will have to revise. I mean, you need to keep in mind you have only just started the year and you havn't learnt that much content yet.

[Voltman]

Well, I'm doing Biology units 3/4 as well and like yourself I am also in year 11. Currently, it is my only year 12 subject... So far I have read all of unit 1 and half of unit 2. I have two textbooks that I use to study it, Nature of Biology and Nelson Biology. However I use various other sources such as the internet and other books which have some relevance to what we study in VCE Biology, but what goes onto a deeper level. On average I probably do 5 hours of study on it per week...however I always aim for 10 hours, but hey, everybody's different!

EDIT: I am also aiming for a 40+ study score...but 45-50 would be sweet!
EDIT: Sorry, I was meant to say I have read all of unit 3 and half of unit 4 and currently just continuing with the review of unit 3 (just so I still retain all that information when I actually do the exams...lol...sometimes I can be such an idiot)

[jackinthepatch]

however I always aim for 10 hours, but hey, everybody's different!

Yeah you're exactly right, everyone is different in regards to time put in to study. For example, I think 10 hours is a ridiculous amount of time to be spending on study for one subject...no offense lol, but it's just not for me. But yeah, it depends on the individual, and everyone needs different amounts of time before a concept sticks in their head. Fortunately it doesn't take me too long, because I don't think I could afford to spend 10 hours on each subject over a week lol.

[Voltman]

however I always aim for 10 hours, but hey, everybody's different!

Fortunately it doesn't take me too long, because I don't think I could afford to spend 10 hours on each subject over a week lol.

Oh no...I don't study 10 hours for each subject...just for biology, my one and only year 12 subject...I try to spend roughly 3-4 hours on my other subjects. Hielly and I are year 11s...we can afford to spend that much time on one subject!

[jackinthepatch]

Lol yeah I realise you're year 11's, so I figured you didn't spend that much time on each subject! But seeing as though I did a year 12 subject last year like you two are doing now, I just want to say that you shouldn't put too many hours into the one subject. I can understand the thought that doing more hours will generate success, and that's true to a certain extent. But from my experience, in my year 12 subject, and in other subjects that my mates did (like biology), the people that did the best were people that put in work, but not a ridiculous amount. They remained on top of things during the year, and to remain on top of things all that is required is a maximum of 30 minutes of study a night...not saying that I personally did that much, but that's what I'd call the maximum. The others who did put in uncountable numbers of hours however, did not do as well as the others who did less. Anyway that's just my advice, not saying you have to follow or believe it!

[Hielly]

voltman, 5 hours a week seems reasonably. I'm thinking to study ahead of class though, just read further...

[jackinthepatch]

Definitely stay ahead of the class. I didn't do that last year, but this year I'm trying to do it for most subjects. I'm doing it in biology, and it's definitely the way to go.

[Hielly]

hey do jackinthepatch, do you have any class notes that i can have a look at?

[jackinthepatch]

What do you mean by class notes?