Studying Biology

[Stick]

I blame Biozone for the latter. As for the former question?

[pi]

What textbook are you reading? Do biology, not chemistry.

This.

Stick, have you looked at the study design? I'd recommend reading that.

So it would not be enough to say that just two glucose molecules form together as maltose?

Also, I covered glycosidic bonds. I'm assuming that I went too far again?

Knowing what a glycosidic bond is probably sufficient for bio. In general though, details of maltose (usually saying maltose = 2 glucose is enough imo) and glycosidic bonds is probably too far for bio, but then again that's knowledge you should have for VCE Chem 3/4 anyway, so it's not a complete waste of time I guess.

I blame Biozone for the latter. As for the former question?

Biozone has a lot of supplementary material, it's your job to look at the study design and cut the crap

[Stick]

Alright, I think I need to go and fix up my summary book... Thanks!

[Yacoubb]

Would try to do the entirety of biozone, it's gold.
Biol notes is really just there if you are struggling with the basic concepts, it does not go in depth.
And yes Nature of Biology has a lot of redunancy.

TBH if I ever got stuck on or didn't know the definition of something I just googled it instead of trying to find it in the textbook hehe.

I think Biozone enables you to cover things you may have overlooked + also gives you the ability to answer questions that are sort of similar to the examination questions. Some topics may appear ambiguous because I think the book is meant to be for all students studying Biol.

[stick2]

I find more often than not when answering the biozone questions I have to look the answers up on the internet

[Stick]

lol stick2 (I know it's you, [mod edit: removed personal details]. )

[Yacoubb]

So it would not be enough to say that just two glucose molecules form together as maltose?

Also, I covered glycosidic bonds. I'm assuming that I went too far again?

A tad delayed but its useful to remember these disaccharides formed by the condensation reaction of 2 monosaccharides:

Glucose + Glucose = Maltose
Glucose + Galactose = Lactose
Glucose + Fructose = Sucrose

It's handy for potential multiple choice questions on exams/SACs. Its also good to note that any anabolic reactions [the synthesis of complex compounds from simple substances]are endergonic (i.e. requires an input of energy), whilst any catabolic reactions [the breakdown of complex compounds into simple substances]are exergonic (i.e. releases energy)

[BelVP]

1. I'm getting the impression from my teacher that I cannot solely rely on one source for this subject (I've been encouraged to use Nature of Biology, Biozone and Biol Notes simultaneously, to give you an example). Is this really necessary?

OH YUS!!! I found that the Nature of Biology textbook was not the most reliable resource as it often skimmed through necessary information and went into too much detail with stuff that wasn't directly related to the curriculum (far too many useless examples, etc.) Personally I found it a whole lot better to rely on Biozones when preparing for SACs/exams as they encouraged you to think about the information and provided far more in-depth and relevant descriptions. Biozone saved me countless times in year 11/12.


2. Is it just me, or does the Nature of Biology textbook have a lot of irrelevant information? Also, I've found that the three sources mentioned above seem to cover different things within each sub-topic. How much detail do I really need to delve into?

Yes you are very correct. You don't need to delve into too much detail, just the basics, however Nature of Biology tends to skim through a lot of important stuff far too much and provide an excessive amount of superfluous examples which you most likely won't need (though I would still recommend you read them anyway for a bit of fun facts and just in case they sneakily put a question related to them in a test or something). The diagrams are especially rushed and I would definitely recommend supplementing Nature of Biology with Biozone and the internet.

~Bel V.P.