VCE Biology Question Thread

[geminii]

For the biology 3/4 exam, is any knowledge of the synchrotron required? It's the first thing mentioned in the new textbook. My teacher skipped that part and said we didn't need to now it, but i don't know if she was talking in terms of the final exam or not. Has there ever been an exam question on the synchrotron and do we need to know about it?
Thanks

[The Usual Student]

For the biology 3/4 exam, is any knowledge of the synchrotron required? It's the first thing mentioned in the new textbook. My teacher skipped that part and said we didn't need to now it, but i don't know if she was talking in terms of the final exam or not. Has there ever been an exam question on the synchrotron and do we need to know about it?
Thanks

Nah, I read it for a bit of fun but I think it is just there to shows a bit about biotech, it is not on the study design at all.

[geminii]

Nah, I read it for a bit of fun but I think it is just there to shows a bit about biotech, it is not on the study design at all.

Awesome, thanks!

[heids]

For the biology 3/4 exam, is any knowledge of the synchrotron required? It's the first thing mentioned in the new textbook. My teacher skipped that part and said we didn't need to now it, but i don't know if she was talking in terms of the final exam or not. Has there ever been an exam question on the synchrotron and do we need to know about it?
Thanks

Advice:

Use the study design (key knowledge attached) as your first point of reference - it is the place that tells you what you need to know, and what you don't.  Heaps of people go way overboard with details or learning totally irrelevant things.  Since there's nothing on the SD about the synchotron, or even any related equipment, I instantly strike it off my list.

Now I'm all for learning on its own, rather than a system that makes you learn X and stops you learning Y, but.  Often people that learn irrelevant information don't then learn the information they actually have to learn - and often they even hate learning that extra detail anyway.  Like I don't know about you, but my brain appears incapable of holding much at once so I have to prioritise

If you're vitally interested in something OR you already know all the necessary content, then go for it; learn something outside the SD, that's brilliant.  But don't think that you HAVE to learn various things in heaps of depth (VCE is surprisingly shallow) or breadth.  I've seen so many people bogged down and crippled by too much detail.  (NoB's intro stories to each chapter are essentially irrelevant.)

To score well and in fact learn more, learning things in simplest examinable detail is hugely effective.

Re attachment: I printed out about a dozen double sided copies during year 12 so I'd have one with me at all times while studying Bio

[geminii]

Advice:

Use the study design (key knowledge attached) as your first point of reference - it is the place that tells you what you need to know, and what you don't.  Heaps of people go way overboard with details or learning totally irrelevant things.  Since there's nothing on the SD about the synchotron, or even any related equipment, I instantly strike it off my list.

Now I'm all for learning on its own, rather than a system that makes you learn X and stops you learning Y, but.  Often people that learn irrelevant information don't then learn the information they actually have to learn - and often they even hate learning that extra detail anyway.  Like I don't know about you, but my brain appears incapable of holding much at once so I have to prioritise

If you're vitally interested in something OR you already know all the necessary content, then go for it; learn something outside the SD, that's brilliant.  But don't think that you HAVE to learn various things in heaps of depth (VCE is surprisingly shallow) or breadth.  I've seen so many people bogged down and crippled by too much detail.  (NoB's intro stories to each chapter are essentially irrelevant.)

To score well and in fact learn more, learning things in simplest examinable detail is hugely effective.

Re attachment: I printed out about a dozen double sided copies during year 12 so I'd have one with me at all times while studying Bio

Oh, thanks! I looked at it and it didn't mention that we needed to know about water anyway, so I'm guessing we don't need to know it? My teacher spent like a whole three lessons on it!

[The Usual Student]

Oh, thanks! I looked at it and it didn't mention that we needed to know about water anyway, so I'm guessing we don't need to know it? My teacher spent like a whole three lessons on it!

Apparently we need to know a bit of water, I suggest you look at SINE's response to my question. It was a bit confusing since there is no mention of water in the study design but we need to know some stuff on it.

[heids]

Oh, thanks! I looked at it and it didn't mention that we needed to know about water anyway, so I'm guessing we don't need to know it? My teacher spent like a whole three lessons on it!

Apparently we need to know a bit of water, I suggest you look at SINE's response to my question. It was a bit confusing since there is no mention of water in the study design but we need to know some stuff on it.

To explain, some things will come up 'organically'.  By that I mean, you won't have to sit and go 'I. Will. Now. Learn. About. Water.' - rather, in the process of learning other things (in this case, especially the section on plasma membranes) you'll learn a few things about the topic (in this case, like polarity, hydrophilic vs. hydrophobic etc).  So don't stress about it - if you need to know various little facts, you'll learn them when they come up within the discussion of SD dot-points which you'll learn as you work through them through the year.

There are many facts it's nice to know about water and other things, that help you understand what's going on a bit better, but they're definitely not necessary and definitely won't come up in the exam.

[The Usual Student]

One set of notes tells me
- The control group is the group that acts as a standard of comparison
whilst another tells me
- The control group is the group that demonstrates that any change in the treatment/experimental group is due to a factor being deliberately altered (the independent variable) and not some other factor ( and not just a "standard of comparison")

both definitions are very different? can someone help me out as to which one is the correct one?

[vox nihili]

One set of notes tells me
- The control group is the group that acts as a standard of comparison
whilst another tells me
- The control group is the group that demonstrates that any change in the treatment/experimental group is due to a factor being deliberately altered (the independent variable) and not some other factor ( and not just a "standard of comparison")

both definitions are very different? can someone help me out as to which one is the correct one?

Both definitions are correct.

A control group is a group that is exposed to the same conditions as the experimental group, except for one condition (which is the condition you're testing). For instance, in a drug trial the control group would receive a placebo (basically a drug with no active ingredient) and the experimental group would receive the drug being tested. Otherwise, these groups would be as similar as possible, with respect to age, disease status, ethnicity etc.

Having a control group allows the results from the experimental group to be compared against an identical standard. This way, it can be determined whether the thing being tested (the independent variable [IV]) is actually having an effect.

[The Usual Student]

Both definitions are correct.

A control group is a group that is exposed to the same conditions as the experimental group, except for one condition (which is the condition you're testing). For instance, in a drug trial the control group would receive a placebo (basically a drug with no active ingredient) and the experimental group would receive the drug being tested. Otherwise, these groups would be as similar as possible, with respect to age, disease status, ethnicity etc.

Having a control group allows the results from the experimental group to be compared against an identical standard. This way, it can be determined whether the thing being tested (the independent variable [IV]) is actually having an effect.

Thanks!

[purplegiraffe]

What are the inputs and outputs of each stage of aerobic cellular respiration?

[sunshine98]

What are the inputs and outputs of each stage of aerobic cellular respiration?

Attached a table
hope it helps

[The Usual Student]

what does it mean by a "hypothesis must be stated in a positive way"?

[sunshine98]

what does it mean by a "hypothesis must be stated in a positive way"?

Afaik its basically  when your hypothesis focuses on something that 'will happen'' rather than not.
Eg:
positive: In the presence of light photosynthesis will occur
negative : In the absence of light photosynthesis will not occur

[The Usual Student]

Afaik its basically  when your hypothesis focuses on something that 'will happen'' rather than not.
Eg:
positive: In the presence of light photosynthesis will occur
negative : In the absence of light photosynthesis will not occur

but what if you hypothesizes that nothing will occur lol or do we just stick with something happening ?