Should I do Biology?

[Swagadaktal]

Sup guys, I'm wondering whether I should do bio.
I haven't done bio 1/2.
I'm extremely keen on studying medicine.
I scored high forties for 2 of my subjects this year, and I'm only doing 4 subjects.
I'm thinking of replacing it for psychology ( which i planned to do) - i feel like biology has similar levels of content but is easier.
I think this will give me a taste of medicine -
Is biology a good VCE subject? How hard is it in comparison to other subjects (you know what I mean about this question.. is this a further maths or a spesh maths dont u go telling me that all subjects are hard ty xx <3)  What will i need to do to score around a 40?
If you need any more info to give me a more accurate response hmu
thanks AN y'all are beautiful

[heids]

I'd always recommend doing Bio (but I reckon Psych would probably be pretty good too, and pretty relevant for anyone heading into med, too)

You don't have to have done 1/2, though there's content that others will have learnt before that you'll be meeting for the first time.

Nothing in Bio is 'challenging' really, there's just a lot of content to learn - can't compare it to Psych as I haven't done it, though.  Fascinating content, but still quite a lot.  So for a 40+ you'd need to learn the content thoroughly - it involves a decent bit of rote learning/basic fact recall, combined with understanding what's going on.  Even if you just learn most of the content and how to apply it to basic application questions, you'll be a long way ahead of most students who simply can't recall all the facts (which is why I wrote this).

I'm guessing a lot of it is similar to the sort of style of thing you'd be learning in med?

[Swagadaktal]

I'd always recommend doing Bio (but I reckon Psych would probably be pretty good too, and pretty relevant for anyone heading into med, too)

You don't have to have done 1/2, though there's content that others will have learnt before that you'll be meeting for the first time.

Nothing in Bio is 'challenging' really, there's just a lot of content to learn - can't compare it to Psych as I haven't done it, though.  Fascinating content, but still quite a lot.  So for a 40+ you'd need to learn the content thoroughly - it involves a decent bit of rote learning/basic fact recall, combined with understanding what's going on.  Even if you just learn most of the content and how to apply it to basic application questions, you'll be a long way ahead of most students who simply can't recall all the facts (which is why I wrote this).

I'm guessing a lot of it is similar to the sort of style of thing you'd be learning in med?

Thanks for the reply! I think the battle I'm having right now is whether I'd enjoy psch or biology more. Psych is relevant to medicine, however, biology directly relates - some of the content I'll have to study first year university anyways. There's rote learning in psych, but i feel like psych is completely rote learning whereas bio is rote learning + application. I'm good at application based subjects - I am able to understand concepts at a higher level than I am able to memorise 20 definitions
From what I've seen so far from psych, I haven't enjoyed. Like it's interesting right now, but I don't think I'll still find it interesting when I have 3 sacs in a week or doing practice exams in swotvac.

[vox nihili]

Sup guys, I'm wondering whether I should do bio.
I haven't done bio 1/2.
I'm extremely keen on studying medicine.
I scored high forties for 2 of my subjects this year, and I'm only doing 4 subjects.
I'm thinking of replacing it for psychology ( which i planned to do) - i feel like biology has similar levels of content but is easier.
I think this will give me a taste of medicine -
Is biology a good VCE subject? How hard is it in comparison to other subjects (you know what I mean about this question.. is this a further maths or a spesh maths dont u go telling me that all subjects are hard ty xx <3)  What will i need to do to score around a 40?
If you need any more info to give me a more accurate response hmu
thanks AN y'all are beautiful

I don't think you should choose either subject based on its relevance to Med.

As it currently stands, the Psychology course—somewhat counter-intuitively—gives a better insight into science than VCE Biology. Of the two though, Biology is much more interesting. The Psychology course is somewhat dry and can be particularly trying; Biology on the other hand is pretty interesting and, as you pointed out, not that onerous.

Ultimately, I think it depends on what you'd prefer to learn about.



I would also add though that the mental health component of psych is dreadful and won't help you in the slightest in your future endeavours. It's the other stuff regarding learning and memory that's more informative.

[heids]

To be honest, I simply can't tell you what you'd enjoy more; that's a matter of personal preference, and having one unconnected person suggesting that one is better than the other isn't reasonable, because some people like Psych better and some like Bio better.  I suspect that I would have absolutely loved the memory/learning/sleep sections of Psych, better than Bio even.

From what I've seen (but haven't done them both), the ratio of rote-learned-content vs. application is fairly similar in the two subjects.

You sound like you think Bio would be more interesting - if so, why not give it a stab?  Decide you'll love it and you will

[Swagadaktal]

I don't think you should choose either subject based on its relevance to Med.

As it currently stands, the Psychology course—somewhat counter-intuitively—gives a better insight into science than VCE Biology. Of the two though, Biology is much more interesting. The Psychology course is somewhat dry and can be particularly trying; Biology on the other hand is pretty interesting and, as you pointed out, not that onerous.

Ultimately, I think it depends on what you'd prefer to learn about.



I would also add though that the mental health component of psych is dreadful and won't help you in the slightest in your future endeavours. It's the other stuff regarding learning and memory that's more informative.

Hm yeah, I think it's important to note that its relevance to med is a pro for bio, but it's not the reason why I'm thinking to chose it.

and yeah bangali, I thought to myself, if I do bio and dont enjoy it, I'll learn to enjoy it

[plants]

Biology is a great VCE subject.
Look, every subject in VCE is going to end up annoying the hell out of you at one point or another. Biology has a bit to remember, yes, but tbh it was pretty easy to "remember" because a lot of it was not based on memorisation (except for definitions) but good understanding of the steps/ processes involved. If you know that, you should get a good score for "explain"  and application questions, keeping in mind I tended to go a little over board in my answers for safety since biology marking can be a bit particular (which also may annoy you). I would say its easy compared to other subjects, but I did it in year 11, and  it was my only priority pretty much, so I didn't feel overwhelmed. But, in year 12 I can imagine the 10 sacs being a bit overwhelming. But constant study should help. And given you already did so well in your two year subjects this year, and you have an interest in medicine, I'm sure you'll do well.
To get an over 40, you can probably guess; Study, know the content, and know how to answer questions well.
In terms of not doing 1/2, you should be fine. Just perhaps revise the content relevant to unit 3/4 over these holidays. I can PM you the relevant content if you want.

  Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

[datfatcat]

To be honest with you, I didn't find biology being relevant to med, at least not VCE unit 3 and 4 anyway. I can't remember when you do genetics (unit 1 and 2 or 3 and 4) but even genetics itself is only covered in the first semester of first year. I didn't do VCE psych, so I cannot comment on it.

[bills]

Biology is a great VCE subject.
Look, every subject in VCE is going to end up annoying the hell out of you at one point or another. Biology has a bit to remember, yes, but tbh it was pretty easy to "remember" because a lot of it was not based on memorisation (except for definitions) but good understanding of the steps/ processes involved. If you know that, you should get a good score for "explain"  and application questions, keeping in mind I tended to go a little over board in my answers for safety since biology marking can be a bit particular (which also may annoy you). I would say its easy compared to other subjects, but I did it in year 11, and  it was my only priority pretty much, so I didn't feel overwhelmed. But, in year 12 I can imagine the 10 sacs being a bit overwhelming. But constant study should help. And given you already did so well in your two year subjects this year, and you have an interest in medicine, I'm sure you'll do well.
To get an over 40, you can probably guess; Study, know the content, and know how to answer questions well.
In terms of not doing 1/2, you should be fine. Just perhaps revise the content relevant to unit 3/4 over these holidays. I can PM you the relevant content if you want.

  Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

Hi plants, congratulations on your 49 in bio. I am heading into it next year, and I was wondering if you could give me a few pointers?

[mtse]

Sup guys, I'm wondering whether I should do bio.
I haven't done bio 1/2.
I'm extremely keen on studying medicine.
Is biology a good VCE subject? How hard is it in comparison to other subjects  What will i need to do to score around a 40?

I know this is a relatively late reply but anyway:
I was in a similar position last year (did two subjects in year 11, hadn't done 1/2 bio) and I'm so glad I chose biology. Being interested in medicine and science in general, the biology content stuck in my head relatively easily and despite putting the least effort into preparing for the bio exam (it was my 7th subject so I thought it wouldn't end up counting towards my ATAR) I ended up with a 50 (fluke). Some of the biology content also overlaps with chemistry and it was really nice to able to relax during chem. The three sciences (bio chem physics) also complemented each other really nicely. I didn't do psych so I can't comment on it but with a good teacher psych can be easier to score well on (from friends' experiences).
 

I was wondering if you could give me a few pointers?

I think my main bio advice is to not just rote learn it all but rather actually understand it, because even if the exam throws some strange question at you you can use logic to figure it out. To score well I think the extended response part is the hardest, so I spent more time studying how people answered the long questions (about evolution, experimental design etc) from the examiners reports and Checkpoints. My teacher legit gave like one piece of advice all year: "be specific".
Any qs just PM me more than happy to help

[DeezNuts]

I did both this year, and found that psych had more rote learning than bio

Both were easy to pick up as 3/4s so I'm sure you won't have a problem either

I memorised perhaps only 5-10 lines of information in total for the exam and still got 43 for bio
Whereas I feel like I did a lot more work for psych and memorising and still got the exact same score hahah

In bio I can't emphasise the importance of practise exams enough...they are legitimately all you have to focus on in the lead up to exams ....and if you do enough of them+ have relatively good logical/lateral thinking skills you are almost guaranteed a 40+

Both are great subjects btw.....I found them very applicable to daily life and not dry at all....two subjects I enjoyed very much this year!

[skybluemaniac]

Sup guys, I'm wondering whether I should do bio.
I haven't done bio 1/2.
I'm extremely keen on studying medicine.
I scored high forties for 2 of my subjects this year, and I'm only doing 4 subjects.
I'm thinking of replacing it for psychology ( which i planned to do) - i feel like biology has similar levels of content but is easier.
I think this will give me a taste of medicine -
Is biology a good VCE subject? How hard is it in comparison to other subjects (you know what I mean about this question.. is this a further maths or a spesh maths dont u go telling me that all subjects are hard ty xx <3)  What will i need to do to score around a 40?
If you need any more info to give me a more accurate response hmu
thanks AN y'all are beautiful

Everything you need for 3/4 is taught within 3/4. In 1/2 they cover topics that come up in 3/4 but they are definitely taught again! It's not like in methods where it says "Content taught in 1/2 can be examined in 3/4".

I wish there was a scale for difficulty in terms of VCE subjects. But there aint . What I can say is in Bio they can be very picky in terms of expression...so that can make it harder to get the top marks 43+. What you'll need to do is just spam exam questions..and when it gets closer to exam time (term 3 holidays) do the vcaa exams and really pay attention to what they want in their answers. Got the question wrong or not fully correct? Do it again! Do it until you know what they want when it comes to a specific question. Since you'll be doing four subjects this year..why not try both for the first two weeks and then decide which one to drop? I know my school allows this.

If you enjoy the subject and find it interesting this will make it a million times easier to remember content and consequently make the subject easier