Struggling With Short Answer Questions, Any Tips?

[Geoo]

Pretty much the top question.
I know a majority of the content, but when I go to answer the short answer questions, I just can't express what I want onto the page. I can write to much, misinterpret the  question e.g:
A question for 2018 VCAA bio exam
2a. Consider a signal coming from within the cell, which initiates programmed cell death. Describe two changes that would occur within the cell to bring about it's death.
I interpenetrated this as what would bring on apoptosis from within the cell, e.g too much radiation, nutrition deficiency, removing finger webbing in embryonic development, etc.
Not activates caspases or what ever other answer they expected...

So I need help, do you guys have any advice you can give me to help with how to answer short questions?

[Owlbird83]

Whenever you get the questions wrong maybe have a word document where you write out each point that you needed for each mark. For things like apoptosis, evolution, immunity, the more questions you do they start seeing very similar ones where you know what point to put for each mark. Mark sure you thoroughly correct the questions and understand where eah mark comes from.

[Erutepa]

Pretty much the top question.
I know a majority of the content, but when I go to answer the short answer questions, I just can't express what I want onto the page. I can write to much, misinterpret the  question e.g:
A question for 2018 VCAA bio exam
2a. Consider a signal coming from within the cell, which initiates programmed cell death. Describe two changes that would occur within the cell to bring about it's death.
I interpenetrated this as what would bring on apoptosis from within the cell, e.g too much radiation, nutrition deficiency, removing finger webbing in embryonic development, etc.
Not activates caspases or what ever other answer they expected...

So I need help, do you guys have any advice you can give me to help with how to answer short questions?

I complelty agree with the advice owlbird had given above
But specifically in regaurds to the 2018 bio exam question you mentioned, knowing the study design could really help you know what you need to include in your answer. The study design focuses on the signaling pathways within apoptosis, and doesn't mention what kind of things (I.e. Radiation damage) cause apoptosis. Knowing this, it becomes clearer that the question wants you to talk about the signaling pathway of apoptosis.

Knowing the study design is important becuase examiners want your answers within the scope of the study design and it can help you identify what a question actually wants as a response.

[Geoo]

Whenever you get the questions wrong maybe have a word document where you write out each point that you needed for each mark. For things like apoptosis, evolution, immunity, the more questions you do they start seeing very similar ones where you know what point to put for each mark. Mark sure you thoroughly correct the questions and understand where eah mark comes from.

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely give it a try, I have noticed that the questions are a bit formulaic, so this should help.

I complelty agree with the advice owlbird had given above
But specifically in regaurds to the 2018 bio exam question you mentioned, knowing the study design could really help you know what you need to include in your answer. The study design focuses on the signaling pathways within apoptosis, and doesn't mention what kind of things (I.e. Radiation damage) cause apoptosis. Knowing this, it becomes clearer that the question wants you to talk about the signaling pathway of apoptosis.

Knowing the study design is important becuase examiners want your answers within the scope of the study design and it can help you identify what a question actually wants as a response.

I'll pay more attention to the study design then, thanks for the tip!

[PhoenixxFire]

Learning to answer questions largely just comes down to practice, familiarity with the way VCAA writes questions, and as Eru said, knowing what content they're trying to ask about.

You're right that it's quite formulaic. Taking the time to consider each question in terms of what part of the study design you think it's asking about will take longer initially but it will help once you get faster at recognising it. Also make sure that you're editing/rewriting any answers that you get wrong rather than just marking them wrong and moving on.

[sara.vce]

1) I like to check how many marks are allotted to a specific question and then work out how much information I should include accordingly - this can help save time during exams and make everything less stressful.
2) Another thing is to always give yourself enough time to read each question carefully. I like to use the USQ Approach to read questions and when checking my answers. I also always have a highlighter in hand to check for key words in questions. (USQ is most often used in maths but it's also helpful for science subjects. You can read about it here --> https://chamomileandcolour.wordpress.com/2019/06/30/the-usq-approach/)
3) Another thing which sometimes works (although not always) is to check if the topic you think a question relates to has been covered elsewhere in the exam - if it has, maybe you're trying to answer with the wrong set of information. Watch out, though, because this doesn't always work!
Hope that helped!