Studying for Bio Exam

[ThunderDragon]

Hey everyone

So I've got a few resources here such as ATARNotes Topic Tests, Checkpoints, Decode(Basically Exampro) and Practice exams.

Which ones are the ''better'' ones given the limited time frame (Just over 2 months) to prepare as well as 4 other 3/4 Subjects?
Also past bio kids, how many prac exams did you do in total roughly?

[fish12]

Hi!
I was sooo bad at bio, but I managed to do surprisingly well, here are my tips.
1. Lisachem and TSSM, STAV are harder papers, tackle obscure topics. I found these useful for refining small details in the course.
2. NEAP is on the easier side, good to start with as it ensures your basics are covered.
3. VCAA papers should definitely be done closer to the exam, however, don't forget to do the sample Qs! (it isn't an exam but a very useful resource)
4. Create a document/ book with all your bio mistakes. Try to review this daily. You will find there are patterns in your errors and it'll help you get a grasp of the smaller nitty-gritty information.
5. NOTE: company paper solutions are dodgy, always consult your teacher if you are confused.
6. It is not too late! Now is the perfect time to pump out the bio papers. Try to review a chapter a day or two in the lead up to the exam to ensure the content is constantly fresh in your head.
Hope this helped

[ThunderDragon]

Hi!
I was sooo bad at bio, but I managed to do surprisingly well, here are my tips.
1. Lisachem and TSSM, STAV are harder papers, tackle obscure topics. I found these useful for refining small details in the course.
2. NEAP is on the easier side, good to start with as it ensures your basics are covered.
3. VCAA papers should definitely be done closer to the exam, however, don't forget to do the sample Qs! (it isn't an exam but a very useful resource)
4. Create a document/ book with all your bio mistakes. Try to review this daily. You will find there are patterns in your errors and it'll help you get a grasp of the smaller nitty-gritty information.
5. NOTE: company paper solutions are dodgy, always consult your teacher if you are confused.
6. It is not too late! Now is the perfect time to pump out the bio papers. Try to review a chapter a day or two in the lead up to the exam to ensure the content is constantly fresh in your head.
Hope this helped

Ah okay thanks! Would doing things like Checkpoints and ATARNotes Topic Tests be useless at this point in time and how many prac exams did you do?

[scientificllama]

Ah okay thanks! Would doing things like Checkpoints and ATARNotes Topic Tests be useless at this point in time and how many prac exams did you do?

Hey there ThunderDragon,

ATARNotes Topic tests and Checkpoints can still be quite beneficial at this time. With checkpoints especially, they reuse VCAA questions which can help you understand how questions are asked in the exam as well as solidify content. Personally, I just received my first ATARNotes Topic Tests book (for psych though), but they seem pretty good for practising how to structure short answer questions as well as helping to revise information.

Hope this helps

[Chocolatemilkshake]

Hey ThunderDragon,

Ah okay thanks! Would doing things like Checkpoints and ATARNotes Topic Tests be useless at this point in time and how many prac exams did you do?

Just going to jump in here. I would suggest using them to refine certain topics that you struggle with or if you are doing a study session on a certain area. Since Checkpoints is just a repeat of the VCAA Qs you will probably see in the practice exams you do, I wouldn't use them unless you wanted to specifically work on a topic and do Qs tailed to that area (just my opinion though, different things work for different people  ). I haven't used ATAR topic tests before so I'm not too sure what they're like but ultimately, no revision is useless! Just make sure you are doing enough VCAA and company practice exams (and thoroughly marking such exams) as a priority in your revision.

I managed around 20 practice exams, although quality over quantity (you still have plenty of time to revise content and refine answers so I wouldn't stress out too much yet)
All the best CM

[fish12]

I didn't have access to ATAR notes or checkpoints, but my school provided me exam qs (from the 90s) of each topic in bio in booklets so I did them instead. However, I do think ATAR notes/checkpoints are similar.
I did around 40ish practice exams, but don't let this number daunt you. I think its definitely quality over quantity.
 

[angrybiscuit]

I managed around 20 practice exams, although quality over quantity (you still have plenty of time to revise content and refine answers so I wouldn't stress out too much yet)
All the best CM

I did around 40ish practice exams, but don't let this number daunt you. I think its definitely quality over quantity.

100% agree. You'd rather do 15 practice exams but do them mindfully (as in marking and logging your mistakes, figuring out why you got them wrong, figuring out gaps in your knowledge, figuring out what you can do better in terms of answers etc) than doing 40+ just for the sake of doing them. I know friends who've done the latter for biology and did HEAPS of practice exams like you wouldn't believe and end up with high 30s. Albeit, not in any way a bad score, but the number of practice exams does not correlate to high study scores.

All the best

[ThunderDragon]

Thanks for all the really helpful advice everyone!

[J_Rho]

Hey everyone

So I've got a few resources here such as ATARNotes Topic Tests, Checkpoints, Decode(Basically Exampro) and Practice exams.

Which ones are the ''better'' ones given the limited time frame (Just over 2 months) to prepare as well as 4 other 3/4 Subjects?
Also past bio kids, how many prac exams did you do in total roughly?

last year i did like 1 paper and no checkpoints and got a 27

[Sine]

Ah okay thanks! Would doing things like Checkpoints and ATARNotes Topic Tests be useless at this point in time and how many prac exams did you do?

Do as many practice exams as you can whilst also keeping in mind you need to be learning from every single practice exam. It would be useful to have some sort of routine you go through with for each exam. E.g. complete the exam -> mark the exam -> note down what gaps of knowledge you have or what sort of "silly" mistakes you make -> revise any gaps.

The number of practice exams probably does have some sort of mild correlation with one's study score. Obviously not a perfect correlation, there will be outliers where people do 50+ exams and get an average score whilst others do 0-1 and pull a 50.

[emonerd]

Thank you so much emonerd!
Do you recommend doing the 2013-2016 exams as the first exams or closer to the exam date?

From memory, I think it's fine if you want to do them now. At my school, they supplied us with trial exam booklets (like a huge book filled with assorted practice papers from commercial companies) so I think I tried to smash out all the NEAP, lisachem ones out first, then moved into doing VCAA. I consistently did checkpoint questions all throughout the year though, so I still had a feel for what kind of questions VCAA typically ask in the exam, and youll find that sometimes the questions in neap and other commercial companies are worded really badly, so just something to be weary about! So to answer your question, it wouldnt be a bad idea to start 2013-2016 now and leave the rest for the couple of weeks leading up to the exam, but it is really up to you. The most important thing is that you need to reflect and note your mistakes at the end of each exam, to ensure that you're improving and making the most out of your study time

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Wow homeworkisapotatoe your thread has really blown up and its so helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys!! I need some bio related advice. In practise exams I extensivley review them but my mistakes are not from huge gaps in knowledge its more things like this.....so do I just do another exam? Because for example in chem during an exam I struggled with electrolysis and fuel cells so I went back to textbook, and checkpoints and made posters on these concept before doing another exam (which I still have yet to do] what do you do if you are at a level where you feel confident? I have also done a TSSM, NEAp and old (twenty 11] VCAA.

[Sine]

Wow homeworkisapotatoe your thread has really blown up and its so helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys!! I need some bio related advice. In practise exams I extensivley review them but my mistakes are not from huge gaps in knowledge its more things like this.....so do I just do another exam? Because for example in chem during an exam I struggled with electrolysis and fuel cells so I went back to textbook, and checkpoints and made posters on these concept before doing another exam (which I still have yet to do] what do you do if you are at a level where you feel confident? I have also done a TSSM, NEAp and old (twenty 11] VCAA.

just keep doing exams imo

Biology is not a subject in which you can learn everything and also marked quite harshly so whatever practice you get will allow you to learn some new things as well as make you better at expressing answers.

Also what types of mistakes were you referring to? and How many exams have you done so far?

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

just keep doing exams imo

Biology is not a subject in which you can learn everything and also marked quite harshly so whatever practice you get will allow you to learn some new things as well as make you better at expressing answers.

Also what types of mistakes were you referring to? and How many exams have you done so far?

This is my third and I’d like to keep going but I’m wary of the “don’t spam exams it’s better to learn from mistakes”. Mistakes as in I know what it is I just haven’t written down EVERY single word I was thinking. It’s not like I didn’t know or am not comfortable with content. Also it’s like I’m not reading the questions Mistakes like that silly errors.

[Chocolatemilkshake]

This is my third and I’d like to keep going but I’m wary of the “don’t spam exams it’s better to learn from mistakes”. Mistakes as in I know what it is I just haven’t written down EVERY single word I was thinking. It’s not like I didn’t know or am not comfortable with content. Also it’s like I’m not reading the questions Mistakes like that silly errors.

I'd say that this is an indication that you should continue to do practice exams (since you thoroughly know the content it's now about refining expression in order to minimise lost marks as well as learn how to approach stranger questions within the time limits). I think the "don't spam practice exams" is important advice for students who think doing a tonne of low quality practice exams will automatically get them a good score. However, you seem to be reflecting on your mistakes well so continuing to do practice exams is probably the best way forward!

I'm sure you already are doing this but make sure you are keeping a document of your common mistakes. I sorted mine into different topics which was also really useful when I was returning to them for revision. That's another thing, continue reviewing your practice exams up until the exam. (I think about a week before my exam last year I reviewed all the practice exams I'd done as well as all the mistakes that I'd made in them).

Also, don't beat yourself up about small mistakes! Everyone makes dumb mistakes and it is possible to do really well in biology even if you make them in the actual exam. And no I'm not just saying that. Last year, I got the easiest question wrong on my bio exam. It literally asked for the inputs of photosynthesis and under the pressure (yes, let's blame it on the pressure), I wrote the outputs instead. I was furious with myself after that (pretty much the whole state got this question right) but because I knew all the other content really well and had good expression, the silly mark ended up not meaning much and I still got Premier's. Anyway, where I'm going with this is that don't let stupid mistakes ruin your confidence, but use them to make you motivated. If you make a mistake in practice, try to look at it as a glass half full as now you are a lot less likely to make it in the actual exam (eg. I think if I'd got the inputs of photosynthesis wrong before, I'd have been more careful in my exam. But because I'd never ever made this mistake before, I wasn't expecting it).

This is my third and I’d like to keep going but I’m wary of the “don’t spam exams it’s better to learn from mistakes”. Mistakes as in I know what it is I just haven’t written down EVERY single word I was thinking. It’s not like I didn’t know or am not comfortable with content. Also it’s like I’m not reading the questions Mistakes like that silly errors.

Biology expression will take a while to develop and you still have two whole months till the exam to refine it, so please don't worry too much! I think I wrote this on this thread already but just to emphasise, highlight all the key words that are getting you the marks when you correct your practice exams. I found that this was something that helped improve my expression.

In summary, continue doing practice exams, revising the mistakes you make and if you do realise there are gaps in your knowledge, sit down and study it separately using the techniques that work best for you. Also, just wanted to add, the fact that you already feel confident in the content is absolutely fantastic and you should be proud of yourself for that