Studying for Bio Exam

[homeworkisapotato]

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

Thank you emonerd! I'll follow what you did and do the company papers first, so I can perfect my biology expression, and then expose myself to VCAA questions. I've made a document for all of my mistakes to which I'm adding the questions, the recommended answer, and then my incorrect answer so I can read it over every day and understand what to AND not to do. Does that sound like a good idea?

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

BAHAHA I did not see this coming at all! I'm so happy that everyone is finding it useful!

Thank you so much everyone who has contributed to this thread, you guys have helped a lot of us Bio students <3333


I've finished revising Bio content and I did my first exam today (VCAA 2017 exam), marked it really harshly, and got 69% smh. Not to be a downer in such a positive thread but is it normal to do this bad in your first exam?

[whys]

I've finished revising Bio content and I did my first exam today (VCAA 2017 exam), marked it really harshly, and got 69% smh. Not to be a downer in such a positive thread but is it normal to do this bad in your first exam?

That's fine! On my first exam last year (not bio) I got low 70s. It's demotivating but just keep on going and you'll see improvements. There's no use doing exceptionally well on your first practice exams - the point is you do bad on them, learn from those mistakes and implement what you've learnt in subsequent practices.

[homeworkisapotato]

That's fine! On my first exam last year (not bio) I got low 70s. It's demotivating but just keep on going and you'll see improvements. There's no use doing exceptionally well on your first practice exams - the point is you do bad on them, learn from those mistakes and implement what you've learnt in subsequent practices.

That's so true! Thank you so much whys <33

I'm planning to do my prac exams in this order:
Engage (5)
Kilbaha (2)
QATs (2)
A+ Biol (12)
Access
TSFX
TSSM (2)
Lisachem
STAV
Insight (2)
Aced (3)
Neap (6)
VCAA (2013-2016)
NHT (1/2)
VCAA sample examination and any online questions
VCAA 2018 and 2019
Do you guys think I should change the order of my exams?

I'll use AN resources, NEAP question bank, and topic tests from external companies to fix any weaknesses. How many exams per week do you guys think I should average until Term 4?

Thank you so much!!

[SmartWorker]

That's so true! Thank you so much whys <33

I'm planning to do my prac exams in this order:
Engage (5)
Kilbaha (2)
QATs (2)
A+ Biol (12)
Access
TSFX
TSSM (2)
Lisachem
STAV
Insight (2)
Aced (3)
Neap (6)
VCAA (2013-2016)
VCAA sample examination and any online questions
VCAA 2018 and 2019
Do you guys think I should change the order of my exams?

I'll use AN resources, NEAP question bank, and topic tests from external companies to fix any weaknesses. How many exams per week do you guys think I should average until Term 4?

Thank you so much!!

From what I calculated that's like 44 Exams! Make sure you place your main focus on the VCAA exams as at the end of the day these are the official exams. Since, there is about 2 months make sure you plan your time so you get all VCAA exams done. Don't forget the NHT exams (2017 is from old study design, but 2018 from current study design). Quality>Quantity. I am doing Bio this year as well, so personally I started with VCAA exams.

[homeworkisapotato]

From what I calculated that's like 44 Exams! Make sure you place your main focus on the VCAA exams as at the end of the day these are the official exams. Since, there is about 2 months make sure you plan your time so you get all VCAA exams done. Don't forget the NHT exams (2017 is from old study design, but 2018 from current study design). Quality>Quantity. I am doing Bio this year as well, so personally I started with VCAA exams.

Oh yes, I forgot to put the NHT in that list! I'll edit that in now
Listening to your advice, I'll space two to three weeks before the exam just for VCAA exams to give them some love. You're very right about the main focus being VCAA exams and thanks for clarifying about the 2017 NHT being the old study design as I was confused about that! Thank you for your input 

[Sine]

-snip-

Are you planning on doing any of the VCAA exams pre-2013.

I've finished revising Bio content and I did my first exam today (VCAA 2017 exam), marked it really harshly, and got 69% smh. Not to be a downer in such a positive thread but is it normal to do this bad in your first exam?

As whys has suggested I don't expect anyone to do tremendously well on their first practice exam. Honestly, 69% is a very good score for a first exam. Remember that Biology is unlike most subjects where you can drop quite a few marks and still end up with a really high study score. You also have plenty of time to improve. Just keeping doing more exams and make sure you learn from each one.

[Chocolatemilkshake]

Do you guys think I should change the order of my exams?
I'll use AN resources, NEAP question bank, and topic tests from external companies to fix any weaknesses. How many exams per week do you guys think I should average until Term 4?

I'd recommend against doing ones from the same company all in a row. For example, rather than doing all the ACEDs ones and all the NEAP ones and then VCAA, do one NEAP, then a VCAA then an insight, etc - you get the point.
Also, I'd probably start with the VCAA 2013-16 mixed in with the company exams (so you start getting used to VCAA style earlier) but that's just my opinion. Keep the VCAA 2018-19 ones at the end though!

As Smartworker noted, that is quite a lot of exams (which is great if you have time to thoroughly mark them and go through your mistakes) but just be careful not to burn yourself out. Given there is about 8 weeks to the exams, to do 44 practice exams you'd have to do about 5-6 practice exams a week, which is probably a little too many. If each exam takes you 2.75 hrs + about an hour to mark and go through mistakes...then you see where I'm going, you might not have time to fix weaknesses or might get a little tired. I'm not saying don't aim high but just be careful because you do not want to run out of time to do the VCAA ones! Given that it is your only year 12 subject, I'd probably aim for about 3-4 a week, depending on how much you are doing with your other subjects, etc. Although different things work for everyone (if you have the time/energy to do more, go for it!). Towards the end (maybe about a week before the exam) I wouldn't do too many as there will reach a point where you'll plateau a little and it's best to save your energy for the actual exam (and just revise past mistakes/go over weaknesses).

Personally I didn't really like the A+ Bio exams (I did one but found it wasn't very useful and the questions were a little too basic, that being said it could have just been the one I did) and the TSFX ones were also not that useful so you could cut those ones out.

[SmartWorker]

When I am doing the VCAA exams I usually finish it in ~2 hours (this includes reading time), so my question is at what point did you aim to finish your exam and how long review time would you leave. I am asking this cause I am often too lazy to sit and review the practice exam until all of the ~3 hours runs out. Thank you 

[Chocolatemilkshake]

When I am doing the VCAA exams I usually finish it in ~2 hours (this includes reading time), so my question is at what point did you aim to finish your exam and how long review time would you leave. I am asking this cause I am often too lazy to sit and review the practice exam until all of the ~3 hours runs out. Thank you 

I admit for my first practice exams I was too lazy to go to the full 2 and a half hours if I finished earlier and tended not to spend time reviewing my answers and would just mark the exam. Although, this is good for saving time and at the start of practice, nearing the exam (when you start to do the later VCAA ones under full exam conditions) I would practice reviewing questions. I probably did in total about 7/8 practice exams (out of the 20 I did) under full time conditions where I went back and rechecked my answers at the end before marking.

Another really good habit to get into, regardless of whether you decide to review your responses, is to always star a multiple choice if you are unsure and quickly move on. It is very unlikely that you'll have time to check all your multiple choice (I certainly didn't) so I found having a few questions starred that I could easily double check at the end was handy.

Something else you should probably know is that the actual exam is likely to take longer than your practice exams. I remember that in my exam I really made sure I had good expression/was addressing question/had all key terms (in ER) and consequently I was quite a bit slower than I had planned to be. Just something to consider (then again, someone might go the other way too and work faster under pressure, although I'd advise against this as it is likely to create more errors). Just make sure a couple of weeks before the exam you have a timing plan and that you have at least practiced this plan a couple of times. Eg. I spent the first 20 seconds of writing time flipping through my exam and writing a time (after every 20 marks I think) for when I should be up to that part of the exam.

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

Remember that Biology is unlike most subjects where you can drop quite a few marks and still end up with a really high study score.

Are you saying in bio you can drop heaps of marks and get a high ss or in other subjects you can do this but in bio you can’t?

[emonerd]

Thank you emonerd! I'll follow what you did and do the company papers first, so I can perfect my biology expression, and then expose myself to VCAA questions. I've made a document for all of my mistakes to which I'm adding the questions, the recommended answer, and then my incorrect answer so I can read it over every day and understand what to AND not to do. Does that sound like a good idea?
BAHAHA I did not see this coming at all! I'm so happy that everyone is finding it useful!

Thank you so much everyone who has contributed to this thread, you guys have helped a lot of us Bio students <3333


I've finished revising Bio content and I did my first exam today (VCAA 2017 exam), marked it really harshly, and got 69% smh. Not to be a downer in such a positive thread but is it normal to do this bad in your first exam?

You're very welcome! It sounds like a good plan to me! and don't worry about getting 69% on your first couple of exams- thats totally fine, a good score actually! Have a look at the grading distributions for VCAA exams; I always thought that to get 45+ you had to get like 100% on the exam (not true lol) If i'm honest, the last couple of exams I did before the actual bio exam, I was scoring like 89% each time, so don't dwell too much on your overall mark, just make sure you're making the most out of each one in terms of knowing your weaknesses, your strengths etc..

[Sine]

Are you saying in bio you can drop heaps of marks and get a high ss or in other subjects you can do this but in bio you can’t?

sorry for the confusion, in bio you CAN drop a few marks and get still a high ss.

[homeworkisapotato]

Are you planning on doing any of the VCAA exams pre-2013.
As whys has suggested I don't expect anyone to do tremendously well on their first practice exam. Honestly, 69% is a very good score for a first exam. Remember that Biology is unlike most subjects where you can drop quite a few marks and still end up with a really high study score. You also have plenty of time to improve. Just keeping doing more exams and make sure you learn from each one.

I was planning just to pepper them here and there because some of them are quite outdated. Thank you so much for the encouragement and input!!

As Smartworker noted, that is quite a lot of exams (which is great if you have time to thoroughly mark them and go through your mistakes) but just be careful not to burn yourself out. Given there is about 8 weeks to the exams, to do 44 practice exams you'd have to do about 5-6 practice exams a week, which is probably a little too many. If each exam takes you 2.75 hrs + about an hour to mark and go through mistakes...then you see where I'm going, you might not have time to fix weaknesses or might get a little tired. I'm not saying don't aim high but just be careful because you do not want to run out of time to do the VCAA ones! Given that it is your only year 12 subject, I'd probably aim for about 3-4 a week, depending on how much you are doing with your other subjects, etc. Although different things work for everyone (if you have the time/energy to do more, go for it!). Towards the end (maybe about a week before the exam) I wouldn't do too many as there will reach a point where you'll plateau a little and it's best to save your energy for the actual exam (and just revise past mistakes/go over weaknesses).

Thank you so much! Your advice about not stuffing too many exams in because it may take time away from honing weaknesses makes perfect sense. Do you think doing the NEAP question banks for practicing weaknesses is effective?

Personally I didn't really like the A+ Bio exams (I did one but found it wasn't very useful and the questions were a little too basic, that being said it could have just been the one I did) and the TSFX ones were also not that useful so you could cut those ones out.

Thank you for letting me know, I'll cut out TSFX. My dad had bought the A+ exams without checking their quality ahaha so I feel kind of obligated to do them. That being said, if the ones I have seem basic then I'll use them to perfect my Biology expression which is a bit wonky atm.

Just make sure a couple of weeks before the exam you have a timing plan and that you have at least practiced this plan a couple of times. Eg. I spent the first 20 seconds of writing time flipping through my exam and writing a time (after every 20 marks I think) for when I should be up to that part of the exam.

This is so smart! How many minutes did u spend for every 20 marks? Hats off for getting that 50, I've read your guide like one million times!

I'd recommend against doing ones from the same company all in a row.

Thank you! I've made some changes to my schedule following your advice. It would be amazing if you could please have a look and give some input!

You're very welcome! It sounds like a good plan to me! and don't worry about getting 69% on your first couple of exams- thats totally fine, a good score actually! Have a look at the grading distributions for VCAA exams; I always thought that to get 45+ you had to get like 100% on the exam (not true lol) If i'm honest, the last couple of exams I did before the actual bio exam, I was scoring like 89% each time, so don't dwell too much on your overall mark, just make sure you're making the most out of each one in terms of knowing your weaknesses, your strengths etc..

Thank you so much for your encouragement and tips! Means a lot 

I've attached my edited version of my plan until the exam, with week 1 being this week. Friday is blank because there will probably be one day where the zoom lessons are too hectic or I have a sac in the way where the schedule may move one day over. It would mean the world if you amazing people could please look over and offer input.
Edit: forgot to add TSSM but I have two, and I'll probably do them on Fridays. I will definitely incorporate normal revision and closing gaps in between exams as well.

[Coolgalbornin03Lo]

sorry for the confusion, in bio you CAN drop a few marks and get still a high ss.

Haha that’s good to hear!!

[Chocolatemilkshake]

1. Do you think doing the NEAP question banks for practicing weaknesses is effective?
2. How many minutes did u spend for every 20 marks? Hats off for getting that 50, I've read your guide like one million times!
3. Thank you! I've made some changes to my schedule following your advice. It would be amazing if you could please have a look and give some input!

1. I didn't use NEAP question banks and can't officially give feedback but generally NEAP does pretty good bio exams so sounds great 
2. I had forgotten and had to go check my notes but I did...25-30 minutes for multiple choice and then 15 minutes for every 12 marks in the ER (leaving about around 15 minutes to check). Eg. after the first twelve marks I'd write 10:00 and then after the next twelve marks 10:15 and so on. Try to find a way that works best for you and stick with that.
3. Looks great! Just do your best and if you are ever in the mindset for not doing a practice exam don't worry too much if you skip a day (as five a week is a lot so don't feel bad if you skip a few here and there. Imo there is no use doing a practice exam if you're not in the headspace to get anything out of it).
All the best!