VCE Biology 11 Unit 1/2 Exam

[shahifa]

Hey guys,

In a few weeks time I'm having a VCE Biology Unit 1/2 exam (i don't know if it will just cover Unit 2 itself since its end of semester exams, and semester 1 was cancelled due to covid-19). As a year 10 studying VCE Bio, I would just like to know how to prepare, and what advise is best in terms of revision strategy and basically what I should expect from it and sources/tools I should use. I've only ever done 2 Maths Exams in Year 9, so because of the unfamiliarity with a Biology Exam, I would just like to be aware in advance.

Thanks!

[Erutepa]

Hey guys,

In a few weeks time I'm having a VCE Biology Unit 1/2 exam (i don't know if it will just cover Unit 2 itself since its end of semester exams, and semester 1 was cancelled due to covid-19). As a year 10 studying VCE Bio, I would just like to know how to prepare, and what advise is best in terms of revision strategy and basically what I should expect from it and sources/tools I should use. I've only ever done 2 Maths Exams in Year 9, so because of the unfamiliarity with a Biology Exam, I would just like to be aware in advance.

Thanks!

Hi shahifa!
While you might not have been at school during semester 1 much, I believe you still would have been expected to cover the content via online delivery of some form. As such, it would be my best guess that this upcoming exam will cover unit 1 and unit 2 content, however your teacher will most certainly know what content is on the exam so I encourage you to talk to them either in person or by sending them an email.
Interms of advice for aproaching exams and studying, there is plenty of fantastic advice to be found on this thread which has a list of great biology resources on this forum. One of these you might want to read is Chocolatemilkshake's guide to VCE biology. While a lot of this advice is targeted towards units 3/4 it is still very usefull and relevant to you know.

However, some general advice I can give you is to first identify what content is going to be on the exam (talk to your teacher). Then to make sure you at least roughly understand each of the topics/concepts that will be on the exam. Using the study design found here can help you with that. I would personally not worry about making sure you know absolutely everything like the back of your hand- I would just make sure there aren't any topics you've accidentally skipped over when studying.
After doing this, the best study you can do is doing practice questions. Hopefully your teacher has given you some practice exams and if not, perhaps you could ask them for some. After doing these questions is very important that you mark them harshly and try to identify all the areas which you can improve on. Sometimes its hard to focus on all your mistakes, but its the best way to improve. After doing a practice exam or a group of questions and you have identified some of these mistakes (you might want to write the mistakes in a book or on a document for revision) you should go back over your notes on these weak areas and perhaps add to them or correct them. Ideally now you would go do another practice exam or group of questions and continue this pattern until you are confident in your ability.

hopefully this helps! Feel free to ask for more advice or to ask for clarification on any topics you are stuggling with.
Good luck studying for your exam!

[shahifa]

Hi shahifa!
While you might not have been at school during semester 1 much, I believe you still would have been expected to cover the content via online delivery of some form. As such, it would be my best guess that this upcoming exam will cover unit 1 and unit 2 content, however your teacher will most certainly know what content is on the exam so I encourage you to talk to them either in person or by sending them an email.
Interms of advice for aproaching exams and studying, there is plenty of fantastic advice to be found on this thread which has a list of great biology resources on this forum. One of these you might want to read is Chocolatemilkshake's guide to VCE biology. While a lot of this advice is targeted towards units 3/4 it is still very usefull and relevant to you know.

However, some general advice I can give you is to first identify what content is going to be on the exam (talk to your teacher). Then to make sure you at least roughly understand each of the topics/concepts that will be on the exam. Using the study design found here can help you with that. I would personally not worry about making sure you know absolutely everything like the back of your hand- I would just make sure there aren't any topics you've accidentally skipped over when studying.
After doing this, the best study you can do is doing practice questions. Hopefully your teacher has given you some practice exams and if not, perhaps you could ask them for some. After doing these questions is very important that you mark them harshly and try to identify all the areas which you can improve on. Sometimes its hard to focus on all your mistakes, but its the best way to improve. After doing a practice exam or a group of questions and you have identified some of these mistakes (you might want to write the mistakes in a book or on a document for revision) you should go back over your notes on these weak areas and perhaps add to them or correct them. Ideally now you would go do another practice exam or group of questions and continue this pattern until you are confident in your ability.

hopefully this helps! Feel free to ask for more advice or to ask for clarification on any topics you are stuggling with.
Good luck studying for your exam!

Wow! Thank you so much of the feedback you have given me. I'll for sure ask my teacher about the unanswered questions next week. As for the sources and strategies you gave me, I really appreciate it, and look forward to following those steps. I'll most definitely come back on AN for any concerns and doubts - seriously this place is a saviour for me

Thank you once again Erutepa!