Hi all. I'll be your friendly Biol Mod.
Anyway for all of you having exams either on monday, or next year in '08 and beyond, here are some tried and prooven exam strategies that worked for me:
*develop acronyms for modes of evolution
I used VSSRIG for allopatric speciation (always is an exam question on this worth approx four marks, in the 06 U4 exam it was the final question on the paper)
*use your reading time
Yes children. All of it. Biology is unlike Chem and Physics. There are no calculations that need to be made on calculators so your reading time should be used to nut out the multiple choice as well as reading through the short answer and planning out answers. Spot the VISRIG question during this time. Also work out which questions look familiar from practice exams in the short answer - do these before other short answer questions that are harder, you will feel more comfortable with what is being asked of you.
*note. notes. notes. and more notes.
Make them. Throughout the year make notes. They don't have to be original and 100% free from plagerism, read the textbook or teacher's notes for key points and summarize these in you own points. Make the notes engageable, that meaning eliminate the dry shit, write them as if you are delivering a speech.
*DO NOT do every practice exam under timed conditions
I repeat: DO NOT DO ALL PRACTICE EXAMS UNDER TIMED CONDITIONS. Teachers will hate me for this. Time management is the key they say. Well doing prac exams under time creates undue stress, meaning you don't learn the answers to the questions and the theory correctly. Do your exams as slow as you need, allowing yourself to properly answer ALL questions (you may need to look at the answers, don't be ashamed of doing this, no one watches you like a hawk). This means that by the time you are doing your final practice exams and actual exam itself you know ways in which to correctly answer questions without worrying about time, things come to you quicker, thus actually maximising your time.
That is all for now. Will add more tips as I think of them.
munto.