biology sucks

[kyzoo]

^ lol I am also entranced by the puzzles to be solved in Chem when you are given are given data, and need to figure something out from the data such as concentration, structure, or something along those lines.

[crappy]

^ lol I am also entranced by the puzzles to be solved in Chem when you are given are given data, and need to figure something out from the data such as concentration, structure, or something along those lines.

haha I wouldn't consider them as puzzles

[vexx]

sorry vexx but i'll have to disagree with you. as with almost any subject, a degree of memorisation is required in order to be able to intellectually discuss the subject matter. however, in order to understand and delve into the questions asked of biology students requires a level of understanding which i feel is higher than that of, say, chemistry, which i felt was more or less completely rote, or logic, or a combination of the two.

yeah i have noticed that bio is harder then chem due to some of the ambiguous application questions i have already encountered in year 11. whereas chem is much more straightforward but with more complicated concepts (with exception to unit 3 bio's respirations & photosynthesis, which i have yet to fully understand) otherwise the course of bio appears rather basic, so the exams must be much more difficult to compensate. (i have been through the unit 3 chem course, and briefly the unit 3 bio course)

since you appear to agree that bio is harder, how come you were able to do better at bio by quite a lot? or was that just due to the time you spent on bio and such?

[herzy]

well, i did biol in year 11, and really enjoyed it - chem required minimal work because i understood the concepts more or less first off, and didnt rememeber formulas really. im not entirely sure why i didnt do a bit better in chemistry, because i got A+ in everything, but my guess is that chemistry is much more competitive for marks, and so any silly mistakes i would have made (of which there would have been many) would have counted significantly against me. to be honest though i found biology hard because of the ambiguity, but it was exam technique that brought me down in both subjects, because i knew the courses (and understood them) both completely.

re: photosynthesis and respiration, thats exactly what im talking about - theres nothing really like that in chem, and such a relevant and in-depth concept is why i found biology interesting. now i hate to admit this, because its such a shame, but in the VCE biology course an extensive in-depth understanding isnt necessarily required (although i always made sure i did just in case, for peace of mind, and because i was interested). to beat the exam just know the ins and outs, energy produced at different stages, and where they occur, more or less...

[vexx]

hmmmm i see. well you did very well overall so no need to think you should have done better!
did you do a lot of prac exams for both of them?

ah ok thanks for that, i think i saw - those were the only things that shinny had wrote about each process in his notes, i may go read them now to check. it doesn't actually seem like there's that much to know from what i recall, but it just looks confusing. haha

[herzy]

well exactly - i was a little disappointed with individual subjects, but overall i did much better than i was expecting so i cant complain. any chem or biol help lemme know yeh i did heaps of praccy exams for both, more for biol (i found chem a bit repetitive after awhile). in most subjects my advice for revision would be a) know the content b) do every exam you can get

[vexx]

well exactly - i was a little disappointed with individual subjects, but overall i did much better than i was expecting so i cant complain. any chem or biol help lemme know yeh i did heaps of praccy exams for both, more for biol (i found chem a bit repetitive after awhile). in most subjects my advice for revision would be a) know the content b) do every exam you can get

thank you:)
i am aiming for a bio/chem score close to what you got for bio, so i will have to work hard and know all the content. definitely will do heaps of biol exams, there are plenty around VN so that should be fine.
&surely you cannot be too disappointed with German, PE & English they are pretty much perfect (except English which IS perfect ha).

so how many prac exams did you do during unit 3 for bio? (just to know how many to get a score like 47) did you spend a lot of time writing out notes and going through theory?

[herzy]

by the time exams come around, you'll more or less know the content - i did a bit of specific revision (e.g. respiration) so that i knew that i knew the specific and random little factgs which may come up on exams. i did a lot of practice ones, but once you do enough even they will only help so much - i feel that, even if i had done more practice exams for biol, i wouldnt've done any better.

[vexx]

by the time exams come around, you'll more or less know the content - i did a bit of specific revision (e.g. respiration) so that i knew that i knew the specific and random little factgs which may come up on exams. i did a lot of practice ones, but once you do enough even they will only help so much - i feel that, even if i had done more practice exams for biol, i wouldnt've done any better.

ooo kk thanks for your help.
i guess ill just try and understand all the content during the semester and start doing as many prac exams as possible. hopefully i get a score like yours! haha.

[herzy]

well good luck for med its what my sister's doing but personally wouldnt be for me. again, if i can help in any way get onto me.

[vexx]

well good luck for med its what my sister's doing but personally wouldnt be for me. again, if i can help in any way get onto me.

thanks:) ooh well done to your sis for getting in!
what are you considering to do? you pretty much can get into anything!!

[akira88]

Why is it that biology doesn't get scaled up as much as say, chemistry? It isn't that easy I guess it's just that the competition isn't as high, but I dunno...
Looking forward to it this year though as it'll be much more interesting that 1/2!

[vexx]

Why is it that biology doesn't get scaled up as much as say, chemistry? It isn't that easy I guess it's just that the competition isn't as high, but I dunno...
Looking forward to it this year though as it'll be much more interesting that 1/2!

yeah the competition isn't as high as chemistry or physics, but i'm quite excited too - 1/2 was one of my fav classes, so this year shall be very interesting from what i've read so far:)

[herzy]

less scaling is because you CAN get a reasonable grade (e.g. B) without much work at all, so in comparison its easier to get an ok grade in biol than chem, because the basics are maybe a bit easier than chemistry. getting mid to high forties, however, is competitve in any subject, but particularly biology, and requires much more work than scaling would imply.

I will (probably ) do science/law at monash, which i'm really looking forward to. science will probably be mainly biology/biochem or environmental...

[vexx]

less scaling is because you CAN get a reasonable grade (e.g. B) without much work at all, so in comparison its easier to get an ok grade in biol than chem, because the basics are maybe a bit easier than chemistry. getting mid to high forties, however, is competitve in any subject, but particularly biology, and requires much more work than scaling would imply.

I will (probably ) do science/law at monash, which i'm really looking forward to. science will probably be mainly biology/biochem or environmental...

oooh, have fun with that !!