Biology 2010

[slothpomba]

So, who here is doing biology in 2010, what are you doing to prepare for it and what is your aim for the year in biology?

[this is a blatant rip off of the 2010 methods thread]

[vexx]

you should have answered these questions first!

well i lightly went through some parts of the course with a tutor early holidays when i was motivated (respiration and photosynthesis) - that's really it, but atleast it's something!
i'm aiming for 45+.

WHAT ABOUT YOU :p

[slothpomba]

Haha shhh

I'm aiming to learn all of area of study 1 before i go back, i've kind of dropped that lately though and i aiming for 40 raw or over 45 would be really sweet and 50 would be orgasmalicious. I probably could get 48, 49 or 50 but not at a cost to my other subjects i think.

[vexx]

Haha shhh

I'm aiming to learn all of area of study 1 before i go back, i've kind of dropped that lately though and i aiming for 40 raw or over 45 would be really sweet and 50 would be orgasmalicious. I probably could get 48, 49 or 50 but not at a cost to my other subjects i think.

ooh awesome, by 'learning' does that include memorising theory? i cannot be bothered with any sort of memorising haha so i'm happy for you if you can! that'd defs give you a head start.

do you mean 'at the cost'? or are you saying you can get high 40s? i'm confused haha.
well anything 46+ is very,very good i think! i'm sure if you work hard you'd be able to get it.

the good and bad thing about biology is it is mostly application (with my huge amount of knowledge ) :
good: easy to study for, practice makes perfect, not totally rote like psych
bad: unpredictable, always slightly different.

hopefully we can get rid of those bad!

[slothpomba]

By learning i mean reading the chapters, I'm pretty sure with the kind of schedule i went by I've memorised 95% of the important information from the first 2 chapters i read. I honestly dont mind rote learning, so its not really a problem for me.

I kind of put subjects into 3 classes mentally: (Mostly) Rote learning [Eg. Biology, English Language] , Bit of both [Eg. I.T] & (Mostly) Procedural [Eg. Chem, Methods]

So biology is easy for me, i can rote learn heaps of things and understand it. Whereas something like chemistry or methods i find a bit more difficult because i need to know how to do procedures or equations or solve things, which takes a lot more time to learn than it does to just memorise facts. (Well for me anyway)

When i said "at a cost", i meant i might have to focus harder on biology and that might draw focus away from my other subjects hence i score lower in them.

I actually genuinely like biology too, i subject selected it by a pure accident but now i think its a pretty good subject, happy accident i guess.

[Sorry if this is a bit incoherent its 3am and all]

[vexx]

^ ooh well that's good, if you keep up that pace over the term you'll always be ahead and do well from that

damm is englang really that rote learning? i don't mind a little, but something like psych was just horrid (theres only a couple of subjects like this) the amount of rote in biol 1/2 i can imagine would be similar proportions to the unit 3 (im hoping)

yeah thats true about chem/methods, most of it you really need to understand it and its often complex, whereas bio its not too complicated & easier to learn.

i like bio too, so hopefully we are able to do well:)
change your 2010 aims for 40+ in bio! im sure you can do it.

[Studyinghard]

Well I cant give any tips as I only got SS of 31 for Biology that I completed in year 11.

Mistakes that I learnt from that I wont make in yr 12 will be:

a) Biology runs on having that right word in the right place otherwise every short answer mark can get cut in half. This I think is the same for legal studies and Chem.
b) Don't spend too much time summarizing the text book. Yes, read and read and read but don't summarize which is how I wasted my time.
c) There is a lot of content so you need to not always be rote learning the topics but also understanding them to the absolute core but rote learning stuff is also critical. I think my failure was I didn't rote learn certain aspects because I felt like I understood the topics so I should be able to explain them but come exam time they are looking for the key stuff.
e) Checkpoints - useful, but not the only resource that should be used.
d) Don't let one mark bum you down . First SAC - 67%, and it felt like all downhill from there.

Although this was all my mistakes and I fail majorly but I cant emphasize perfecting your short answers. I didnt lose more than 5 marks in any of my multiple choice exams but I lost heaps in SA.
Good luck~!

[fady_22]

Well I cant give any tips as I only got SS of 31 for Biology that I completed in year 11.

Mistakes that I learnt from that I wont make in yr 12 will be:

a) Biology runs on having that right word in the right place otherwise every short answer mark can get cut in half. This I think is the same for legal studies and Chem.
b) Don't spend too much time summarizing the text book. Yes, read and read and read but don't summarize which is how I wasted my time.
c) There is a lot of content so you need to not always be rote learning the topics but also understanding them to the absolute core but rote learning stuff is also critical. I think my failure was I didn't rote learn certain aspects because I felt like I understood the topics so I should be able to explain them but come exam time they are looking for the key stuff.
e) Checkpoints - useful, but not the only resource that should be used.
d) Don't let one mark bum you down . First SAC - 67%, and it felt like all downhill from there.

Although this was all my mistakes and I fail majorly but I cant emphasize perfecting your short answers. I didnt lose more than 5 marks in any of my multiple choice exams but I lost heaps in SA.
Good luck~!

I disagree with your comment about summarising. To me, summarising ensured that I read everything throughly, and understood it completely; I tend to skim way to much through books when I'm just reading it (and so could miss important points).

[Greggler]

overall though i reckon that, as with the other science subjects, its imperative to get your head around the course as early as possible, and then start prac exams.

As re-reading through textbooks and notes, and continually summarising can only help to a point. But in order to be getting A+'s on the exams, you need to be able to apply these broad concepts to weird scenarios that whilst in the exam, seem rather irrelevant. and the only way you can practice for this is doing as many exams as you can  get your hands on

[NE2000]

I actually think that reading notes, summarizing theory, and understanding concepts is more beneficial in biology as opposed to other subjects and doing practice exams is less beneficial (albeit still very very useful) when compared to other subjects.

The reason is because the exam is just so random. They take absolutely unexpected examples and throw them at you. It is very likely that for at least a few of these examples, you have not encountered them in a practice exam. So learning concepts is very useful. I did quite a lot of exams, but I used them more to find the sort of direction I need to use for particular types of questions if that makes sense. But I found the notes very useful. I also know a guy that got 50 that did like 3 practice exams but knew the course back to front.

Well I cant give any tips as I only got SS of 31 for Biology that I completed in year 11.

Mistakes that I learnt from that I wont make in yr 12 will be:

a) Biology runs on having that right word in the right place otherwise every short answer mark can get cut in half. This I think is the same for legal studies and Chem.
b) Don't spend too much time summarizing the text book. Yes, read and read and read but don't summarize which is how I wasted my time.
c) There is a lot of content so you need to not always be rote learning the topics but also understanding them to the absolute core but rote learning stuff is also critical. I think my failure was I didn't rote learn certain aspects because I felt like I understood the topics so I should be able to explain them but come exam time they are looking for the key stuff.
e) Checkpoints - useful, but not the only resource that should be used.
d) Don't let one mark bum you down . First SAC - 67%, and it felt like all downhill from there.

Although this was all my mistakes and I fail majorly but I cant emphasize perfecting your short answers. I didnt lose more than 5 marks in any of my multiple choice exams but I lost heaps in SA.
Good luck~!

a) I agree with, key words are essential. Centre your notes around key words.
b) disagree as explained above
c) rote is a last resort imo. The more you can understand and simply know the better. Especially when it comes to animal anatomy and physiology, some of it is just building on common knowledge. The only area where I needed rote was plant hormones, because I can't really identify with plants...
e) very true, although I did find bio checkpoints more useful than checkpoints for any other subject, mainly because it gives good written explanations (the assessment reports only give dot points) to compare to your own answers.
d) In bio you lose a lot of marks for small things. A lot of very high achievers don't feel like they did that well when they come out of the exam. You can lose heaps of marks and still get what is considered a relatively high A+.

[vexx]

I actually think that reading notes, summarizing theory, and understanding concepts is more beneficial in biology as opposed to other subjects and doing practice exams is less beneficial (albeit still very very useful) when compared to other subjects.

^ i was told that summarise the whole course and know all the concepts very well by some of the people who got 47-50 & then do as many practice exams as you can find, as they give you the best indication of your application skills and allow you to improve the most.

:\

[simpak]

I'm aiming to tutor people like you guys.
JUST SAYING.
I HAVE GOOD RATES.
HI.
Nah, good luck

[herzy]

ahaha agreed, tutoring smart people is so much better

[slothpomba]

lol vultures

[Master]

Goodluck everyone doing biology this year. Lots of hard work ahead of us