Has anyone started to write up notes?

[NE2000]

Hielly, if you are really tossing up between whether or not to actually write notes (which is a lot of the responses seem to be addressing) then in my opinion you should. Especially for biology, there is so much information to cover. From my experiences with biology last year a few things to keep an eye on:
- write notes with one eye on the study design, print out the key knowledge and keep it with you because the books go off track
- separate the basic biology theory and the examples: I say you should know examples because it can help you write your answers and additionally they have sometimes used examples that common popular textbooks feature in the exams.
- Don't let them go on for too long.
- Incorporate all the different sources you have into one collection, I didn't do this and I feel it made the whole revision process more sapping

And there is nothing wrong with starting notes now, just the part that concerns me is if you don't understand a concept. This is just me personally but I don't think writing notes on a concept you don't understand is helpful at all. It's better to understand it. That's not to deter you from writing notes, but rather to say that you should be trying first and foremost to understand the concepts before you write any notes.

[Hielly]

yep, im sure i'll be writing notes throughout the year.
as for the key knowledge, i dont have that but i tried looking at the vcaa webiste and founf this..

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/biology/keyknowmap.pdf

would this be suitable ? It's not in depth

[NE2000]

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/biology/biologyindex.html

Click on study design and then go to the key knowledge for Unit 3

[Hielly]

yep found it, thanks
"- separate the basic biology theory and the examples: I say you should know examples because it can help you write your answers and additionally they have sometimes used examples that common popular textbooks feature in the exams."

in my notes i put the examples in the same section where it is relevant.. so you suggest to write it u separately?

[Hielly]

hey Ne2000, i've looked through the key knowledge and didn't see water as one of its requirement. so does that mean it is unnecessarily to learn that?

[NE2000]

There's certainly nothing wrong with learning it: it may help enhance some of your answers (and the biology exam often has unexpected questions which often need a good foundation of basic chem and bio theory to work on), but if it isn't on the key knowledge, all I think it means is that you cannot be directly examined on it, but I think you should know about it and your teacher will teach you it.

As for your examples, that's my opinion in hindsight but it's really up to you

[Hielly]

okay yep. i'll go through them.
Also for notes, do you recommend it to be written out or typed up?

i've started to type it up but don't know if thats the best way to do it

[Flaming_Arrow]

i would recommend typing up. its easy to read and edit.

[theduck]

For those who have done economics, What do you reccomend?
Would it be best to go through the textbook and take notes or go on a site like Mr.Wood and get notes from there as it is basically the same stuff as in the book. I figure getting notes from a website would be best as we'll be going through the book in class regardless.

[dior1]

haven't written any notes yet *banghead*
must get to and do some for psych and english texts

[Hielly]

for english i've just
books- taken notes, done character list, bookmark the important pages
movie-themes,important quotes

[dior1]

^ i can tell with your hard work and dedication, you're going to do great in yr 12

[Hielly]

hopefully i will.. i want to do good in year 11, getting in a good study habit so in yr 12 it would be easier.

on the other hand my older sibling is in yr 12 and she hasn't done any homework at all!, even English she hasn't even finished reading catcher in the rye.

in yr 7-mid year of year 9, i've been slacking off alot because the influence of my sister. until i found this site, i was very motivated to do my homework and even do extra work that would help me in my studies!
i love vcenotes!

[hard]

for english i've just
books- taken notes, done character list, bookmark the important pages
movie-themes,important quotes

imo don't go too hard on unit 1/2 english or any 1/2 subject for that matter. It's not worth it.
enjoy your holidays while they last.

[shinny]

for english i've just
books- taken notes, done character list, bookmark the important pages
movie-themes,important quotes

imo don't go too hard on unit 1/2 english or any 1/2 subject for that matter. It's not worth it.
enjoy your holidays while they last.

I wouldn't bother thoroughly learning your texts in year 11...it's just wasted effort really. What you should be concentrating on is improving your writing skill and vocab since that's transferable to year 12 where it actually counts, and I really encourage you to do so because from personal experience, suddenly catching up in year 12 is quite a bitch. And for unit 1/2, you don't have to completely ace everything like you would in unit 3/4, but ensure you learn every concept and understand everything. In year 11, I mostly just read through the stuff, ensure I understood it, and skipped the lengthy and repetitive exercises. If you have a 3/4 this year, then I guess that's where most of your time will be directed.