Biology Hints & Tips

[Brontecat]

You can hide this advertisement by registering.

Don't stress if you haven't studied much in year 11!

Whilst it is better to study in year 11 as the HSC topic build upon them it is not absolutely neccessary it is never too late to begin studying.

Work out how you learn best.

Visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner, find the style that suits you. Then tailor your study plan accordingly. You may learn better with repetition or with flashcards.

Biology is a 'note based' topic.

MEMORISE

In biology the topics are not that hard to understand, you’re studying the world around you, it’s everything you grew up with. What you need to do is remember the topics.

Summarising works!

Get out that good old 100 page syllabus you love so much and for each dotpoint write down everything you know about that point, then go find out some more to add, write as much as possible. Then go back through and re-summarise what you’ve already written, this way you’re looking at the in-depth study you’ve done and drawing the main points that you will need to jog your memory.

Know your experiments.

From what I’ve heard there’s usually only 3 or 4 questions on experiments, but they are often worth many marks. If you’ve missed an experiment try looking at HSC Online or reading through the Heinemann textbook.

Practise your waffling/BSing skills!

If you absolutely can’t do a question, waffle. Throw in as many glossary words as you can and make it look smart, you never know you may just end up with some extra marks.

Don't rely solely on your teacher.
We’ve all had one of those crap teachers who waffles, remembers the good old days, or refers you to google at every question and there’s nothing you can do about it. So why not pick up an extra textbook, ask some questions of bored of studies and learn! And then prove your teacher wrong, whilst making it very clear that you are extraordinarily smart with no help at all.

Access as many resources as possible.

Here’s what lyounamu does. (trust me he’s smart)

Main textbook – Heinemann

Supplement textbook – Dotpoint (for the stuff that you just didn’t get in Heinemann)

In depth study – Jacaranda

Extra useless info. – Oxford

Light reading – Spotlight (to enhance general understanding)

For practicing questions – Maquarie & Excel

I am definitely not saying that you should go out and buy all of these but I would definitely recommend having at least two textbooks (for when you rlly don’t get something). Just remember not to buy too many, especially if you’re lazy like me and won’t be bothered to read through lots of textbooks.

Start now!

Do not get into the procrastination trap you do not want to remember that it’s good to study 2 weeks out from the HSC. It’s much better to start now and progressively make notes.

Revise, revise, revise!

This is probably the most important point if you don’t revise your brain will find it incredibly difficult to recall this seemingly non-essential information. Think about it, if you hear a song once will you immediately remember every single world, or is it after you’ve listened to the song a million times that you remember the words?

If you’re one of those people that really hate reading over their notes why not try a practice paper, this way you familiarise yourself with the type of questions asked and how much you should know.

Expand you biology knowledge.

Don’t just use textbooks. Read the newspaper, watch catalyst on the ABC or subscribe to New Scientist. This way you have a greater understanding of biology in reality and you have a whole bunch of extra information (that other people won’t know) to write down in your exam.


Recommended textbooks.

Books & percentages of ppl that recommended them
(the numbers in brackets are the number of votes – out of 58 ppl)

Heinemann (24)
41.38%

Oxford (6)
10.34%

Spotlight (1)
1.72%

Dotpoint (4)
6.90%

Jacaranda (4)
6.90%

Macquarie (10)
17.24%

Excel (2)
3.45%

Other (7)
12.07%


Excel

Pro: Covers exact dot points in a brief from so you won’t get confused.

Con: it requires you to work harder especially if you don’t have a good understanding of the syllabus.

Heinemann

Pro: which i think is excellent, is better for real LEARNING and not revision - it's easier as a guide while learning a new topic, because it contains well detailed information.

Con: Hard to revise from as it’s very desctiptive and has lots of irrelevant information.


Other Useful Hints
When classifying species: King Phil Classed Ordinary Families and Generous and Special
Have EXAMPLES (preferably Australian) up your sleeves!



FAQs.

How do I make notes and summarise?

Try doing something like this:

1. Get a copy of the syllabus, cut it up and stick the dot poitns in your book where the information is. That way, you know if you're missing anything because you'll have leftover dotpoints. it also helps you to familiarise with your notes.

2. Using the syllabus, I write out a summary, with the corresponding information under each dot point. Warning: can take a while...

3. I make a separate summary of the things I found difficult to understand or remember. Then I make a point of rewriting it until I can remember it.

4. Then do practice exams and questions and get my teacher to mark them if possible, to get feedback. This isn't always possible so it's a good idea to get a reliable workbook with questions with worked answers.

Try highlighting and boxing important information because your brain is more receptive to blocks and colours.

How often should I study?

Your brain remembers information in the following pattern: 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months after this point it becomes long term memory, so a good idea would be to structure you revision with the above in mind. It is more important though to study at least once a week, for any duration. Remember something is better than nothing.

Another good technique is to stick your study notes up above your study desk so that when you get bored and your mind begins to wonder you are subliminally taking in your notes.

How do you study?

A good way to study is to make notes with diagrams, drawings etc. (for visual learners) and to do past revision papers.

Is it bad to ‘waffle’ or go on about nothing?

It’s not good to go on about random stuff, like your dog’s name, but it is worth writing down EVERYTHING you know. People will probably tell you not to do this but with ‘positive marking’ in the hsc it really isn’t a bad idea, especially if you’re stuck on a question.

Is the HSC harder than the preliminary course?

It’s not really harder, it’s basically building upon stuff in the preliminary course.

How do I know what the question is asking?

It’s a good idea to learn the glossary of key terms http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au..._keywords.html

Do you have any more tips of how to study?

Try looking at these threads:

1. http://www.boredofstudies.org/commun...ighlight=study

2. http://www.boredofstudies.org/commun...ighlight=study

__________________________________________________ _____

This thread was made with information from posts by the following bored members: Ali777,serius, tim035, enigma?, sarah182, forkyspoony 18, ichiraku, nottellingu, katie tully, lyounamu, sinist 4, patii, master gopher, white spazzy, dr doom, survivor93, rawk omigodwhenover, Kujah and iStorm.
I have elaborated some of their points and combined others, I just thought that this was a thread that was needed in the biology forum. If anyone else has anything they’d like to add please feel free to post your tips up.

[4theHSC]

lol thnx dude

[Kujah]

And have EXAMPLES (preferably Australian) up your sleeves!

[possessionless]

recommend success one

[iStorm]

For classification of species, a handy tip:

King Phil Classed Ordinary Families and Generous and Special

Kingdom, Phylum, class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

[Brontecat]

Have added Kujah and iStorm's stuff to the top

It'd also be helpful if anyone posted up some pros/cons of some of textbooks

but the feedback so far has been really positive and helpful