Is Biology all memorisation? (1 Viewer)

[Schoey93]

Uh no. I bludged my way through the whole year, started dedicating about an hour a week to typing trial notes around mid June, and then I memorised for about 4 or 5 days, prior to the exam, just reading over my notes.

And I got an 85.

It could have been an easy exam. But it sounds to me like you made up for not studying early in the year by doing some solid study from June.

I don't think Biology is all memorisation. The reason I started this thread was because I heard there are students who don't consider HSC Biology a science-based course because "it's all memorisation". But I read that Biology at its lowest levels, across all introductory courses, requires memorisation (so do many other subjects). So this does not detract from the value of the course and it does not mean that it is not a science-based course. There are quite a few skills you need to learn, as with Chemistry and Physics; Biology just isn't as mathematical at a basic level as these subjects.

 

[possessionless]

it could have been an easy exam. But it sounds to me like you made up for not studying early in the year by doing some solid study from june.

I don't think biology is all memorisation. The reason i started this thread was because i heard there are students who don't consider hsc biology a science-based course because "it's all memorisation". But i read that biology at its lowest levels, across all introductory courses, requires memorisation (so do many other subjects). So this does not detract from the value of the course and it does not mean that it is not a science-based course. There are quite a few skills you need to learn, as with chemistry and physics; biology just isn't as mathematical at a basic level as these subjects.

+ 1

 

[Timothy.Siu]

yes, you can be asked to make a punnett square, a pedigree and/or work out the percentage/likelyhood of a certain inherited characteristic to be shown in offspring. and there are the classic writing scientific reports/procedures in relation to information provided in the question.

Edit: if you believe that HSC biology is all about memorising, be prepared for a band 4 or lower.

too bad those questions are the easy part of biology.
Memorising is the hard part, and i'm not going to get a band 4 or lower thanks.

 

[possessionless]

too bad those questions are the easy part of biology.
Memorising is the hard part, and i'm not going to get a band 4 or lower thanks.

i probably will

 

[Revacious]

yes its 90% memorising, and thats why i will fail it.

the calculations are jokes, with some common sense, you should get them all no problems.

and i wont get a band 4 either thanks.

 

[Timothy.Siu]

yes its 90% memorising, and thats why i will fail it.

the calculations are jokes, with some common sense, you should get them all no problems.

and i wont get a band 4 either thanks.

 

[jet]

It is mostly memorising. Though funnily enough I find that chem has more content than bio.

If you're using your brain, you'll realise that many of the questions which require you remember real-life examples overlap, and you can use the same example more than once. It cuts down the work a bit.

As someone said before, it's the synthesis that gets people, as you can't just regurgitate the info, but you have to filter through it and apply it appropriately.

 

[Schoey93]

It is mostly memorising. Though funnily enough I find that chem has more content than bio.

If you're using your brain, you'll realise that many of the questions which require you remember real-life examples overlap, and you can use the same example more than once. It cuts down the work a bit.

As someone said before, it's the synthesis that gets people, as you can't just regurgitate the info, but you have to filter through it and apply it appropriately.

So does Chemistry require a lot of memorisation too then?

 

[jet]

There are a lot more skills though. You can't just memorise all your equations and hope for the best. They may ask you to write one for a reaction you have never seen before.

 

[Antiel]

In my opinion Chemistry requires memorisation of formulae and is more suitable for people who enjoy maths, whereas Biology is more about writing and more suitable for those who enjoy english.

 

[possessionless]

In my opinion Chemistry requires memorisation of formulae and is more suitable for people who enjoy maths, whereas Biology is more about writing and more suitable for those who enjoy english.

i agree with this.
although i dont do chem lol.

 

[JokerD]

Hello all,

I heard that Preliminary and HSC Biology requires no skill - apparently it only requires memorisation. So you don't have to udnerstand the content - is this true? Is it really that easy?

Thanks,

James

memorisation is apart of ur skills

 

[marcquelle]

In my opinion Chemistry requires memorisation of formulae and is more suitable for people who enjoy maths, whereas Biology is more about writing and more suitable for those who enjoy english.

+1 and i do both

 

[Antiel]

Right! So if chem is maths and Bio is English, where does Physics come in? Does it come into the maths category too?

 

[Norcinu]

Physics and Chemistry are very maths-like.

And I don't know why I chose this subject when my memory is terrible D: