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March 30, 2024, 02:14:13 am

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mishyprzed1

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Biology Advice
« on: April 29, 2020, 02:23:25 pm »
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Hi guys,

This is my first post on ATAR Notes.

I am currently in year 10, doing UNIT 1/2 Biology and I was wondering if you guys could please leave some suggestions and advice on how to study biology efficiently and how to get good marks in SACS and exams. 

Thank you! I would greatly appreciate if someone responded :)

J_Rho

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Re: Biology Advice
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2020, 02:51:43 pm »
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Hey!

These are my tips from the posts I made in this thread Tips and Resources for VCE students. While a lot of these are 3/4 Biology related I'm sure you can take some advice from it!

Also check out this users guide to a 50 in Year 11 I'm sure you will find parts of this v useful Conquering VCE Biology - getting a 50 in year 11

Ultimately Bio is an application subject to try to do practice questions rather than memorising stuff :)

Let me know if you have more questions/specific questions :)

I've had a look for my notes from when I did 1/2 in Year 10 and I can't find them sorry

🧪🧪🧪Biology Tips and Resources🧪🧪🧪

Top Tips

🧪 First of all i'm going to say that Biology can be a very rewarding but also difficult subject but if you are dedicated and focused you will reap the benifits.

🧪 Secondly dont rewrite your notes no matter how tempting as long as you can understand them they're fine - you have better uses for your time

🧪 Go to class with a foundation understanding of the topic going to be covered. This allows you to ask questions and develop a deeper understanding

🧪 Revise notes OFTEN!
Don’t get to the end of the year and realise you can't remember any of the content from unit 3

🧪 DIAGRAMS > WORDS
Use diagrams in your notes! The stuff I drew diagrams for I remember 110% more than the topics that I had NO diagrams for.

🧪 Possibly the best thing you can do to study for biology is practice questions. The thing that people struggle with is the way in which you need to respond to questions and apply knowledge. Expose yourself to as many exam style questions as possible and you will be putting yourself in the best possible place to develop they way you answer and interpret questions.

🧪 Use the study design. Get familiar with it. It is your BEST FRIEND. Everything with it you can be examined on. Get used to it in Units 1/2 so its easier to use in 3/4

🧪 Ask questions of your teacher. There is no such thing as a dumb questions  and its improves your memory.

🧪 UNDERSTAND > MEMORISING
Understanding is key in this subject, as being able to memorise facts won’t really help you. You must understand why it happens and how it happens.Many students know their content really well in a specific scenario but as soon as it's in a slightly different context students have no idea how to answer so knowing the theory is super important.

🧪Write down everything you get wrong and use this regularly during revision

🧪 Listen to Douchy's Bio Podcast! Someone made a joke about it so i went and looked it up but BOY IS IT USEFUL

🧪Relate the content to real life - this makes concepts easier to understand and hella more interesting

Resources

GTAC Immunology Game
https://www.gtac.edu.au/gtacs-immunology-game/
Ok so this game is highly educational made by the Gene Technology Access Centre and literally saved me in Unit 3! I highly recommend playing it to consolidate you understanding of the chain of processes of the immune system.

Khan Academy - Biology
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology
I used Khan Academy to further consolidate what I didn’t fully understand. It’s really helpful because it's simply worded and most sections also have videos!!

PhonexxFire’s Biology Resource Thread
https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=187239.msg1131267;topicseen#msg1131267
Man this thread is FANTASTIC and so is this one!
https://atarnotes.com/vce-biology-34-2018-resource-megaguide/

And if you are ever stuck on a question or not sure how you got it wrong check out the VCE Biology Question Thread here; https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=151609.msg719477#msg719477

And if you want free notes try these websites!

VCE NOTES: Biology
https://freevcenotes.com/biology/

TSFX ATAR Central:
https://www.tsfx.edu.au/vce/atar-central/join/
ATAR Central is basically the notes section of ATAR Notes BUT they do 'freebie fridays' where they give out tips or notes. You can find the A+ biology notes here: https://www.tsfx.edu.au/vce/atar-central/vce-freebie-friday/ Under Year 12 then under Biology :)

J_Rho’s Unit 3 Biology Notes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GfnYbw6vpvSljxBjF63RfNbKup9y7LVgMldSfMV7YP8/edit?usp=sharing

J_Rho’s Unit 4 Biology Notes
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ia3F6X6tN1nLleHcle3pyQ7XN3pbqUsr_XNtO-kMRPQ/edit?usp=sharing
« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 03:07:25 pm by J_Rho »
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English 30, Further Maths 33, Biology 33, Legal Studies 27, Psychology 32

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Bachelor of Nursing @ Monash
Bachelor of Counselling & Psychological Science @ ACAP

brothanathan

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Re: Biology Advice
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2020, 03:31:12 pm »
+3
Hey!

These are my tips from the posts I made in this thread Tips and Resources for VCE students. While a lot of these are 3/4 Biology related I'm sure you can take some advice from it!

Great work J Rho! Highly recommend giving the GTAC one a try and making use of PheonixxFire's Biology Thread!!

Gonna add these to the list:

Douchy's Biology Study Tips and Tricks: Study Smarter (not harder)

Douchy's Biology Podcast: Douchy 2017 Podcasts

Biology specific study techniques: Kelly's Biology Specific Study Tips

This is for IB, however there's really good summaries for some topics that are also tested in VCE: IB Biology Guides


« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 11:43:08 pm by brothanathan »

Duck Tails

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Re: Biology Advice
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2020, 09:35:49 pm »
+4
Hey,

I'm in the exact same boat as you so I can't really talk from experience, but the responses above have some really great resources. Something that surprised me for some reason is the VCAA have all past exams on their website, which can be good for practice questions (you will have to fish out the ones that are relevant to what you've learnt though, which hopefully shouldn't be too hard): https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/vce-assessment/past-examinations/Pages/Biology.aspx

I second keeping a copy of the study design handy, whether it's the pdf or a physical copy - I've found it really useful for figuring out what I actually need to learn about each topic. Also remember that the ATARNotes community is very very welcoming; if you have a question, no matter how silly you think it is, either it's been answered before or there's someone here who'll be willing to help you out.

Best of luck my guy! :)
KLD Class of 2022
VCE 2021: Biology [41], Religion and Society [34]
2022: Chemistry, Methods, Revolutions, English Language