Studying for Bio Exam

[homeworkisapotato]

Hi AN!
I'm planning to start exam revision next week but I'm not sure what method to follow. I'm planning to do:
1. Quick revision of content learnt over the year by completing chapter questions
2. Take 2019 exam under timed conditions. Mark it, find where I lost the marks, work on those weaknesses
 
I know it sounds kinda dumb but I don't know what to do after that... can you please help me?

[ThunderDragon]

Not an expert since I haven't started preparing for Bio exam yet either but I'm planning to make some Quizlets to remember the basic content, do some Biozone worksheets that are relevant, Checkpoints and ATARNotes Topic Tests. Then I'm gonna start hitting the Practice exams.

[scientificllama]

Hey Homeworkisapotato,

I think that is a wonderful plan. However, if you have finished all  (or most of)  the content, try completing an exam do identify your strong and weak points. This will help with focusing on things you might be a bit iffy about. But also....

study, test and REPEAT

would be the best way to approach relearning or revising the content. Also makes sure you do some exam styled questions to understand what VCAA is asking for in the exam.

Hope this helps

[Chocolatepistachio]

Revise the content and make summaries for each topic. You can also draw some diagrams to help you understand concepts. Do lots of practice exams or other exam style questions or atar notes topic tests and do some under exam conditions and highlight what you got wrong and also go back over the questions you get wrong.

[Coolmate]

Hi AN!
I'm planning to start exam revision next week but I'm not sure what method to follow. I'm planning to do:
1. Quick revision of content learnt over the year by completing chapter questions
2. Take 2019 exam under timed conditions. Mark it, find where I lost the marks, work on those weaknesses
 
I know it sounds kinda dumb but I don't know what to do after that... can you please help me?

Hey homeworkisapotato!

Great question!
What you have listed there is a good solid start of your revision.

Definitely focus on what your weaknesses are in Biology, but don't neglect the other parts of the course as well. I would recommend completing as many past questions as you can, as this exposure to different ways the examiners could ask questions will expand your perception on how to answer certain types of questions, for the real thing. Moreover, when you are writing answers to these questions, it is most likely to stay in your head longer (because you are using different parts of the brain to process what you are writing).

I don't know when your exam is, but if it is in a few weeks, you can take advantage of your long term memory retention. This process is known as the Ebbinghaus-Forgetting Curve and basically means to review content regularly at certain intervals over time to retain as much information in your head as possible. This is illustrated below:



Biology is all about key terminology, so in addition to what you have suggested you will do for revision, I would advise that you have a list of all of the relevant key terms of the modules. Also, you can practice using these words in practice responses, making your answer more "sophisticated".

Lastly, the repetition of concepts is key for a greater understanding

I hope this helps and good luck with your study!
Coolmate

[J_Rho]

Hey Hey!
Just gonna give my brief 2cents.
1. document the study design dot points that correspond to the questions you are getting wrong
2. correct them and then get someone else to correct them. also BE HARSH in your marking.
3. use the examiner's report - you'll find some good hints on how to answer certain questions
4. use the Leitner system or spaced repitition
Review material, test yourself and correct and revise.

[Sine]

Hi AN!
I'm planning to start exam revision next week but I'm not sure what method to follow. I'm planning to do:
1. Quick revision of content learnt over the year by completing chapter questions
2. Take 2019 exam under timed conditions. Mark it, find where I lost the marks, work on those weaknesses
 
I know it sounds kinda dumb but I don't know what to do after that... can you please help me?

Practice exams. Whilst quantity is important it is also important that you are learning from each exam so once you have completed the exam if there is any questions you didn't know how to do go back to those topics and study that. If you want you can also take note of the types of questions you don't know how to do and see if there is a particular topic that keeps coming up or type of question you are not good at answering.

Why do you want to do the 2019 exam so early? I would be saving it until closer to the exam and you have had a lot more practice with other exams.

[homeworkisapotato]

Thank you so much guys! Seriously, I have a much better understanding of what to do!

Why do you want to do the 2019 exam so early? I would be saving it until closer to the exam and you have had a lot more practice with other exams.

I wanted to use it as a self diagnostic but your idea makes more sense. What do you think my order for practice exams should be?

[Chocolatemilkshake]

I wanted to use it as a self diagnostic but your idea makes more sense. What do you think my order for practice exams should be?

I agree with Sine, best to save the 2017, 2018 and 2019 VCAA exams for a bit closer to the exam date. I'd recommend doing them once you've done the bulk of your study and other exam prep (maybe about 3/2 weeks until the exam depending on how ready you are? Obviously this is personal preference, but considering it's your only 3/4 you only need to worry about one subject). Try and do these 3 VCAA ones under full timed conditions and pretend that they are the actual exam (so only AFTER you've done heaps of other study and practice exams). This way the actual exam won't feel as daunting.

Personally I started with the company exams I had available and the 2013-2016 VCAA exams. I know other people have different preferences, but if you are planning on doing a heap of exams you don't have to do them all under full exam conditions (as this is not always possible) just make sure you are doing the last three VCAA ones and some of the better company exams under time. As Sine said, really make sure you look at the mistakes you are making and what type of questions you are losing marks on (I'd suggest creating a document to file all the key mistakes you are seeing across your practice exams).

Marking your practice exams is really important (just as important as actually doing the practice exam) but don't feel the need to mark straight away. In fact, I'd suggest correcting it a day or two after you've completed it as this will allow you to better see the mistakes you are making. When marking, highlight the KEY information that is getting you the mark (eg. on the VCAA exam report it might have three dot points that will get you the three marks. Even if you got these 3 marks in your response, highlight these key words/phrases so that you know what you are getting marks for when you come back to review the exams). Hope that makes sense

[homeworkisapotato]

Thank you Choco!! Studying for the exams seems a lot less daunting now!
What external company exams did you use? I have the NEAP full exams (about 12) and a lot of topic tests sent by my teacher. Do you suggest I buy more?

[Chocolatemilkshake]

Thank you Choco!! Studying for the exams seems a lot less daunting now!
What external company exams did you use? I have the NEAP full exams (about 12) and a lot of topic tests sent by my teacher. Do you suggest I buy more?

Personally I liked NEAP, Insight and Aced (I did some other ones too but they weren’t as good). Honestly, 12 external plus VCAA 2013-19 is probably enough to get you started. My school actually purchased commercial exams for our use so you could check if your school has done the same?
Good luck with the studying!

[homeworkisapotato]

Thank you so much! Good luck with the rest of your subjects!

[J_Rho]

Thank you Choco!! Studying for the exams seems a lot less daunting now!
What external company exams did you use? I have the NEAP full exams (about 12) and a lot of topic tests sent by my teacher. Do you suggest I buy more?

NEAP are probably the best or STAV but they are a bit harder than VCAA ones. I don't reckon you need to buy more cause you've got the neap ones but also VCAA ones and NHT ones

[emonerd]

hey !! just to reiterate what others have said, and from my own experience, I would probably start with doing topic summaries, and then go into doing practice exams. Everyone is different, but I personally found it easier to make sure that I had a really thorough and solid understand of ALL the content first, before I started doing exams. I'd save the exams that are most recent (2019, 2018 etc...) towards closer to your exam date though. Although people say its quality or over quantity, I fully believe that it was doing all those practice exams that pulled me through in the end (my hand was literally crippled by exam week.) Goodluck !! <33

[homeworkisapotato]

Thank you so much emonerd!
Do you recommend doing the 2013-2016 exams as the first exams or closer to the exam date?