How to not be overwhelmed??

[miyukiaura]

In a content-heavy subject such as 3/4 biology, how would you go about not being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things you need to memorise and understand? It's only the Term 1 holidays and I'm already feeling kind of stressed about everything I need to do.
If anyone has any tips or advice that would be greatly appreciated

[Evolio]

In a content-heavy subject such as 3/4 biology, how would you go about not being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things you need to memorise and understand? It's only the Term 1 holidays and I'm already feeling kind of stressed about everything I need to do.
If anyone has any tips or advice that would be greatly appreciated

Hello!
I would advise you to just focus on what you need to focus on at the moment for your upcoming sac for example. For example, if your upcoming sac is on Area of Study 2, just focus on the content you need to learn and understand under that area of study so that you gradually learn the content. Take it one step at a time, or one area of a study at a time so that you don't get stressed. As you progress throughout the year, hopefully you won't feel as stressed because you're closer to understanding all the content in 3 4 Biology!
I hope this helps.

[futuredoc]

Hey!

Bio was my favourite subject last year, but it's certainly a subject that requires a lot of memorisation and effort.
For me, I found making flashcards really useful (I recommend making your own)! But make sure that you review them regularly (eg every 2 days) -- this helps in active recall and easier retrieval of info during SACs. And it's great to have them ready to go for the end of year exam

In bio, understanding the concepts are key -- this will help in remembering the content too. And don't get too bogged down in the specific details, e.g. knowing the location, inputs and outputs of cellular respiration is sufficient for VCAA, there's no need to know the specific molecules like Acetyl CoA and fumarate etc.

Another really useful thing to do is review each AOS throughout the year. E.g. in term 2 hols, I not only started revising for U4 AOS 1, but made sure to review U3 AOS 1 and U3 AOS 2 content (because I guarantee you won't remember U3 stuff by the end of the year, and re-learning it takes so much time).

Good luck! Don't stress too much for bio - it's such a fascinating subject!

[J_Rho]

In a content-heavy subject such as 3/4 biology, how would you go about not being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things you need to memorise and understand? It's only the Term 1 holidays and I'm already feeling kind of stressed about everything I need to do.
If anyone has any tips or advice that would be greatly appreciated

Hi! I think a lot of people are in the same boat as there IS definitely a lot of content to learn but as Evolio said, focus on one thing at a time, I did Bio last year and this year.
Last year I focussed on it topic by topic (eg. plasma membranes, carbon dating etc) until you get an understanding of it before trying to look at the big picture. you might find it useful to ask your teacher for topic tests or worksheets (checkpoints are awesome for this too) that cover one topic so you are still doing application stuff while learning it in bite-sized chunks
However, this year, as I am super comfortable with the content I'm revising areas of study and adding to my knowledge and doing a lot of application-based questions because that was my area of weakness last year. Ultimately you will want to find a balance of really learning a topic and then also doing exam-style questions without compromising either.
Let me know if this didn't make sense or you want me to elaborate further