How to get a band 6 in biology (1 Viewer)

[bmwz4]

past students, please give me tips on how to get a band 6 in biology, what were your study habits?, did you add extra information from other biology books to your notes? (ie university books), what marks should i be achieving?

any help is appreciated.

 

[Sofstar]

:wave: I would very much like to know as well.

 

[ari89]

I answered all the dot points quite detailed using the main bio textbook, hsc excel bio and info from hsc.csu.edu.au. I pretty much studied them and did a few past papers from some HSC past paper book where the publisher provided some really poor quality answers.

 

[bmwz4]

I answered all the dot points quite detailed using the main bio textbook, hsc excel bio and info from hsc.csu.edu.au. I pretty much studied them and did a few past papers from some HSC past paper book where the publisher provided some really poor quality answers.

can you email me your notes...i already have my own but i wanna c how much detail you got into..

 

[ari89]

can you email me your notes...i already have my own but i wanna c how much detail you got into..

I don't have access to my notes. A few days ago I had the bright idea of storing my HSC stuff on my external hard drive...and like the day after that I burnt out the power supply.

Anyway, the detail of your notes should be determined by:

1) How important and detailed is the syllabus point.
e.g. What is pH compared to the changing composition of blood as it travels through hte body.

2) What type of question do the examiners usually ask?
E.g if its simple and has been a multiple choice for the past 5 years it wouldn't usually be as detailed as something that is usually an 8 marker. (However, markers aren't bound to follow previous years and might spin a normally elementary multiple choice question to a few mark written answer)

But to note, my notes were extremely long. I had a talent for biology, so unlike most other subjects, it was a breeze for me to learn and remember a stack of information.

 

[bmwz4]

I don't have access to my notes. A few days ago I had the bright idea of storing my HSC stuff on my external hard drive...and like the day after that I burnt out the power supply.

Anyway, the detail of your notes should be determined by:

1) How important and detailed is the syllabus point.
e.g. What is pH compared to the changing composition of blood as it travels through hte body.

2) What type of question do the examiners usually ask?
E.g if its simple and has been a multiple choice for the past 5 years it wouldn't usually be as detailed as something that is usually an 8 marker. (However, markers aren't bound to follow previous years and might spin a normally elementary multiple choice question to a few mark written answer)

But to note, my notes were extremely long. I had a talent for biology, so unlike most other subjects, it was a breeze for me to learn and remember a stack of information.

how many pages would u say ur maintaining a balance notes were and blueprint of life...im want to go back and edit my module 1 notes because im paranoid and add extra information from other scientific sources

 

[ari89]

how many pages would u say ur maintaining a balance notes were and blueprint of life...im want to go back and edit my module 1 notes because im paranoid and add extra information from other scientific sources

show me an example question though...you wouldn't need to get a whole stack of extra scientific sources.

 

[mr_brightside]

Study.








lol.

 

[~Jess~]

sounds like you're stressing big time over bio. chill out! but then again, i freak out big time for extension maths and legal lol.
my summaries on maintaining a balance are 10 pages but then i went over all that and wrote another lot because i don't trust the teacher or the text book i have using csu site, excel and other text books to answer dot points. boyfriend's notes useful also... there is a hint, start a relationship with someone who did your subjects last year lol, or someone from another school so you have access to twice the notes... some people thought that the 10 was way too much, but i have to have things written down, so i have probably written things other people wouldn't consider as necessary. it paid off lol, for the midcourse, i was 15% ahead of the rest of the class yay!! go me!!

 

[bmwz4]

im not stressing (much) loll i just want a band 6 mine are 13 pages for maintaining a balance and 20 for blueprint...im paranoid and wanna go back and re-do them...lol at the relationship! i trust my blueprint notes i just made recently, very thorough...yeah im ahead too

 

[ari89]

im not stressing (much) loll i just want a band 6 mine are 13 pages for maintaining a balance and 20 for blueprint...im paranoid and wanna go back and re-do them...lol at the relationship! i trust my blueprint notes i just made recently, very thorough...yeah im ahead too

Well once you know the long notes it is a good idea to summarise them into keypoints that are imperative to cover to properly answer the dot point. Then if you had correctly learnt the long version you should be able to expand on the key points naturally.

 

[bmwz4]

show me an example question though...you wouldn't need to get a whole stack of extra scientific sources.

what do you mean by example question...? Do you mean a dot-point question?

 

[ari89]

what do you mean by example question...? Do you mean a dot-point question?

show one that you think you have too much info for

 

[bmwz4]

Well once you know the long notes it is a good idea to summarise them into keypoints that are imperative to cover to properly answer the dot point. Then if you had correctly learnt the long version you should be able to expand on the key points naturally.

the long notes dont worry me, i can consume large amounts of information once ive read the notes over a few times.

 

[bmwz4]

show one that you think you have too much info for

hmm maybe this

Outline the processes used to produce transgenic species and include examples of this process and reasons for its use

 

[Survivor39]

It's good to have long notes because you can pick and choose what you want to say in your answer. For the harder "evaluate, analyse" dot points, 1 page is sufficient. For general "describe, outline" dot points, 3-4 sentences to half a page is sufficient.

It's also a good idea to go back to your note and re-write them to make it better, and going over it while you're writing is really "studying" too.

Consistency is the key.

 

[kloudsurfer]

Ive also heard that its a good idea to make two sets of study notes - detalied summaries and then brief summaries of those summaries.

 

[Mind-of-mysterY]

i would love to get a band 6 in biology...so i am watching this thread to get some good tips too...
my summeries for the HSC course so far are:
Maintaining a Balance - 12 pages
Blueprint of Life - 13 pages
The search for better health - 16 pages

If you do find any good resources appart from Heinemann biology text book and activity manual, Excel Biology books or the new HSC online website...please share with me.. lol
Good luck in your hsc...

 

[mel4dan]

Ive also heard that its a good idea to make two sets of study notes - detalied summaries and then brief summaries of those summaries.

This is exactly right. I made my own summary that is 160 pages long, covering 3 cores and the option of communication. But then I had smaller, brief notes which I used as part of my preparation for the HSC - like reading my big summary and making smaller notes from it - key points, diagrams, etc.

You need to constantly make sure you are doing past paper questions that come directly from the dot points. But you also need your own spin on your answer, so it doesnt sound the same as what every one else writes.

And I must say the key to success in biology is keeping up with the work. Keep on top of your notes, ask questions about the things you don't quite understand, always write up the pracs and branch out a bit (not too much of course!).

For all you Bio buddies out there, I am selling my 160 page dot point summary for $15 (+postage) via a CD-ROM, (so I can make you many copies). I will also include on it, other bio stuff, like other people's dot point answers, past papers, OTEN notes, teachers notes etc. Please PM me if you are interested! A big summary like mine is definitely one way to getting a band 6 in Bio like I did!!!

:wave:

 

[~untitled~]

For all you Bio buddies out there, I am selling my 160 page dot point summary for $15 (+postage) via a CD-ROM, (so I can make you many copies). I will also include on it, other bio stuff, like other people's dot point answers, past papers, OTEN notes, teachers notes etc. Please PM me if you are interested! A big summary like mine is definitely one way to getting a band 6 in Bio like I did!!!

Haha, that is soo tempting...
I want one....!