schouston1991 Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 Just thought i might give my two cents worth on Biology study that i've found really helpfull. so my bio teacher writes exam questions for the may exams in the northern hemisphere and has given us a bit of insight into how to know that you know all the content that your meant to.write notes according to the syllabus points. seriously its simple, ingenious, and no one ever thinks about it.okay so all of the questions in the exams have to come straight from the sylabus, they cant use words or topics that arent in ther. And luckily the sylabus in biology is very very specific (unlike history or psychology for example) and detailed. So when your studying if you go through each point from begining to end and compile notes under each one, with only the info required, you will have exactally the right info you need, no less and no more. To some this may be obvious so no need to write back smart remarks. But to others i hope this is a life saving (or at least IB saving) peice of advise.Oh also, write notes as you go. Its way to much to do last minute just before you're exams. -take care-soph x Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRed15 Posted July 4, 2008 Report Share Posted July 4, 2008 I actually have never tried doing that before. But now that you mention it, it does sound like a good idea. One of those things that make you feel, "why didnt i think of this before?", but anyways thanks for the advice. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zefar Posted July 6, 2008 Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 Thanks for the advice Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stelaaa Posted July 12, 2008 Report Share Posted July 12, 2008 Adding onto what you said sophie, With the notes and the points that you write, its also not a bad idea to get palm cards and turn them into flash cards,on one side write the syllabus point and on the other side write the answer so it's like a quick "go-to" before your topic test or exam. But yeah, definately too much work to do a week before exams, works best if done as you go along. Our teacher gives us little topic tests that are set out like IB Bio exams and i do proper notes for the topic tests so i have them to look back on for exams.revise revise reviseeeeee. yep i loveee biology! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLSmash Posted July 12, 2008 Report Share Posted July 12, 2008 But yeah, definately too much work to do a week before exams, works best if done as you go along.Yeah, this pretty much applies to everything in IB. As long as you study smart and constantly, and work your butt off - you should have no problems. But as we all know, procrastination just attacks everyone. I'm considering switching from SL Chem/Phys to SL Bio, since I've heard it's one of the easiest courses and I find it interesting. But then again, I'm not going into Bio in university so it would serve little to no purpose, but a high mark. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereoisomer Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!Thanks sooo much for the tip:) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokesandcokes Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 [insert smart remark here] - nooo, just messing.Our teacher refused to give us the syllabus haha- i'll have to hunt it down online. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oryxy Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 Hmm... Our teacher gave us notes according to the syllabus, but we also have cheat sheets that summarizes all the key points. And when exam comes, just take them out, if you can still find them! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted August 25, 2008 Report Share Posted August 25, 2008 I think the best thing to do is just do past papers. I got 30/30 on paper 1 but that was because I was so used to be format and the type of questions that I didn't even need to think much. Same goes for paper 2 and 3. If you practice enough, you'll also know approximately how much time to spend on each question. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djshah Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 I think the best thing to do is just do past papers. I got 30/30 on paper 1 but that was because I was so used to be format and the type of questions that I didn't even need to think much. Same goes for paper 2 and 3. If you practice enough, you'll also know approximately how much time to spend on each question. I completely agree. Doing past papers helped me alot too. For the end of IB1 exam I hardly revised for an hour but jus because i practiced past papers I managed to scrape a 7. Along with knowing how much time to spend on each question you also understand what questions are asking for. You obviously have to go through the marking schemes of the past papers too understand this. For example for a question "Explain the use of biotic indices to monitor environmental change.(6)" Just by giving an example of an indicator species lets say lichen, and saying it is sensitive to pollution and therfore shows pollution level, you get 50% of your mark i.e. 3/6. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djshah Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 If anyone is looking for online notes there is this super site which breaks down according to syllabus number. So if you feel you didnt take enough notes for a specific section you can just go to this site and get the notes. Even useful for last minute cramming click here for the site Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 (edited) For example for a question "Explain the use of biotic indices to monitor environmental change.(6)" Just by giving an example of an indicator species lets say lichen, and saying it is sensitive to pollution and therfore shows pollution level, you get 50% of your mark i.e. 3/6.You can also pick and guess what to study but you run a risk in doing so. For paper 3, there's a limited amount of material to be tested. What I did was I went through May06 and Nov06 past papers and made a mental note of what was NOT on those papers, and studied those areas extra hard. Then again, our class was discussing sickle cell anaemia right before we wrote paper 2 and it appeared on paper 2, I was like, :0. But I was angry that I studied so much photosynthesis (core + options) so I did that extended question instead... ~_~ Edited September 20, 2008 by moneyfaery Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeBlake Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Just thought i might give my two cents worth on Biology study that i've found really helpfull. so my bio teacher writes exam questions for the may exams in the northern hemisphere and has given us a bit of insight into how to know that you know all the content that your meant to.write notes according to the syllabus points. seriously its simple, ingenious, and no one ever thinks about it.okay so all of the questions in the exams have to come straight from the sylabus, they cant use words or topics that arent in ther. And luckily the sylabus in biology is very very specific (unlike history or psychology for example) and detailed. So when your studying if you go through each point from begining to end and compile notes under each one, with only the info required, you will have exactally the right info you need, no less and no more. To some this may be obvious so no need to write back smart remarks. But to others i hope this is a life saving (or at least IB saving) peice of advise.Oh also, write notes as you go. Its way to much to do last minute just before you're exams. -take care-soph xi would agree with you 100%.althought i would say that this is a more rigid system to study by...adding on top of that...it might be a little boring to be studying point by point on syllabus by yourself...here\s what i woul dowrite notes for yourself using soph x's method if you're studying for quizzes and tests given by your teacher...when the big exam comes, meet up with a group of friends (this may be hard, look for friends who can actually study with you....), for about three hours, a day before the exam, and basically, go over the syllabus one by one...and ask each other if anyone has any questions, if they have questions, those who knows it best explain because that is an awesome way to review is to teach others...and after that section'sfinished, pull out IB exams and do the questions together...make sure people don't burst out the answers though...think about it as a group, and before you give the answer (for multiple choice answers), answer the questino in full sentence form, then check the answer...this is my method of studying, but it's for big exams only, like finals and stuff, it takes a bit time to plan it...but it works...my final mark went from 54% to 74% using this study method...that was a combination of two quizzes and one exam... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 A lot of people in my class learn visually, so they do spider diagrams and brainstorms with lots of highlighters. Personally, it's too distracting to look at. I just sit down with the textbook and read it through a few times. This only works because I have a weird memory (that remembers phone numbers from 10 years ago and exam material that I learnt to recite 5 years ago).Basically, I recite things in my head. For diagrams that need to be labelled, like a prokaryotic cell, I memorize the number of labels needed (10 for that one). Then when I draw it on the exam paper, I can check to see that I'm not missing any part of the 10 things needed. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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