? is Biology?

[A_Happy_Monkey]

Hey guys,

 

As you may be able to tell from my signature, one of the IB courses that I will be taking during high school happens to be Biology HL. This is completely due to the fact that I want to enter the medical field when I join the workforce. 

 

So I finally decided to buy a beginner- level biology workbook from the local bookstore today and I cannot figure out what/ how I'm supposed to study the material. I have a similar workbook for chemistry and I have never encountered any troubles taking notes off that, however it seems as if the biology subject is nothing more than memorization of definitions and diagrams. Chemistry, on the other hand, is all about memorization and application of concepts. 

 

My main questions are: Is my study approach completely "wrong" or is the subject exactly how I described it in the previous paragraph? How do you guys study for biology? 

[Emmi]

If you're not even going to be IN the actual program and taking SL biology for another year, why are you trying to learn biology now? 

 

There is some stuff in biology you just have to memorize, more so than you'd do for chemistry in my opinion, having taken both IB chemistry and AP biology when I was in high school. But most stuff you can't memorize. You have to internalize it, and be able to apply it to new areas or when you see a question on an exam. In addition, I find just rote memorizing large quantities of information to be a terrible way of learning. I saw this quote on another website yesterday that I really agree with:

 

Memorizing things is worthless. Learn them. Learn the concepts that build a formula rather than memorizing them like some kind of circus monkey that performs for treats with no understanding of what it's doing.

[A_Happy_Monkey]

If you're not even going to be IN the actual program and taking SL biology for another year, why are you trying to learn biology now? 

 

There is some stuff in biology you just have to memorize, more so than you'd do for chemistry in my opinion, having taken both IB chemistry and AP biology when I was in high school. But most stuff you can't memorize. You have to internalize it, and be able to apply it to new areas or when you see a question on an exam. In addition, I find just rote memorizing large quantities of information to be a terrible way of learning. I saw this quote on another website yesterday that I really agree with:

 

Memorizing things is worthless. Learn them. Learn the concepts that build a formula rather than memorizing them like some kind of circus monkey that performs for treats with no understanding of what it's doing.

 

You are really active on IB Survival

 

As for your first question, I am learning biology primarily out of fascination. I am also doing this to partially familiarize myself with topics that may or may not appear on the Bio HL syllabus later on in high school. Plus it's summer, so why not?

 

Secondly, thanks for the quote. I will continue to memorize definitions, but perhaps now associate them with broader concepts and create illustrations. Thanks for opening my eyes a little bit

[Guest]

I am doing Biology HL and I would have to say, what makes Bio hard is not just the memorizing part, but how tiny subtle details can turn out to be really important and will show up in the final exams.....

 

So my suggestion would be, really really , study you textbook, everything, everything, every single detail, off by heart, never overlook anything, even though it might seem irrelevant.

 

But memorizing all definitions and diagrams would not get you more than 5-10 points in the real exam......  for real. usually drawing diagrams--4 marks, definition - 1 mark. 

 

max 2 drawings in the real exam.

max 2 definitions in the real exam.

But usually one drawing and one definition.

 

So interpreting graphs and describing biological activities are what you should be focusing on...