How to do well in HL Biology.

[Hedron123 25]

I got a 45/48 on my IAs. Mine were sent and they kept the mark. I'll post some of them at the site so you can see what my teacher expects for Lab Reports. I consider the IAs essential for a good grade, I got a 7 in Biology HL (May 09). Bear in mind that the IAs, as Mahuta said, are worth 24% of the final grade which is A LOT. Another key element is Section B on Paper 2 - the Essay type questions.

Send me a private message if you need anything.

Regards.

[Work hard party harder 2]

Wow, that's great.....Like how much did you study and was it really hectic? I'm starting IB and taking Biology HL too...

[Hedron123 25]

Well, to begin with, my teacher is awesome. I think that a good teacher is part of getting a good grade. On the other hand, the book from where you study is also important. I used both the Oxford Study Guide by Andrew Allot and the Heinemann Biology Higher Level. You NEED to learn how to answer IB-style questions. That is the key for biology apart from studying. As I said previously, doing good at the IA is essential; 24% is a lot when you're aiming at a 7. When are you sitting for the exam? If you're still studying the 2011 syllabus I can give you a hand with some information to improve your skills.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Hedron123

[leepsyle 0]

We have spent the last couple of weeks with a new Biology HL teacher and he has only been teaching stuff on hormones. I am in my second year of the course but it is his first year teaching. I looked at the syllabus and I didn't see any mention of hormones. Is he spending time on something we don't need or did I just miss something?

[sweetnsimple786 422]

It might be that he's teaching one of the options. Maybe further human physiology or neurobiology?

[Sandwich 2,452]

It depends which options you do, but there are definitely sections of the syllabus on hormones. I know that Option E goes into detail with some of them, and as for the main section I definitely recall the reproductive hormones being studied, but I'm afraid that my memory has confused which bit I learned about hormones with whereabouts it fitted into the syllabus!

How about just checking out the syllabus to see? Perhaps if you say you're learning with the syllabus and just ask your teacher to point out which section he's covering you can be 100% certain.

http://www.ibsurvival.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=110

I'd actually advise you follow the syllabus like mad anyway, A) because it's useful to revise and really well written for that purpose but also B) because that way you can correct your teacher if he/she goes gallavanting off on a tangent. With Bio you really don't want to be memorising any extra!

[Mahuta ♥ 534]

I ddnt have time to read what Alice said, i may repeat certain things.

First thing you need to do is ask your teacher what options you're doing, I am assuming its option H, further human physiology which has a whole part about hormones.

Second of all, memorize your syllabus, listen to your teacher but do not depend on him. mY bio teacher changed after IB1 too and it was a disaster in the beginning. Your syllabus is literally your ultimate guide in Biology, especially HL.

Anything you dont understand, we are all here to help you.

[leepsyle 0]

I'm not sure exactly what all the options are but I think ours is on Evolution.

Either way, I've learned more in the past 2 weeks with our new teacher than I learned all last year with our old teacher. She was horrible and really did not know the subject at all. I'm from only the 2nd group at our school to test in IB because we were only certified a couple years ago. So we are still in a weird phase. But I think it should all turn out alright!

[KyleAdams 1]

I would definitely recommend doing the objectives. Answer the questions they ask, because they make the exams based off the objectives. Knowing them is always a good way to go.

I would definitely recommend doing the objectives. Answer the questions they ask, because they make the exams based off the objectives. Knowing them is always a good way to go.

I would definitely recommend doing the objectives. Answer the questions they ask, because they make the exams based off the objectives. Knowing them is always a good way to go.

[ibisgh3y 1]

1. Do All the past-papers espicially the Paper 2, as it will improve your skills of organizing your ideas. Moreover, it should be easy with practice as Paper 2 is Data Based Questions, is not really about understanding the topic, or at least not as much.

2. Memorize your notes throughout time. Try to memorize the facts using a picture of a story, which can help you memorize at a quicker pace.

[Drake Glau 438]

1. Do All the past-papers espicially the Paper 2, as it will improve your skills of organizing your ideas. Moreover, it should be easy with practice as Paper 2 is Data Based Questions, is not really about understanding the topic, or at least not as much.

2. Memorize your notes throughout time. Try to memorize the facts using a picture of a story, which can help you memorize at a quicker pace.

You can always write out the answers to the objectives too since that is exactly what IB will use for the tests, there should be no questions that aren't related to the objectives. And by the time exams role around you have a good 100 pages of notes over EVERYTHING, literally, everything.

[Danika 5]

download the guide for teachers from the internet. There you'll find ALL the things you need to know and you'll also find questions that'll come in the exam. I found almost 11 questions that were exactly the same as the ones i found in the teacher's guide.

And also, download past papers and resolve them. A lot of questions tend to come again.

[EccentricPianist 15]

Oh goodness. I just started the class back in the beginning of January and I only have one question and, seeing as you guys are chatting about the tests, I guess this is the right thread for it all:

Do we have to remember all those tiny little points/descriptors (like topic 3.2.1 for instance) or is it more broad, like topic 3 in general. Just wondering how deeply I should remember this stuff.

Thankies!

[Mahuta ♥ 534]

Are you talking about the objective?

If so, then:

1: Where you just need to state, most MCQ come from Obj1 syllabus points. So basically for those points, just state what's written in the syllabus.

2: For things you need a little more than a definition for. For example, they are mostly 'describe' questions, hence you just a need to have a slight idea about that point, dont go too deep.

3: This is where you need to give as much details as possible. For Obj 3 points, you usually get the parts you need to mention in the descriptions and teacher's note column.

If you are unsure about a certain point in the syllabus, make sure you ask and I am 100% sure I, or any body else can answer that for you.

Good luck.

[banana.sh 1]

We are studying with this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pearson-Baccalaureate-Biology-International-Editions/dp/043599445X/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300995076&sr=1-1-fkmr2

I found it very helpful (especially the chemistry one) , I have this thing for books... they are like my babies and this is one is particularly one of my favorites ! Plus all my AS and A2 friends are now using it too as a second reference.

And in general, I saw some comments about people having second thoughts about taking it as a HL subject, I agree with what Mahuta said at the start, if you like Biology, concentrate in class and keep truck in order not to have any missed material, it won't be at all one of the subjects to worry about.

[nametaken 116]

We are studying with this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pearson-Baccalaureate-Biology-International-Editions/dp/043599445X/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300995076&sr=1-1-fkmr2

I found it very helpful (especially the chemistry one) , I have this thing for books... they are like my babies and this is one is particularly one of my favorites ! Plus all my AS and A2 friends are now using it too as a second reference.

And in general, I saw some comments about people having second thoughts about taking it as a HL subject, I agree with what Mahuta said at the start, if you like Biology, concentrate in class and keep truck in order not to have any missed material, it won't be at all one of the subjects to worry about.

I use Pearson Baccalaureate books as well, for Chemistry & Physics. They're quite good.

[Summer Glau 280]

I also use Pearson Baccalaureate book for biology and it's pretty helpful for the most part. At times it could use a few more diagrams to help explain things and it isn't very detailed at some parts where it should be, but overall it's been a pretty good book so far for me.

It's helpful to read your textbook especially if your teacher explains something that you don't get. If it's explained to you in a slighly different way and you can re-read the explanation as many times as you need to, then you'll get the concept faster.

[nuka 12]

i gave in a link in the links section of ibsurvival.. the intranet.canacad.ac.jp one

i really recommend it.. it gives good summary notes for the units, and gives past exam paper questions with the mark scheme.

i find doing past papers useful, but it's quite annoying when you know some parts of the syllabus well, and it doesn't come up, but the most random things pop-up instead!

how do you avoid that?

for example, i looked at the classification part briefly, as well as the muscle contraction part, but it didn't seem so important as the kidney, or the production of antibodies for example. so i didn't study it too much.

and then muscle contraction comes up in the exam as a 5 mark essay question!

that really bugged me, not because it showed up, but because the things i thought would come, like the DNA replication etc. which i studied so much only came up in the multiple choice and not in paper 2. =.=

[Sandwich 2,452]

i find doing past papers useful, but it's quite annoying when you know some parts of the syllabus well, and it doesn't come up, but the most random things pop-up instead!

how do you avoid that?

for example, i looked at the classification part briefly, as well as the muscle contraction part, but it didn't seem so important as the kidney, or the production of antibodies for example. so i didn't study it too much.

and then muscle contraction comes up in the exam as a 5 mark essay question!

Really, you should know enough about all of it to be able to write long answer questions on it all However, if for whatever reason you can't manage that, you can guess at the sorts of things which become long-answer questions because loads of stuff on the Biology syllabus is factual. Far fewer things require the explanation of a process. Muscle contraction is definitely the explanation of a process, so I'd expect a longer question on it. Stuff like Classification is, I agree, a lot less likely to have a long question on it. Or at least you can BS a question about classification Ecology long questions are usually idiotic Qs about the 'sigmoid growth curve' which is a bit of a joke because it's so obvious!

However, like I said, if you want to aim for an assured 7, you should really know all the syllabus really well like that. The less of it you know in the detail specified on the syllabus, the more likely you're making it that something will come up you haven't prepared for. I'd say you need to know it in pretty high detail in order to answer the multiple choice as well, to be honest.

Photosynthesis and Respiration (HL) are the main ones where you're less likely to get it in the MCQ and more likely to be hit with a killer essay Q at the end!

In my opinion, doing past papers for Biology is useless. Your time is better spent learning all the information from the syllabus, because all past papers are for Biology are just testing how well you recall the information. So rather than testing yourself via time-consuming past questions, it's better to just test yourself directly from the syllabus to make sure you meet all their points. That way you also know you're not missing anything out

[Ashlyn Theron 0]

I was going to ask one thing which do you think recommend the OXFORD revision guide or Heinemann Higher Biology? I heard Heinemann was excellent.

Definitely the Heinemann Higher Biology i have it and its pretty good.