General Tips to be Successful for IB Biology

[IBPossible]

Hi everyone.

I made a somewhat related post, but the other one was for English, so I didn't want anyone thinking I was making duplicate posts. Anyhow, I was wondering -- would anyone have any general tips for me (being a first year IB Biology student, not Pre-IB) so I can be successful in the course, and for the exam?

For example, my teacher gives us a note packet which we're supposed to fill out as he goes through the lectures. And sometimes I fill it out, and the other time's it's because I focus too much on the class or zone out too deeply, and then I forget to fill out the note packet. Or sometimes I just don't know where the current lecture fits into the note packet at all (it's not that because he's a bad teacher, but you would have to see the note packets to see what I mean haha.) 

And I'm kind of concerned, because I've been doing well on almost all our IB Biology class tests. I've never failed one. The lowest scores I've ever gotten were either a D, or a C. But my teacher says he pull's those questions out from former IB assessments and grades them accordingly to how IB would. But whatever is on the tests were just whatever our IB Statements were on, and I feel like I'm not really applying anything, but rather just memorizing whatever the statements were on. Is that a bad thing or a good thing? And are the IB Statements extremely helpful for the actual IB Bio exam? Or is it just an additional thing you should be using to cushion your current knowledge, but you should still be able to apply your knowledge and think about everything, to help you on the actual exam?

Thank you!

[yara560]

Hi there. My teacher follows pretty much the same method, so I think I can help you out. I don't think it's a bad thing if you pay attention in class and forget to fill out the packets, in fact, it's quite beneficial! It's better to pay attention and understand the topics rather than focusing on taking notes. If you really need to, you can fill out the packets at home, and this will provide you with the opportunity to revise what was learnt that day. Now in terms of the IB statements, as far as I know, they are pretty much what's going to be asked, so you need to learn them in detail and make sure you can answer questions based on it. Now, this is only what I've seen, but in bio, the assessments are pretty straightforward with the IB statements. The only thing that contradicts this is the data analysis questions. Those generally require applying knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking, but otherwise, it's straightforward. Learn the statements - questions will be asked based on the statements. In terms of feeling like you're just memorising - sometimes that is the case. But you should really understand and learn the topics instead of just memorising - this really helps for your long-term memory. I hope this helps, and this information is just based on my experience. Feel free to ask any more questions!

[IBPossible]

12 minutes ago, yara560 said:

Hi there. My teacher follows pretty much the same method, so I think I can help you out. I don't think it's a bad thing if you pay attention in class and forget to fill out the packets, in fact, it's quite beneficial! It's better to pay attention and understand the topics rather than focusing on taking notes. If you really need to, you can fill out the packets at home, and this will provide you with the opportunity to revise what was learnt that day. Now in terms of the IB statements, as far as I know, they are pretty much what's going to be asked, so you need to learn them in detail and make sure you can answer questions based on it. Now, this is only what I've seen, but in bio, the assessments are pretty straightforward with the IB statements. The only thing that contradicts this is the data analysis questions. Those generally require applying knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking, but otherwise, it's straightforward. Learn the statements - questions will be asked based on the statements. In terms of feeling like you're just memorising - sometimes that is the case. But you should really understand and learn the topics instead of just memorising - this really helps for your long-term memory. I hope this helps, and this information is just based on my experience. Feel free to ask any more questions!

Hi.

Thank you for replying back to me. I think that's actually a great idea about maybe just filling out the packets at home if I need too, and I have no idea why I didn't think about that before -- but I'm going to keep that in mind in case if I ever decide to go down that route one day if it I feel like it'll help me out more. And ah, all right. I guess you're right about the IB Statements. It's kind of nice knowing that the iB Statements are straightforward. I've already taken Biology before and passed the standardized test that went with it, so knowing what I knew from it, and what I'll learn from my IB Biology class, I hope will also help out. So I'll be sure to study my IB Biology Statements, and try to also reinforce the knowledge we learn in class, and not just from the statements.

Thank you again!