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How to do well in HL Biology.


Mahuta ♥

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6 hours ago, Ahmed101 said:
  1. For Paper 1, I would only revise 'obj 1 and 2' points, 'obj 3' wont really come up a lot.
  2. For Paper 2, you should still be remembering the 'obj 1 and 2' from Paper 1, so concentrate on 'obj 3' points, they are the 6-8 mark questions you get in some questions in section B.

 

What do you mean by obj 1 and 2 etc.

Also, my exams are in May and I just started taking notes will I be fine?

I'm HL so I am trying to not waste time as much as possible, so does the content include mostly SL content than HL? 

Should I give SL content more importance? 

Your exams will be about 60% SL and 40% HL stuff.

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23 minutes ago, Ahmed101 said:

Thank you, but do you know what does she mean when she said  'I would only revise 'obj 1 and 2' points, 'obj 3' wont really come up a lot.'

When OP made the post in 2009, IB categorized command terms (eg Define, Explain, Construct, Show that ...) into 3 Objectives, with Objective 3 the hardest, which often needs to draw knowledge from multiple topics. IB has more or less kept the same command terms, but ceased to break them into "Objectives". 
EDIT:

Apparently there are still Objectives. Here is the current Objective 3:

image.png

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53 minutes ago, kw0573 said:

When OP made the post in 2009, IB categorized command terms (eg Define, Explain, Construct, Show that ...) into 3 Objectives, with Objective 3 the hardest, which often needs to draw knowledge from multiple topics. IB has more or less kept the same command terms, but ceased to break them into "Objectives". 
EDIT:

Apparently there are still Objectives. Here is the current Objective 3:

 image.png

Aha, do you think with 1 month to go is it okay to write notes for all the topics or read and put notes on a word document 

I think notes is better, but do you think its too late? 

Because I am trying to fit a schedule to finish all topics and have time to do past papers, do you have any advice?

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Now would be a good time to say I didn't take biology in IB.

From my experience in chemistry hl, and given that you probably have five other subjects, you probably don't have time to compile notes, at least not for the entire course. You should first identify your weak points and be sure to review all of them thoroughly. Generally if you can explain the concept once you see a relevant term (eg mitosis vs meiosis), then you don't have to go over it right away and instead focus on the confusing parts. Go back and forth between reading notes/textbook and doing some medium difficulty textbook or exam questions. Your goal should be to go through the whole curriculum once in 10 days, making sure you know the easy stuff and pinpoint the confusing parts. Then spend about 2 weeks learn as much of the unfamiliar material as you can. Personally I tried compiling notes but it's just too time consuming.

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On 3/26/2019 at 6:42 AM, Ahmed101 said:

Aha, do you think with 1 month to go is it okay to write notes for all the topics or read and put notes on a word document 

I think notes is better, but do you think its too late? 

Because I am trying to fit a schedule to finish all topics and have time to do past papers, do you have any advice?

One thing I would add is that doing past papers is a lot less important for Biology than other subjects. It's good to look at them, to have an idea of what might come up and also the data interpretation bits. However Biology is mainly memorising and then regurgitating things. The past papers will mostly be asking you to straight up regurgitate your knowledge. So spending time going through the content is the most important thing.

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On 3/30/2019 at 1:34 PM, Sandwich said:

One thing I would add is that doing past papers is a lot less important for Biology than other subjects. It's good to look at them, to have an idea of what might come up and also the data interpretation bits. However Biology is mainly memorising and then regurgitating things. The past papers will mostly be asking you to straight up regurgitate your knowledge. So spending time going through the content is the most important thing.

I'm currently doing this and taking notes at the same time, because I feel that I wanna revise all of it again and I just cant stop taking notes thinking its a big risk i dont know why.

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  • 2 years later...
On 6/14/2009 at 7:05 AM, Mahuta ♥ said:

I keep getting the same question, about how to do well in HL Biology, so thought I should just put it out in a topic.

Remember that this is what I am predicted, not sure what the real one is.

From what I have seen these are the important points.

1) TRY to like it..and find interest in it. It really helps. If you do like Biology then that’s a bonus!

2) NEVER EVER go to a lesson before you are certain you understand the things covered in the previous one. A main factor of doing bad is keeping things to just gather up on you, and before an exam you struggle to unerstand soo many things when you should be doing past papers. Do whatever it takes to understand something, trust me, it may sound like a pain in the ass but its very important, take a word from me. Having said this, it happens sometimes that you understand something only after you learn another, as it completes each other. However, what I mean is, don’t leave the MAIN CONCEPT not understood!

3) Make good notes that you can go back to anytime. I used to rewrite notes if they are bad and unclear. Having clear good complete notes is an important factor.

4) Read over your notes every now and then. It is really nice to find out that you remember the things when you’re doing the revision, it gives you confidence. On the other hand, if you only touch your notes before an exam, you come to revise and you find that you have forgotten many things, it crushed me in other subjects…so don’t want it happening to you.

5) Ask your teacher anything, I used to ware out my teacher with my questions (yeah I know Aboo smile.gif ), but it all came out good, so yeah. tongue.gif A good teacher wouldn’t mind any of your questions! 

6)You can try reading the topic before you start it, thats is what I used to do.

7) I recommend the OXFORD Study Guide, I found it really useful and very very helpful. So you may want to get that.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER:

😎 FOLLOW YOUR SYLABUS POINT BY POINT. You can never go wrong with the syllabus. ANYTHING that’s ever going to be asked in the exam is in the syllabus, except for Data Analysis in the SECTION A of PAPER 2. Know the syllabus point by point, it’s vital and you will do good trust me.

If you have any question about anything in Biology, SL & HL, you can always ask around here and I promise to answer once I see it.

Biology Help thread

For last minute people:

 

  1. Why oh why did you leave yourself till the last minute?
  2. You have to go through the syllabus even if you have 3 days left. Go through it and at least get a clear idea about them rather than going blank to the exam.
  3. For Paper 1, I would only revise 'obj 1 and 2' points, 'obj 3' wont really come up a lot.
  4. For Paper 2, you should still be remembering the 'obj 1 and 2' from Paper 1, so concentrate on 'obj 3' points, they are the 6-8 mark questions you get in some questions in section B.
  5. Go through past papers even on the night of the exam, it still helps trust me. Some questions are repeated every year (or almost), so you may get lucky and do a question that you'll find in the exam the next day.
  6. Once again, if you don't understand something, please ask.

 

I may have missed some of the things, so I will put them down when I remember more.

Goodluck to you all! smile.gif

I've been told that this resource is helpful: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0948JY7HK 

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  • 4 months later...
On 6/14/2009 at 12:05 PM, Mahuta ♥ said:

I keep getting the same question, about how to do well in HL Biology, so thought I should just put it out in a topic.

Remember that this is what I am predicted, not sure what the real one is.

From what I have seen these are the important points.

1) TRY to like it..and find interest in it. It really helps. If you do like Biology then that’s a bonus!

2) NEVER EVER go to a lesson before you are certain you understand the things covered in the previous one. A main factor of doing bad is keeping things to just gather up on you, and before an exam you struggle to unerstand soo many things when you should be doing past papers. Do whatever it takes to understand something, trust me, it may sound like a pain in the ass but its very important, take a word from me. Having said this, it happens sometimes that you understand something only after you learn another, as it completes each other. However, what I mean is, don’t leave the MAIN CONCEPT not understood!

3) Make good notes that you can go back to anytime. I used to rewrite notes if they are bad and unclear. Having clear good complete notes is an important factor.

4) Read over your notes every now and then. It is really nice to find out that you remember the things when you’re doing the revision, it gives you confidence. On the other hand, if you only touch your notes before an exam, you come to revise and you find that you have forgotten many things, it crushed me in other subjects…so don’t want it happening to you.

5) Ask your teacher anything, I used to ware out my teacher with my questions (yeah I know Aboo smile.gif ), but it all came out good, so yeah. tongue.gif A good teacher wouldn’t mind any of your questions! 

6)You can try reading the topic before you start it, thats is what I used to do.

7) I recommend the OXFORD Study Guide, I found it really useful and very very helpful. So you may want to get that.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER:

😎 FOLLOW YOUR SYLABUS POINT BY POINT. You can never go wrong with the syllabus. ANYTHING that’s ever going to be asked in the exam is in the syllabus, except for Data Analysis in the SECTION A of PAPER 2. Know the syllabus point by point, it’s vital and you will do good trust me.

If you have any question about anything in Biology, SL & HL, you can always ask around here and I promise to answer once I see it.

Biology Help thread

For last minute people:

 

  1. Why oh why did you leave yourself till the last minute?
  2. You have to go through the syllabus even if you have 3 days left. Go through it and at least get a clear idea about them rather than going blank to the exam.
  3. For Paper 1, I would only revise 'obj 1 and 2' points, 'obj 3' wont really come up a lot.
  4. For Paper 2, you should still be remembering the 'obj 1 and 2' from Paper 1, so concentrate on 'obj 3' points, they are the 6-8 mark questions you get in some questions in section B.
  5. Go through past papers even on the night of the exam, it still helps trust me. Some questions are repeated every year (or almost), so you may get lucky and do a question that you'll find in the exam the next day.
  6. Once again, if you don't understand something, please ask.

 

I may have missed some of the things, so I will put them down when I remember more.

Goodluck to you all! smile.gif

Another really good resource to add to your amazing answer is https://tibertutor.com

It's a site with literally everything you ever need to get a 7 in IB Bio. Their questions are literally exactly like the exams they have helped me so much!

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