How to study for Biology - 99.95 ATAR Guide 

you need to know the biological consequences on a human body if mess up😂

What the hell. EPIC timing. Same here bro. Same branch electrical engineering. Let's meet someday 😅

Glad I could help!

Awesome!

Glad it was helpful!

Appreciate it @Peter! I would personally recommend first doing the old practice material where there is overlap with the new study design since the core concepts will remain consistent (and of course skipping any irrelevant questions). After you have done this, then you could buy some resources if you wish. This is just my personal view, I don't have first-hand experience of this in biology, but I was in a similar position for subjects such as English. And looking back, I did buy several online resources which didn't help that much - mainly because it's hard to predict what the VCAA style questions are going to be like without any history. So in short, do the old practice materials first, and then buy some resources from reputable companies (but not excessive since the quality of questions is dubious)

@@JLTutoring thanks!

Haha thank you!

@@JLTutoring no probs my guy

Hey, I had that concern as well - and short (but boring) answer is it ultimately depends on what subjects you are taking, how you plan to prioritise your subjects, as well as your study score goals. When I studied biology, (since it was a bit more time-consuming than my other subjects) I definitely relied on pre-learning (so covering the basics of each chapter before each class, which helped me stay on top of things). Also if you are doing bio 3/4 in year 11, then you can definitely afford to spend a bit more time on this subject compared to if you were to do bio 3/4 in year 12. As long as you are consistent with your studying, then it is entirely possible to get those top marks. And just an extra tip, one thing I would have done differently was to take typed notes on Notion, but insert hand-drawn diagrams in there - saves so much time as opposed to hand-written notes. The trick with typing notes but also making sure you understand the content is to write your notes -> and then after a few days, look at them again and try to refine the content more and more -> and over time you'll end up with a set of notes that took less time to write overall but still are effective in helping you recall the information. And just to give you a balanced view, if you happen to not enjoy biology, or have another subject you can do that you are more confident in doing better in, then perhaps it's a wise choice to drop the subject. But if it's just a time concern, see if the above study techniques help and track how long you are spending on bio - you can always make changes down the line :)

​@@JLTutoring Hey Julian, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply! I'm doing bio 1/2 in year 11, along with my other subjects: English 1/2, Chem 1/2, General Maths 1/2, Maths Methods 1/2, Chinese 3/4, and Religion (will drop in year 12). For Bio, I'm hoping to spend about the same time as my other subjects, whether it becomes one of my top 4 subjects or not, I do want to perform well or at least average in it (since I'm going to spend as much time on it as my other subjects). When you studied Biology, how was it (content and time wise, and also the saccs and the final exam) compared to Chem? or Psychology?--I thought maybe you did the subject as I can tell from your videos that you're quite knowledgeable in that side of things. Prior to picking Biology, I also had the option to pick Psychology, but I chose Bio because I thought I would enjoy it more. Thanks so much for your help, you are absolutely amazing for not only the advice you share on RU-vid, but also just how kind and humble you are!

​@@apexwr7269 Hi, thank you so much for your kind words :) So just a bit of background - I did bio 1/2 in year 10, but never actually finished bio 3/4 because I was tossing between biology and university maths. However I did actually pre-study most of the bio 3/4 course beforehand which I found more bit more challenging than chemistry probably because I enjoyed chemistry more haha (also same for psychology, but I only did psych 1/2 as well). Looking back however, biology was definitely manageable as uni maths took up about the same amount of time, one thing I would have changed was that I went too detailed for some of the bio content - there's no need! My advice (just take this as a grain of salt) would be to do bio 1/2 in year 11 if you truly find it enjoyable, and also it does have some overlap with chem + doesn't scale down. If for whatever reason you find that it isn't for you, you can also do psyc 3/4 without doing 1/2. It's always tough to pick the 'right' subjects, I know I dwelled on this for a long time so again just take what I've said as a grain of salt - ultimately it does come down to your own preference :)

Absolutely, here are some of my tips 1. My first stage of revision is simply reading over the notes and making sure I understand everything (yes it is a passive process, but it helps you just refresh everything that you have covered, so just read over them and say yep I understand everything I wrote down) - if not then revise the content until you do 2. Start implementing active recall - by covering up some of your notes and see if you can explain the concept the a friend / yourself. This is an active process so it should force you to memorise (or at least familiarise) your notes 3. Anything you still can't remember I would put onto flashcards (but this is the worst case scenario) Bonus tip: honestly just doing practice questions helped me remember my notes - so incorporate this with the above steps Hope this helps!

@@JLTutoring Thanks man! I’ll make sure to try this with my exams

I use Goodnotes to take my notes (although now I mainly using Notion, and then inserting hand drawn diagrams from Goodnotes)

thats notion i use it a lot

the app is notion! :)

Try and write down your mistakes in a notebook to keep track of all the errors - this way you won't make the same mistake again. I actually made an in-depth video just this week about how to do practice exams well! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E1cvSlCUVwk.html

@@JLTutoring appreciate the response 👍

I usually just use the textbook and class notes to get most of my notes, you can also check out this website that I found quite useful: freevcenotes.com/biology/

Hey, that's a good question, short answer is yes it is definitely possible. So specialist maths does scale more than bio, but at the same time, it depends on how well you do in each subject. Just to give you a balanced take, here are some reasons for and against that may help (of course I don't know your entire situation so take it with a grain of salt :) Some reasons to do spesh: - it scales higher, but also you can get over a 50 study score (whereas bio is capped at 50) i.e. getting a 42 raw in spesh will get you the same final score as a raw 50 in bio (so if you were just concerned about marks, see which one seems easier for you) - some sections overlap a lot with methods and physics, so they complement each other well Some reasons to do bio: - less intensive than spesh, so you have more time to spend on your other subjects - more variety and balance as methods and physics are both 'math' heavy subjects, so it may not be good for someone who is not passionate about this area That's just my personal take, both approaches have pros and cons so see which option will best optimise your marks to get a high ATAR!

@@JLTutoring What sounds harder to your ears? 1 MD Degree or 2. Masters Degree in Statistics?

@@scholarlyanalyst7700 Probably MD since it takes longer to complete and is more competitive to get in - but I don't know how difficult each course is compared to each other

@@JLTutoring I was thinking that most medical doctors are terrified of math-related subjects (albeit not all doctors!). I think any highly quantitative grad degree would be conceptually more difficult than an MD (where you regurgitate a lot of facts). You can't escape the conceptual hell associated with a Masters Degree in Statistics. That being said, I guess "harder" does not just mean conceptual difficulty. It can also be hard to absorb volumes and volumes of medical information, too! Also, it being competitive to get in also counts for something. That is - the quality of the students one would be competing with!

@@scholarlyanalyst7700 That is a good point - really depends on the angle that we judge 'difficulty'. Just curious, are you asking this question because you are deciding between med or masters of statistics?

btw iam from nsw it would be helpful if you help me find these outcomes

Hey, I'm not too sure how the system works in nsw, but I can offer some surface-level advice (but just take it as a grain of salt). If I was in this situation, I would definitely follow however the school structures the content, this is because the teachers have a deeper understanding of what is on the exam + any in-school assessments will be directly based on what they taught in class (as opposed to the outcomes online). Now with that being said, there will *hopefully* be a lot of overlap between the outcomes and the content based on the syllabus, so I would focus on what the teachers cover in class, and then use other sources (like outcomes) to round out your knowledge and fill in details that may have been missed (if any). Hope this helps!

@@JLTutoring Thank you!

Hey, so to keep track of pracs as well as content - I would personally focus on making efficient notes so I can free up more time to focus on the pracs (i.e. making visual notes is a great way to consolidate your understanding of key topics in biology, so you don't have to continuously keep revising it). And then for pracs, make the most out of class times and ask your teachers as many questions as possible about how to write a good prac report - because ultimately it is them who are marking it

@@JLTutoring I'll try that thanks!