[WhisperOfLove]

All those IB 6 and IB 7 students in Biology HL. What advice can you give to those who are not sure how to go about revising and studying?
Please help x

[MAMDS1993]

Honestly I HATED HATED Biology HL. I got a 6 in the end but I struggled to get it. Just crammed the study guide and the syllabus in my head, especially for further human physiology. I didn't sleep the night before, making sure I had everything in my head. Even though luckily the papers were good especially section B in paper 2 and paper 3 (the longer response ones), the data based question in paper 2 screwed me up. For once I actually thought I had gotten pretty much the whole thing correct but I wrote exactly the opposite of the correct interpretation. Ughh bio was a pain but yeah the advice would be know your syllabus, its EVERYTHING in group 4. Don't ignore anything because our paper 2 contained a lot of plant science that people ignored and none of DNA or respiration photosynthesis HL which people focused so much on. Just know everything and study for bio atleast a month before but make sure you go through it every now and again, because for me atleast Biology evaporated very easily. If you can picture it, its easier to understand it but for me the descriptions were too complex, given that I hadn't seen what was being talked about lol, so I just digested everything. Work on your labs as well, make em PERFECTO if possible. Yeah start early and go through it every so often so you don't forget. Do a lot of practice on data based questions and pray you don't get anything like the May 2012 HL TZ2 question, coz it was honestly sooo tricky. Goodluck.

[Lionheartat20]

I also got a 6 overall and frustrated that it wasn't a 7

Indeed: For May 2012 HL our school also was preparing massively for the DNA questions that never came and one girl was in tears at the end for how much time she had spent learning them ... and then hardly a mention! So as Mamds says, it's best not to think "This will come up" as it really could be anything which may indeed not be the classic questions that you expect.

If you don't already have them, the following 2 books were immensely useful for my revision, and I went through highlighting things.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/IB-Study-Gui...dp/0199151431/
For an "overview"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biology-Dipl.../dp/0521171784
For a more "indepth" approach

And pray you don't get anything like the May 2012 HL TZ2 question

Are you referring to the treatment of anti-rhino viruses or something like that? I read that so many times over before it finally clicked and thought "Wow - that is one hell of a nasty question and would trick out a lot of people" in the middle of the exam.
Followed by quite a bit of crossing out and new answers
But that counter-balanced with my massively under-prepared knowledge of plant science

[MAMDS1993]

Yeah the anti-rhino virus drugs and the placebo!! OMG I actually thought more antibodies meant the body was responding to the virus and so it was a good sign but NOOOOO more antibodies meant the disease was still present and the drugs weren't helping. God, I don't know where they got the data from coz I feel pathetic without ibuprofen or acetaminophen when I have a cold (Lol this is just me complaining about the stupid question). I was fine with a 6 in Biology, a 6 in chemistry pissed me off BIG BIG time particularly because I missed the 7 boundary by 3 marks . Ah its all good though.

[Flip1]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0199151431/

I got a 7 and the top score on my IA. That book is literally all you need if you just want to study to take the exam as it corresponds perfectly to the syllabus. Naturally, being scientifically literate and understanding the nature of biology at a very fundamental level will help you a lot, especially with data-based questions.

[MAMDS1993]

yepp, I used all that Flip1 used didn't bother using the course companion or anything else. The guide has the whole syllabus and its so summarised so it becomes easy for you without taking in too much detail. I personally think the data response questions separate the 6's from the 7's. Because they are worth quite a bit in paper 2 and it may well turn your grade up by a point.

[Saelie]

click4biology.info worked well for me. Granted, I did SL, but I got a 7, and I absolutely hated biology and never really understood much.