IB Biology syllabus help !

Hey guys , do you reckon that knowing the IB Bio syllabus as stated on the IBO website is good enough ?

Like there are some things which are in the textbook which the syllabus does not state we need to know - so what do you think ??

Reply 1

yukiyue

Original post by superduperweirdo

Hey guys , do you reckon that knowing the IB Bio syllabus as stated on the IBO website is good enough ?

Like there are some things which are in the textbook which the syllabus does not state we need to know - so what do you think ??

Knowing and understanding more details in biology always helps! The statements are all you have to know, but unlike statements that start with "state that", many of the statements such as "explain" or "discuss" can be very open ended. The IB mark scheme marks by whether you include a certain part of an answer. For example, even if you write a really good long answer to a question but you are missing one element of detail, you will lose marks. Thats why I advise you to understand and know the textbook as well, because good IB textbooks will cover all the details needed to get full marks. Watch out for those long answer questions (:
Good luck!

Reply 2

superduperweirdo

OP

3

Original post by yukiyue

Knowing and understanding more details in biology always helps! The statements are all you have to know, but unlike statements that start with "state that", many of the statements such as "explain" or "discuss" can be very open ended. The IB mark scheme marks by whether you include a certain part of an answer. For example, even if you write a really good long answer to a question but you are missing one element of detail, you will lose marks. Thats why I advise you to understand and know the textbook as well, because good IB textbooks will cover all the details needed to get full marks. Watch out for those long answer questions (:
Good luck!

Thank you, I'll do that , I just needed the confirmation about the statements :smile:

Reply 3

laraalmahbshi

5

hey friend, the syllabus is good however always remember that biology is not like maths because there is a lot of discussion and explaining involved unlike maths so knowing extra details will cause no harm. It will, in fact, help you more than expect and it will be for your own good. There are some details in the book which are just "application and skills" and "nature of science". The application and skills will be normally covered with the practical work or lab reports and the nature of science are mostly facts and knowing how we got this and that or who did it or discovered it. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO KNOW THEM BY HEART. But it is great to have an idea, it will benefit you so much. good luck.

Reply 4

pbunny

12

You honestly only need to learn the syllabus points to do well in. But knowing extra information won't hurt.

Reply 5

username1464313

2

For IB Biology there is a site called Bioninja which I heavily suggest you look at! It has the entire spec on and explains what you need to know :smile: