How do you get A's in Biology A levels

To all the students on here who always get A's; how do you do it?

Im doing AQA BIOLOGY and i need A's.
What revision guide do you use, whats your winning formula for getting A's in Biology?

Reply 1

Dhaden

13

I have the same problem i know the content but just can't seem to nail the style of questions despite trying the majority of the past papers.

Reply 2

Luke Williams

5

I would most definitely propagate the argument of revising the in's and out's of the set textbook. If you know the syllabus, there will be NO question that can throw you. Examiners don't put questions into exams that they haven't enlisted in the booklets that they provide.

working hard i guess

I need to know this too! It seems impossible to get above a C

Reply 5

UsmanM17

2

Same, I revise nearly 8-9 hours a day within The holidays to try and improve but i don't seem to be getting the result, im like at the top of my college class and still getting C's and B's, I just do.t seem to get the hang of the structure of these Exam Q's :frown:

Reply 6

UsmanM17

2

Original post by Luke Williams

I would most definitely propagate the argument of revising the in's and out's of the set textbook. If you know the syllabus, there will be NO question that can throw you. Examiners don't put questions into exams that they haven't enlisted in the booklets that they provide.

What do you mean, Anything specific??? I'm very good at regurgitating info, but can't actually get good marks due to being "Vague" according to teachers.

Reply 7

persov

2

Get hold of the mark schemes to past papers. It's all about knowing the mark schemes so when you are confronted with a question in the exam, you pretty much know what the examiners are looking for in your answer. It's a combination of knowing the content and good exam technique, which comes from learning how to answer the questions by looking at previous papers and mark schemes.

Reply 8

Fatima0065

5

Hello, this probably hasn't got anything to do with this thread, but I'm in A2 and have started revising for the June exam. I don't know how to do to the punnet crosses and dihybrid crosses. I don't know what information to use from the questions so can anyone help me please??? :biggrin:

Your help is much appreciated :smile:

Thankyou

Reply 9

bluemax

16

read your stuff again and again and again. Biology is something in which you really need to remember the facts and there is no way other than doing multiple revisions. Oh and ofcourse make sure you solve at least the past 5 year exam papers, there are loads of things you'll learn from the mark schemes.

Reply 10

Louise2394

hey!! biology is really hard, but i'd say practice answering exam questions really helps!! especially with the longer 5/6 mark questions, go through past questions and answer in bullet point style, using the mark scheme to help. Then learn the answer so if it comes up again, you can get full marks no problem!!

I did this for pretty much any question i could think of that might come up. There were still some that I hadn't prepared for, but I knew the content really well so managed to answer those too. I was really struggling with past papers before I did this, and I managed to get 88/100 in the january module!! It really works :smile:

Reply 11

sabre2th1

12

Im confused yo, cos y'all is sayin that look at markschemes but Bill indge (or bill minge as i like to say- this guy from aqa who writes the exams) came in to my college and said don't rely on mark schemes and shiz. So Im kinda scared now...

Reply 12

persov

2

Don't worry, my method was a mixture of reading the textbook, doing past papers and looking at the mark schemes, and making some notes from the textbook on stuff I felt I needed to write down (so the more complex stuff). Didn't bother with stuff I didn't find interesting at all like plants or ecology etc. This was 2 years ago so first year they brought out the A*.

Obviously that's what worked for me, and it may not work for everyone, but for most people it should be a good starting point. The mark schemes do help, the way to use them however is not to learn the answers, but to help you understand what the question is really asking, and what parts of your knowledge they want you to regurgitate or apply.

That was perhaps the most important thing for me after actually learning the course content, because with each question I got in the exams I was able to quickly understand what the question was hinting at, and what it was asking from me. You may know all the textbooks inside out but if you don't really understand what the question wants from you, you will not succeed in getting top marks.

I'm not trying to be arrogant or show off but following that approach for each module got me 100% UMS in each of those modules. With biology A level it is all about being able to answer the questions and pick up the maximum marks for each question, that won't come without doing past papers and looking over mark schemes. Don't just look at them, but understand what the questions are probing for, and then in the exam you should quickly be able to identify the points that will earn you marks.

Hope that helps.

Original post by Fatima0065

Hello, this probably hasn't got anything to do with this thread, but I'm in A2 and have started revising for the June exam. I don't know how to do to the punnet crosses and dihybrid crosses. I don't know what information to use from the questions so can anyone help me please??? :biggrin:

Your help is much appreciated :smile:

Thankyou

start a new thread with that as a topic and I'll see what I can do. Maybe post a past paper question on it that you don't understand and I'll go through it, explaining what to do at each step and how to get to the answer.

Reply 13

BobTheBuilder94

2

Original post by UsmanM17

Same, I revise nearly 8-9 hours a day within The holidays to try and improve but i don't seem to be getting the result, im like at the top of my college class and still getting C's and B's, I just do.t seem to get the hang of the structure of these Exam Q's :frown:

How do you revise for so long, I need motivation like yours. Also how long are your breaks?

Reply 14

BobTheBuilder94

2

Original post by Louise2394

hey!! biology is really hard, but i'd say practice answering exam questions really helps!! especially with the longer 5/6 mark questions, go through past questions and answer in bullet point style, using the mark scheme to help. Then learn the answer so if it comes up again, you can get full marks no problem!!

I did this for pretty much any question i could think of that might come up. There were still some that I hadn't prepared for, but I knew the content really well so managed to answer those too. I was really struggling with past papers before I did this, and I managed to get 88/100 in the january module!! It really works :smile:

what textbook do you use for bio?

Reply 15

BobTheBuilder94

2

Biol4 is so hard any tips?

Reply 16

NutterFrutter

Original post by BobTheBuilder94

Biol4 is so hard any tips?

BIOL4 is easier than BIOL5 (for AQA), even though BIOL5 is more interesting. :lol:

Just hope for difficult exams so you get lower grade boundaries otherwise good students can easily find themselves getting lower grades than they deserve...

Also, use the textbook for most of your revision and the CGP revision guide to explain things which you don't understand fully.

Reply 17

Dhaden

13

Original post by NutterFrutter

BIOL4 is easier than BIOL5 (for AQA), even though BIOL5 is more interesting. :lol:

Just hope for difficult exams so you get lower grade boundaries otherwise good students can easily find themselves getting lower grades than they deserve...

Also, use the textbook for most of your revision and the CGP revision guide to explain things which you don't understand fully.

^ Agreed, the grade boundaries can have a huge effect. My Edexcel January exams you needed 28/80 raw marks to get an E with the june exam you need 43/80...