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D to A in biology in 20 days?

How many hours am I going to have to put in? Is it possible?

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Original post by ronnydandam
How many hours am I going to have to put in? Is it possible?


AS ? A2? GCSE? Exam board?


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Reply 2
Original post by sacred ground
as ? A2? Gcse? Exam board?


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as ocr a
Highly unlikely, unless you have an insane memory
Original post by ronnydandam
as ocr a


Do you know any of the course? When did you get the D? Recent mock result? There's a lot of factors which could make it doable to achieve an A. If you know the content but just need to consolidate the exam technique through past papers, I think an A is doable. If you don't know much and you're struggling with content as well as exam technique, I'm afraid an A is unlikely. Right now you should focus on past papers to try and understand what each question is asking for and memorise (as much as that's not the best thing to do) because you've left it too late to revise the whole course. Focus of revising your weak points and consolidating your strong points with exam questions... Then do exam questions for your weak points. Good luck!
Reply 5
Original post by TheFarmerLad
Highly unlikely, unless you have an insane memory


fair enough
Original post by ronnydandam
fair enough


Not trying to put you down but be realistic; don't fall for the common work ethic that 'with hard work anything is possible' :facepalm:
Reply 7
Original post by Sacred Ground
Do you know any of the course? When did you get the D? Recent mock result? There's a lot of factors which could make it doable to achieve an A. If you know the content but just need to consolidate the exam technique through past papers, I think an A is doable. If you don't know much and you're struggling with content as well as exam technique, I'm afraid an A is unlikely. Right now you should focus on past papers to try and understand what each question is asking for and memorise (as much as that's not the best thing to do) because you've left it too late to revise the whole course. Focus of revising your weak points and consolidating your strong points with exam questions... Then do exam questions for your weak points. Good luck!


I know about 60% of the course. For that 60% I have done past papers on that 60% and got low As due to not including certain keywords but I have made notes on those and will learn them. But the other 40% I have no idea about so I'm probably a U at? What do you think my chances are? Say I have 4 full days to dedicate to biology before my first exam for it and then probably 2 more full days to dedicate to it before my 2nd biology exam. And thank you!
Reply 8
Original post by TheFarmerLad
Not trying to put you down but be realistic; don't fall for the common work ethic that 'with hard work anything is possible' :facepalm:


Yeah that's true fair enough, what do you think about aiming for a B? Because that way they probably will still predict me an A* as they have mentioned that if someone gets a C they should predict them a B but end up predicting As most of the time
Original post by ronnydandam
I know about 60% of the course. For that 60% I have done past papers on that 60% and got low As due to not including certain keywords but I have made notes on those and will learn them. But the other 40% I have no idea about so I'm probably a U at? What do you think my chances are? Say I have 4 full days to dedicate to biology before my first exam for it and then probably 2 more full days to dedicate to it before my 2nd biology exam. And thank you!


You seem to have good knowledge regarding some of the course; a solid 4-6 days of intense revision, including learning the mark scheme (as in which key words to put in a question) is definitely going to stand you in good stead for obtaining a good result. I personally think if you dedicate yourself to exam practice over the next week or so and nail the key words in each question you could achieve a B maybe an A. It all depends how well you are at remembering the key words such as 'enzyme-substrate complex' is vital in an enzyme question - if you get this aced, I'm sure you'll succeed. Good luck, you've got this! Workkkk
Original post by Sacred Ground
You seem to have good knowledge regarding some of the course; a solid 4-6 days of intense revision, including learning the mark scheme (as in which key words to put in a question) is definitely going to stand you in good stead for obtaining a good result. I personally think if you dedicate yourself to exam practice over the next week or so and nail the key words in each question you could achieve a B maybe an A. It all depends how well you are at remembering the key words such as 'enzyme-substrate complex' is vital in an enzyme question - if you get this aced, I'm sure you'll succeed. Good luck, you've got this! Workkkk


Thanks a lot man! I shall do! Do you think I should learn exam answers straight off the markscheme before using my revision book to save time? Or learn from book first and then do papers and learn keywords(like I have done so far) Thanks a lot man good luck to you too
Original post by ronnydandam
Yeah that's true fair enough, what do you think about aiming for a B? Because that way they probably will still predict me an A* as they have mentioned that if someone gets a C they should predict them a B but end up predicting As most of the time


A B is a realistic prediction. If you get an A, I'll take my hat off. Did you not do any revision for your mocks? Have you started revising at all yet?
Original post by TheFarmerLad
A B is a realistic prediction. If you get an A, I'll take my hat off. Did you not do any revision for your mocks? Have you started revising at all yet?

I intend to make you take your hat off :wink: I did some but they were in Jan
I know about 60% of the course. For that 60% I have done past papers on that 60% and got low As due to not including certain keywords but I have made notes on those and will learn them. But the other 40% I have no idea about so I'm probably a U at? What do you think my chances are? Say I have 4 full days to dedicate to biology before my first exam for it and then probably 2 more full days to dedicate to it before my 2nd biology exam.
Practice a lot of mock papers and good luck!
Original post by Drax101
Practice a lot of mock papers and good luck!


thanks man :smile: I will
Original post by ronnydandam
Thanks a lot man! I shall do! Do you think I should learn exam answers straight off the markscheme before using my revision book to save time? Or learn from book first and then do papers and learn keywords(like I have done so far) Thanks a lot man good luck to you too


With such little time, I'd recommend learning the mark scheme for simple concepts such as enzymes. For the harder topics, I recommend revising the actual content and then doing past paper questions. It's vital you actually understand what you're writing for the harder topics, such as immunity, because these are often incorporated into data interpretation questions and if you don't know how it works, you won't be able to answer the questions. So yeah.... To summarise, easy questions which are often repeated such as enzymes just learn the mark scheme. For harder topics, such as the heart, understand how the mechanisms work as the questions can be asked in various ways. Hope I helped! :smile:
Original post by Sacred Ground
With such little time, I'd recommend learning the mark scheme for simple concepts such as enzymes. For the harder topics, I recommend revising the actual content and then doing past paper questions. It's vital you actually understand what you're writing for the harder topics, such as immunity, because these are often incorporated into data interpretation questions and if you don't know how it works, you won't be able to answer the questions. So yeah.... To summarise, easy questions which are often repeated such as enzymes just learn the mark scheme. For harder topics, such as the heart, understand how the mechanisms work as the questions can be asked in various ways. Hope I helped! :smile:


Thanks man! I shall do that, thankfully I've done immunity and the heart and still do have enzymes and other easier topics like cell membranes and cell structure to do! You helped a lot and I appreciate it!
Your welcome.

You are doing fine, if you know 60% of the course and are getting low A's in the mock then this should carry you forward in the exam with confidence.

I know a guy who did a financial accounting exam paper at uni, all he did was revise the mocks and he got 64% in the real exam, he literally printed out and revised and memorised the question of 8 mocks papers and in the exam he quickly pencilled down how to work this and that calculation, question out so this could jhog his memory.

All the best!
Original post by Drax101
Your welcome.

You are doing fine, if you know 60% of the course and are getting low A's in the mock then this should carry you forward in the exam with confidence.

I know a guy who did a financial accounting exam paper at uni, all he did was revise the mocks and he got 64% in the real exam, he literally printed out and revised and memorised the question of 8 mocks papers and in the exam he quickly pencilled down how to work this and that calculation, question out so this could jhog his memory.

All the best!


Thanks a lot man, I shall focus on papers then, just a matter of not procrastinating haha
Reply 19
I'm doing my A2's and I'm retaking this exam and I haven't started revising for it lol, F211 is tiny, I can cover that quickly, F212 is the one that'll be a bit tricky. However it's after half term sooo got time

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