GYG in A-level OCR Biology

Hi, I thought it was about time I start a GYG specifically for Biology as it is the subject I am struggling with the absolute most. Better late than never? There is just SOO much content and can feel very overwhelming sometimes. This thread will let me organize my thoughts/revision, and might also help anyone else doing A-level Biology. (More time I will be asking for help). BTW, I’m in year 13.

💞I will be (hopefully) doing Psychology and Counseling at University. I applied for:
(Firm) University of Bradford
Trinity Leeds University
Leeds Beckett University
Manchester Metropolitan University
University of Huddersfield
I have received conditional offers from all of these, without having to go to interviews which i was so glad about
It’s obvious that I want to stay local, since I will be staying at home. I live in Bradford, that’s why it is the one I will most likely go to.

💔 Topics I am struggling with the most:
-Biological Molecules (2.2)
It’s not that hard, but I feel like it over laps a lot and I get really confused.
-Transport in Plants (3.3)
-Respiration (5.7)
Oxidative Phosphorylation and the chemiosmotic theory
-Photosynthesis (5.6)
The light-dependant stage!!!!
(I am struggling in most of the topics to some degree, though)

❤️What I’m a little more confident in:
-Cell Structure (2.1)
-Nucleic acids (2.3, my favorite topic)
-Enzymes (2.4)
-Ecosystems (6.5)

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 1

Mo.Hamid

17

Massive good luck. Biology is honestly, incredibly difficult. You can do it, keep positive and stay focused!

Reply 2

username3890778

21

Good Luck, habibti :h:

i'm sure you'll smash it and be an amazing counsellor :heart:

Reply 3

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by Mohammed.Al-H

Massive good luck. Biology is honestly, incredibly difficult. You can do it, keep positive and stay focused!

Thank you! It’s the exam questions that I find really difficult tbh. You could revise the whole text book fully and still struggle with the way they ask the questions

Original post by Rainfall

Good Luck, habibti :h:

i'm sure you'll smash it and be an amazing counsellor :heart:

Thank you kweeeeen ❤️ inshahallah

Reply 4

Megxn0

21

Good luck xxx can you tag me please?
I’m not even at A-level yet, but find threads like this really motivational lol

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 5

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by Megxn0

Good luck xxx can you tag me please?
I’m not even at A-level yet, but find threads like this really motivational lol

Thanks hun, and of course I’ll tag you x

Reply 6

New Foil

18

Good luck g. Is there any reason you want to stay in your city? Do you not think you might regret it? And can you tag me too please

Reply 7

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by Blackpanther93

Good luck g. Is there any reason you want to stay in your city? Do you not think you might regret it? And can you tag me too please

Well, I don’t want to spend my time worrying about making friends or getting to know the area If I move out to another city. I’m comfortable and confident here. Also, my dad and brothers have said they will gladly support me as they also stayed at home. I hope not, I know a lot of people around me that stayed home and they said they had an equally good time as the people that moved to come to UOB. And thank you !! I will tag you, just let me know if or when you want to be intagged 😁

Reply 8

username3895014

OP

21

13/1/19
Finished biology worksheet on cell membranes which is due in for Tuesday. Every week our teacher gives us AS level work sheets, to keep that content fresh. I made a few flash cards, but never knoe what the point of them are, I can’t condense content!!
Tomorrow (Monday) I have two frees I’m the morning which i plan on using to complete a revision timetable, and do some Hamelt annotations for Literature 👸🏽

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 9

username3895014

OP

21

14/1/19

What I’ve done so far today:

Spoiler

What I’m planning to do:

Spoiler

(Change of plan)

Spoiler

@Megxn0 @Blackpanther93

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 10

New Foil

18

Original post by Wooord

14/1/19
(Change of plan)

Spoiler

I don’t think I’ve heard of this technique before, so thanks for that.
But I know what you mean by getting easily distracted, for me, it was that I simply couldn’t feel motivated to do work. Maybe your having the same problem. To help you out, maybe leave your phone and laptop and other distractions in another room where other people are, like your family. So when you need to quickly research a definition (for example) you can go to the room where your phone is and do the search there, this way if you do end up getting distracted the person I’m that room can remind you to go back to your room to do your work.
For an ‘alternative break’ maybe go for a walk and get some fresh air, even if it’s just sitting in your garden for a few mins, get a snack, go to the nearest shop. Something that will get you moving. :biggrin:

Reply 11

username3895014

OP

21

@CoolCavy Hi! Sorry to disturb plus I’m not sure who to ask, but is this in the right forum? I’m sure there is a GYG one but I couldn’t seem to find it?

Original post by Wooord

@CoolCavy Hi! Sorry to disturb plus I’m not sure who to ask, but is this in the right forum? I’m sure there is a GYG one but I couldn’t seem to find it?

No worries :hugs:

yeh there's a grow your grades one, would you like it moved over there? @Lemur14 has perms to do that if you would like that
subbing by the way :hugs:

Reply 13

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by Blackpanther93

I don’t think I’ve heard of this technique before, so thanks for that.
But I know what you mean by getting easily distracted, for me, it was that I simply couldn’t feel motivated to do work. Maybe your having the same problem. To help you out, maybe leave your phone and laptop and other distractions in another room where other people are, like your family. So when you need to quickly research a definition (for example) you can go to the room where your phone is and do the search there, this way if you do end up getting distracted the person I’m that room can remind you to go back to your room to do your work.
For an ‘alternative break’ maybe go for a walk and get some fresh air, even if it’s just sitting in your garden for a few mins, get a snack, go to the nearest shop. Something that will get you moving. :biggrin:

Thank you! Yeah maybe, I agree, I think it is the lack of motivation that causes me to be distracted so easily. I find that I work better with other people aroud, so maybe I should start going to the library? I think that’s the problem tbh but I think I’ve only just relized. During my usual “breaks” I stay at my desk and just go on my phone maybe this is the probelm. Probably just need a change of scenery or smn

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 14

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by CoolCavy

No worries :hugs:

yeh there's a grow your grades one, would you like it moved over there? @Lemur14 has perms to do that if you would like that
subbing by the way :hugs:

Yes please! Thank you for the support :suith:

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 15

username3895014

OP

21

14/1/19
(I’m using the TSR app now, and don’t know how to use ‘spoilers’ on this)
What I got done today:
4 pages of notes on Manipulating Genomes. I left my textbook for AS at sixth form, so was unable to do transcription and translation. I tried the Pomodoro method again for this, using your advice @Blackpanther93 and I think it really helped.
Need to try this way a few more times to see the effects though, after I did these 4 pages of just taking notes from my textbook, I used my notes to write up flashcards.
All together this took me around 45 minutes. I’ll be trying to revise biology for at least one hour everyday. Even if it’s doing exam questions, writing up flash cards, or writing up notes from the text book.
@Megxn0

Manipulating genomes: I would say the difficulty level is like 5/10? It’s not hat hard, but some concepts for me are difficult to go into detail with. eg: Somatic Gene therapy and germ line therapy. Other concepts I recognize from previous years for example, genetic engineering. PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is my favorite but from the whole topic. It’s a simple concept to grasp imo. Basically when a single strand of DNA is amplified.

(I’ve tried uploading a picture but it didn’t work??) 🤷🏽*♀️

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 16

Megxn0

21

Thank you for tagging me!! I get notifications for whenever something is posted on this thread, but I wanted to be tagged in the more thread related ones like this one so thanks. I enjoyed reading it, I liked how you gave the difficulty rating lol. I don’t know if you’re planning on doing that for every one, but I think you should. And the brief notes you made after it will help you recall your revision a little bit :smile:

I haven’t even heard about this method. I’m going to YouTube it lol and see if it can help me, I struggle with not knowing where to start!

Reply 17

username3895014

OP

21

Original post by Megxn0

Thank you for tagging me!! I get notifications for whenever something is posted on this thread, but I wanted to be tagged in the more thread related ones like this one so thanks. I enjoyed reading it, I liked how you gave the difficulty rating lol. I don’t know if you’re planning on doing that for every one, but I think you should. And the brief notes you made after it will help you recall your revision a little bit :smile:

I haven’t even heard about this method. I’m going to YouTube it lol and see if it can help me, I struggle with not knowing where to start!

No problem! And thank you hun, maybe I will do a “difficulty scale” for each topic. And your right, I was thinking about that when I was defining PCR, I wouldn’t have known that before the short revision task I did. You definitely should! I just had the problem of distractions, need to look into more methods tbh.
Think about what you struggle with the most. And start there. I use to start with what i already know which is absolutely useless. Do past papers, and loads of them !!!