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A-level Biology

I am doing AQA alevel biology and honeslty its kind of rough and my grades keep fluctuating and I have tried every revision technique like making note, flashcards and it just doesnt seem to help, does anyone have any advice for studying and doing well in Alevel biology.

Reply 1

HighlightOfUrDay

Hi, I'm a Y12 student as well. I honestly struggled a lot with Bio at the beginning especially with how specific the mark schemes were.
What worked for me (and it might not work for you but it's good to try something different before your actual A-levels) is that I would go on PMT or SaveMyExams and just have a go at some exam questions. If I didn't understand the topic i.e. the knowledge wasn't there I would go to youtube and watch a video on that topic (preferably something short because my attention span is also very short).

Then I would reattempt the questions (not the same ones but questions for the same topic) and then if I still didn't understand them or I was getting something like half marks I would either go back to youtube to watch videos on tutors and teachers completing the same types of questions, OR I would just go to the mark scheme. Going to the mark scheme helped in the grand scheme of things because the questions would genuinely usually want the same points (plus the answers are VERY specific on the MS so knowing exactly what you need to write straight from the source really helps).

The constant past paper practice also helped me in the real exam with the stress. I'm a very stressy person and I find I can easily do the same questions in class, but when it comes to assessments or exams being mentioned, everything I've learned goes out the window. So timing myself and being in a quiet room really helped. I know it sounds crazy, but if you wear your school uniform while you're revising helps you remember stuff in the actual exam because of psychology. I've never personally done it but if it works for you then rock on.

To be very honest, I experimented quite a bit with revision techniques and while flashcards would work for little topic tests, they never really helped me with the specificity of the exam answers and the application the biology exams are obsessed with. Biology exams require A LOT of application, so at the beginning I used to do little things like thinking about a certain disease or topic like growth of hair (for example) and try to explain how it happened using my bio knowledge i.e. mitosis. Something stupid like that, since it helps you remember it.

I went from a predicted D to a predicted B/A this last half term. Again, it worked for me, might not work for you, but if it helps it's here.

Sorry for the essay. Hope this helps!!