A Level Biology

hi, right now im really struggling with revising for a level biology. i know past papers and practice questions are very helpful in regards to learning exam techniques but personally for me they do not help me to memorise the content. theres so much content and i feel very overwhelmed and am unsure how to learn/ memorise it.
anyone got any tips? would be much appreciated :-)

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Original post by itss0ph

hi, right now im really struggling with revising for a level biology. i know past papers and practice questions are very helpful in regards to learning exam techniques but personally for me they do not help me to memorise the content. theres so much content and i feel very overwhelmed and am unsure how to learn/ memorise it.
anyone got any tips? would be much appreciated :-)

Hi 👋 I took AQA A-level biology exams this summer and have a few tips that might help:

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Too much content = simplify notes into e.g., spider diagrams/flashcards. When you memorise the basic key concepts, then you can start to remember specifics. Also look at your exam specification overview to make sure you're only learning content within that.

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Memory techniques = you could do blurting or use the Feyman method

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If you struggle to memorise because you don't fully understand the concepts, YouTube summary videos are really useful (I watched Miss Estruch's channel) to take notes from

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Past papers/questions = I would recommend leaving these until you have fully understood a topic or 1/2 weeks before you have a test/mocks.

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Rewriting notes is mostly known for its ineffectiveness but it actually helped me - my college gave me topic booklets but I learned better by rewriting the information into my own words, removing unnecessary content and adding more info when I didn't understand something. This saved time when revising.

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(Another note: If your exams include an essay, learning how certain topics are applied in a real-life context may help you memorise how they work).

Hope this is useful!

Original post by itss0ph

hi, right now im really struggling with revising for a level biology. i know past papers and practice questions are very helpful in regards to learning exam techniques but personally for me they do not help me to memorise the content. theres so much content and i feel very overwhelmed and am unsure how to learn/ memorise it.
anyone got any tips? would be much appreciated :-)

Hi @itss0ph,

As Biology tends to be one of those 'memorisation' subjects, I found that flashcards worked for me best. I would look at past papers, and search for those big 5-9 mark questions and have those written down. The question on one side, and the mark scheme on the other side. This was really helpful as it structured the answer in a sensible manner, and already has the key points and keywords that would get you the mark.

Using flashcards for definitions helped me drill it into my brain more too! If you find certain biological processes or sequences difficult to remember, you can try create a mnemonic that would help you. Often times I would try to paraphrase it without straying too far from the answer to help me remember it in my own way and strengthen my understanding.

Hope this helps,
Danish
BCU Student Rep

A Level Biology

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