I'm crashing out 😭

How on earth do I study Alevel biology?? Please, I need advice 😔 (I need a grade B)

How on earth do I study Alevel biology?? Please, I need advice 😔 (I need a grade B)

hihi!! (:
I didn’t do A-level biology myself, but I did do Higher Biology (Scottish equivalent of Year 12 I think!😅). One of the biggest helps for me was making flashcards for key definitions and going over them a few times a week - especially if you make them as you go through the course rather than saving them all for the end (trust me, it saves so much stress later on)!
Getting into a routine also makes a massive difference! - planning out a few times a week for past paper questions to properly test what you know alongside your flashcards & just in general any further learning of topics! For any longer past questions (especially the ones where lots of different wordings get accepted), I’d definitely recommend asking your teacher to check over your answers so you know you’re on the right track early on and what your writing would definity secure marks as i know sometimes the mark schemes are very picky!
I also found for a lot of the long biological processes repeatadly blurting these out onto a whiteboard was a great way to ensure all the info was sticking and id be able to replicate this in an exam situation! - id at first write the process out, missing some of the key terms which id then fill in and gradully id write less and less on the whiteboard to begin with until i was able to fully write & understand the process without looking at notes (: - also explaining and talking over these processes with friends & teachers is great for understanding - if your able to explain it to someone else you know you understand the content! (:
If your school offers any extra study support id reccomend attending and don’t be afraid to email your teacher with questions, even if it feels small – they’re there to help!
Also, this may sound a bit counter-producitve with all the studying but please do try to give yourself at least one proper rest day a week to avoid burnout! - in the long run this helps you to stay motivated and just gives you brain the rest it needs 💜
hope this helps & wishing u the best of luck with ur studies!! <33
Emily
Year 3, Chemistry
Official University Of Strathclyde Rep

Would recommend Biology with Olivia and Biology with Carol videos for learning! And anywhere you can find topic-based questions.

How on earth do I study Alevel biology?? Please, I need advice 😔 (I need a grade B)

Obviously everyone works in different ways but here is what I do (working at an A*):
First, the main priority should be understanding. This is obviously key for all questions but will help in the applied knowledge questions as well. Whenever I revise (as well as consolidating at the end of every week/half term) is I check through each section and make sure I understand it and if I don’t then I will read/listen/watch about this subject from lots of different sources. All the different sites explain things differently so I find it most helpful to review content from a range of revision books, videos etc. to make sure I find an explanation that helps me.
The second step is being able to remember all the content and for me I find flashcards the most helpful. Often I don’t want to waste my time making these so I use the ones available on Physics and Maths tutor which are great as they are specifically made around the specification so you know it’s everything you need to know.
For processes such as protein synthesis, meiosis etc. I make flowcharts and once a day leading up the exam I fill in each box again to check that I know the steps.
For subtopics with a lot of information I also find blurting quite helpful as well.
I usually don’t think this is very helpful until after I have gone over all the content but once I have the most important thing is PRACTICE QUESTIONS. Again, a good place to find these is Savemyexams or physicsandmathstutor. I usually start by doing questions based on topic to identify problem areas and then do as many practice exams as possible in the time. Obviously I always mark these practice exams and I like to make a spreadsheet with the marks and both the areas of content and type of questions where I lost the most marks. For questions which require a particular technique such as analysing data and applying knowledge I also like to practice these more than other questions as if you can nail the technique it’s usually a good way to pick up marks.
A bit of advice for those: no piece of information is ever too obvious, if a graph shows more reptiles than mammals in a certain area, just stating that will likely get you a mark.
For types of questions which are usually similar, such as describing a process I.e evolution, it can be helpful to study the mark schemes to see what the key words to get marks are. This is very helpful for me as often I know the answers but miss out on marks due to my wording.
Although this is likely better for GCSE, I still use this at ALevel: for any questions which require you to devise or explain an experiment I use the acronym CORMSS. This stands for Change (independent variable), Organism, Repeat (do 3+ times and take an average), Measure (what and how you will measure I.e length using a ruler), Same (control variable), Same and this is generally what you need to include to get at least 75% of the marks - more details will be needed in different areas depending on the phrasing of the question but this helps me get marks.
For graph questions I use - SLAPU: Scale (at least half of graph paper), Line, Axis (labelled), Points, Units to make sure I get all the marks.
Sorry for the lengthy answer but wanted to give all details. Please let me know if you want any more information, good luck with your studies!