Challenges on studying biosciences and how to overcome them

Challenges on studying biosciences and how to overcome them One: So many things to memorise! I study biological sciences and specifically study Genetics and molecular biology Two: Lots of similar looking big words, some names are not very intuitive and can even be quite misleading. And the naming system of biology reflects the messy history of scientific discovery, for example photosystem one was discovered before the subsequent photosystem and scientists had to scramble and name the actual photosystem one photosystem zero. Three: A lot of confusing abbreviations, and some sound very similar. LVery restrictive in getting hands-on experience due to the necessary safety checks. If an art student wants to work with clay, they can get started with that easily, but to experiment with biological concepts has a much higher barrier of entry. Less so in Biology. And here are some helpful tidbits that worked for me:

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Study ahead in the summer. No, you don’t need to study the whole summer but just flipping through the textbook before uni starts really helps. Look at the key bold words and their definitions so in lectures you can follow along better.

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Flash cards! I stated doing them this year because a lot of words in genetics look similar but mean different things so it’s good to have them in your hand while you compare and memorise their differences. Little tip: you can cut off a corner on a consistent side of the flashcard, so you don’t need to reorient them often, just line up the cut corners.

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Get study buddies! I found quizzing each other really helps you to recognise which area you need to spend more time on. And you can point out each other’s misunderstandings instead of reenforcing them.