Challenges on studying biosciences and how to overcome them
As everyone has started enrolling in their courses soon, I put together a short list of specific challenges in our course and what has helped me.
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.
Last but not least, this field is very 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:
•
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
•
Prepare ahead of labs. It's usually a difficult and hectic time so it saves you a lot of panicking if you draw some graphs and so some maths before the lab instead of during.
•
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.
•
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.
Do you have any good tips I haven't touched on? I’d love to know. Best, Maddie (Kingston Rep)
Reply 1
As everyone has started enrolling in their courses soon, I put together a short list of specific challenges in our course and what has helped me.
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.
Last but not least, this field is very 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:
•
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
•
Prepare ahead of labs. It's usually a difficult and hectic time so it saves you a lot of panicking if you draw some graphs and so some maths before the lab instead of during.
•
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.
•
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.
Do you have any good tips I haven't touched on? I’d love to know. Best, Maddie (Kingston Rep)
Amazing tips, thank you so much for sharing!
Reply 2
As everyone has started enrolling in their courses soon, I put together a short list of specific challenges in our course and what has helped me.
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.
Last but not least, this field is very 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:
•
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
•
Prepare ahead of labs. It's usually a difficult and hectic time so it saves you a lot of panicking if you draw some graphs and so some maths before the lab instead of during.
•
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.
•
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.
Do you have any good tips I haven't touched on? I’d love to know. Best, Maddie (Kingston Rep)
Complicated and similarly spelt words will get you! In first year I misspelt an answer in a quiz which allowed for spelling mistakes - but I misspelt it in a way that it spelt a different, incorrect, answer so no points for me!
My advice is that any questions that come up in non-assessed workshops/practicals are often similar to those that appear in assessed coursework and exams so make sure you're using the sessions to fully understand how and why you get to your final answer.
Rebecca (Lancaster Student Ambassador)
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