Does Biology get better in year 12? (1 Viewer)

[piethepker]

Just curious, as I have heard a few people say it gets better and about equally as much who say it doesn't. Its crap atm so curious

Thanks

 

[dirty_ink]

It depends if you'd like learning a lot about DNA and genetics in general.

IMO, Biology does get a lot better in year 12; I found year 11 topics to be boring and mostly redundant in the lead up to the HSC. However, in saying that, year 12 Biology does become a lot more demanding in that you must invest enough time to understand the many different concepts, etc.

 

[BLIT2014]

If you are more interested in human biology, then yes it does.

 

[BLIT2014]

I found it got worse...

 

[dirty_ink]

wut

but biology is mainly rote learning

wat

 

[dirty_ink]

You'll obviously do better if you actually understand the concepts though, rather than relying on rote learning.

 

[dirty_ink]

I agree in the context of subjects like maths, economics (and to some extent chemistry and physics) in that they require understanding - but not so much biology. There is barely any critical thinking involved at all, it's honestly based on how well you can memorise the information repeatedly until it's inscribed into your head.

With HSC Biology questions becoming increasingly 'outside the box' in that they demand students to be able to apply scientific concepts and their understanding of these concepts to situations that aren't exactly envisioned by the syllabus (i.e. not your typical straight biology questions that can be easily answered), or those that may even seem irrelevant (in which case the student has to apply their understanding of concepts to put forward a legitimate argument), I would say there is at least some critical thinking required in order to provide sound answers. As for your insistence that Biology equates to rote learning, I still don't really agree, although I can see why individuals may think that way.

 

[BlueGas]

Biology in Year 12 requires the student to slightly rely on "understanding" rather than memorizing especially in the module "Blueprint of Life". One you start learning Punnett Squares, you can't really rely on memorizing because you have to understand the way they work, everything else in my opinion is just rote learning. Also I feel like that one module in Year 12 is equal to a half-yearly exam in Year 11, you'll realise the difference in Year 12.

 

[dirty_ink]

Again, a bit of critical thinking pales in comparison to the amount of content that needs to be rote learned. The majority of students would testify to this because you simply can't deduce any logical thread and say "okay, X idea implies this so therefore it links to Y example. It's not like English where you can BS analysis if you hadn't revised the intricacies of a text; in Biology you can't make up what you are writing, otherwise you'd be punished. As I said before, you either know it or don't - meaning that you don't need intellect to excel in the subject. I tried "understanding" Biology in year 11 and literally failed the course in that period. When I asked the experts on how they studied, it wasn't just the applying of knowledge in response to the verbs, but also the sheer routine of repeating your syllabus notes over and over. So I took upon the advice and memorised the content needed for the first assessment of year 12, and I'm currently coming 2nd out of 20 people in the bio cohort.

Wat.

Congrats on your good rank, mate.

Regardless, I don't think rote learning would benefit everyone. There would obviously be students who would fair well (and arguably better than others) if they went beyond that tactic.

However, I will acknowledge the fact that HSC Q's for science are longer just regurgitating what you know, especially for chemistry in which they can combine 2 or more dot points, expecting that you'd produce a coherent answer. But even then, biology exam questions tend to me more straightforward than chemistry and physics (marking guidelines are annoying as hell though).

I never did chemistry or physics in my senior years, so I can't argue this. Will trust your word on this.

 

[BlueGas]

Also Biology kind of does put you at an advantage when doing English, because if you're able to remember many pages in Biology, I'm sure you can remember a few pages of your English essay without a problem.

 

[teridax]

ROTE LEARNING IS THE SHIT!!!!!

I love rote learning stuff, that's why i hate physics and english at the moment...(apart from the creative writing short story on discovery which i have rote learned like 15 stories)

Nah, English definitely has rote learning, whether that'd be remembering quotes + techniques or a generic essay. And LOL, I call bullshit on memorising 15 stories - if that's the case, then you're doing the creative writing wrong).

And just remember that whilst rote learning works in high school, you will get destroyed in uni if you continue the practice.

Also Biology kind of does put you at an advantage when doing English, because if you're able to remember many pages in Biology, I'm sure you can remember a few pages of your English essay without a problem.

I'd much rather rote learn an English essay tbh.

 

[teridax]

Yeh...I was just exaggerating...i only know about six or seven short stories, not 15.

again, i call bullshit - that's still too many

you can easily prepare just one in advance

 

[teridax]

Nah, I promise you not bullshit. You need to learn around 6 in case the stimulus gives u an 'RKO out of nowhere' like in my discovery test last term..where i only had learnt two and I found it hard to use the stimulus with my stories (the stimulus was the first paragraph of our story)...hence only getting 12/15

No, you don't. If that's the case, then you clearly don't know how to go about creatives. Just prepare a creative that is adaptable to the stimulus; just include multiple aspects of discovery (whether that'd be explicitly or implicitly depending on the question).

Even the b6'ers or state rankers memorised only 1 creative piece.

 

[BlueGas]

Nah, English definitely has rote learning, whether that'd be remembering quotes + techniques or a generic essay. And LOL, I call bullshit on memorising 15 stories - if that's the case, then you're doing the creative writing wrong).

And just remember that whilst rote learning works in high school, you will get destroyed in uni if you continue the practice.



I'd much rather rote learn an English essay tbh.

That's my point, if you can rote learn many pages in Biology, then you can rote learn a few pages of an English essay without a problem.

 

[Fiction]

No, you don't. If that's the case, then you clearly don't know how to go about creatives. Just prepare a creative that is adaptable to the stimulus; just include multiple aspects of discovery (whether that'd be explicitly or implicitly depending on the question).

Even the b6'ers or state rankers memorised only 1 creative piece.

Dude, chill. He/she might mean 6-7 variations of the same story rather than a whole new story - since it was never stated that the 6-7 stories were completely independent to one another.

To OP, have a look at the HSC syllabus and compare it to Prelim. From what's been taught in my school so far, HSC bio is more human health- based so like DNA, how various organs work etc, whileas Prelim had a more general approach - so ecosystems etc. You'll have to define 'better' - what exactly didn't you like about Prelim?

 

[teridax]

Exactly......each story is pretty much the same just focusing on a different aspect of discovery in each of them.

but that's the problem, why waste time on memorising 6000 to 7000 words of specific creatives when you can just prepare a 1000 word one that's mouldable. more scripts on a particular section =/= full preparation

you missed the point of what creatives are used for

 

[Flop21]

Yes for me it did. But I don't even get why you are asking this question. It's not that hard to see what you don't like... because you are you and only you knows what you like. You already said that you hate it, so why did you pick it and are still doing it?

I think if you're hating it now, you still won't like it in year 12. You may be able to tolerate it, because IMO there are better topics. But that's just my opinion because I don't care at all for the ecosystem or Australian fauna.

Go check out the resources section of this site, there are notes for every topic - skim through and see if you like.

 

[snowflakeptical]

yr 11 bio was disgusting, yr12 is actually understandable
human biology actually relates to us so its more bearable

 

[piethepker]

Thanks for the various advice.

I just thought it would be different I guess. Gave a HSC topic a quick read, seemed more interesting then bloody microscopes. So i'll tough it out haha

 

[dirty_ink]

Thanks for the various advice.

I just thought it would be different I guess. Gave a HSC topic a quick read, seemed more interesting then bloody microscopes. So i'll tough it out haha

Well best of luck! Yeah, heaps more exciting than microscopes haha, and barely any dissections.