The Bishop’s Stortford High School
AS Biology
Survival Guide
Edited by: Scarlett Stock. Written by: Dan Crocker. Front cover by: Ben Fuller.
Year 12 Subject survival guide
Subject: Biology
Advice on:
1) General/classwork tips
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Copy down all notes accurately (things like spellings and making sure your information
and understanding is correct is crucial).
Highlight key words and phrases that the examiner is looking for, then make a list and
learn them.
Ask for a book to keep everything together and in the right order.
Don’t waste time- make the most of all of the time you have to enhance your
understanding of the topic.
Talk when appropriate but make sure you are still working efficiently- use your
classmates to aid your learning by asking each other for help.
Ask for help – it often helps the rest of the class too. There is no such thing as a stupid
question.
Do extra work outside of lessons – read through the textbook before going through it in
class. This way you will be ahead and in class the re-capping of what you read will make
the information sink in more.
2) Homework tips
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Complete it all on time – if not you will be sent out to do it during class time, then have
to catch up in your own time.
Complete it to the best of your ability because it will help you when revising and
eventually in the exam.
Ask for the deadline to be extended if you aren’t able to make it, but let the teacher
know in advance.
Ask for help in your own time if you find it difficult- never leave something if you don’t
understand it or it will all just build up.
Use the Biology Department Website to get extra work (e.g. during your study periods).
Use the textbook and answer the questions on each page – especially the application
questions.
3) Exam tips – ways to get the best grades
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Start revision early – revise each topic when you finish them in class so that you know
you understand everything. And if you don’t then ask!
Complete past papers regularly to work on exam technique. Make sure that by the time
the exam comes you’ve done all of the past papers. This way you will be prepared for
the questions that come up in the actual exam.
Edited by: Scarlett Stock. Written by: Dan Crocker. Front cover by: Ben Fuller.
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Try to condense your notes into only important facts. This will help you to remember
them better rather than writing out long passages.
Watch the clock in the exam – don’t waste time on questions you struggle with when
you could use time at the end of the exam. Go back to them instead.
Don’t try to talk about anything you can think of or remember – you can talk yourself
out of marks
Learn definitions as early as you can – they are easy marks in the exam and remember
that 3 marks can be a whole grade dropped so try to pick up as many as possible.
Edited by: Scarlett Stock. Written by: Dan Crocker. Front cover by: Ben Fuller.