How to get a H1 in Biology?

Quokka99

Hoping to get in the high 400s in the LC. Would like to get a H1 or H2 in Biology. I got a H3 in it in my Christmas exams, which admittedly I didn't study for.

Bazinga_N

Focus on the key sections: Ecology and Genetics are huge. A full question on each of these comes up almost every year. Getting both of these topics done perfectly is a nice chunk of your paper sorted.

For Section A the only thing you can do really is practice lots of past papers. You'll soon find yourself learning things that come up frequently. Use Studyclix or something else to try and group the questions by topic and you can factor this in when you're studying a certain topic.

Write yourself summaries of each of the experiments. They should just have the main steps, a diagram, results and key info for that specific experiment (e.g. why you used washing-up liquid or why did you stain the cell?). Learn these well and practice lots of past papers to get the hang of the marking scheme.

For the other questions, like before, practice is essential. I always found biology was never 'hard' per se, but the marking could be awfully tricky sometimes and knowing how to answer the question could be the difference between a H1 and a H2.

martina__f

I think the advice to do past papers is always useful - as given above by Basing_N. I would also suggest that you look over the marking schemes. They can be nebulous at time, but sometimes they just tell you exactly what you need to know. I wouldn't focus so much on making notes as answering qs

_Whimsical_

Past questions and marking schemes are a fantastic study aid and great for honing exam technique. It's a while since I did biology at leaving cert level but it was one subject where marking schemes revolutionised my study. I got to check my paper after even though I'd got an A1 and I got 100%! Even in college those years in school studying with a making scheme really helped me hone my study in everything else I did. I was much better able to study all sorts of things and see immediately exactly what the important points within were. Sometimes you can be writing a huge intricate tract on something where a shorter paragraph with inclusion of 6 or 7 relevant facts would do. If you make an effort you can really learn that skill and it helps in everything you'll do after.