* Ag. Science *

rainbowtrout wrote: »

ya what spurious said above.

You can do it two ways: large plan showing the farm buildings and land, or two drawings: first drawing showing all the land and a smaller version showing the farm buildings on it and then a second drawing showing the detail of the farm buildings/farm yard layout. I ask my students to attach a sheet or two to the back of their plan listing off the buildings and anything else of importance on the plan and explain what they are.

E.g. Slatted shed: Winter housing for cattle, cattle are grouped by size and kept in pens, they have access to silage/ hay at the feed barrier and fresh water. The slats in the floor allow dung and urine to be collected in a tank underneath the shed etc, etc. While the farmers in my classes would be able to explain all of this off the top of their heads, the non-farmers may not to be and it helps them to focus on what they should be asking when they visit their adopted farm

Thank for your help. Whenever you get the the time could you share an insight to my qs about the rapid revision.
Thanks

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I have to put a disclaimer here: I'm one of the authors of the Revise Wise, so my comments might be seen as biased, and boards also has rules about shilling.


As a teacher, no it's probably not sufficient, back then when it was printed ,yes, now, no. It was printed in 2007 and hasn't been updated since. The exam has moved on since then and stuff has come up that is not in the RR book.

What you are doing is no harm, but you will need to supplement it.

Wow Congrats. Its a really good book. I really like how its layout mirrors the breaking ground book. So would you say if I continue with the rapid revision But also take on missed bits from the revise wise and exam papers it should be okay.

Any tips to make it better. Or would this be considered completed ?

Take Your Pants Off wrote: »

Could I get an answer to this exM qs.
Taken from 2010 Q8
in the context of fat lamb production, dicuss the statement ''the ewe.looks after quantity while the ram looks after quality.
cant find it in revise wise or rapid reviion

It'll be in the marking scheme on examinations.ie. It's also a question designed to make you think about what is being asked, not give back a rote learned answer.

If they're on the syllabus the only way you can get away with not knowing any is luck

Thinking of picking up Ag Science this year, did Biology and got a B3 HL, anyways..

The examiner comes in and interviews some people about their projects, right? What if I was an 'external' student? I'll only be repeating 3 subjects at most whilst working full-time.. I will not be going to school, so would I be exempt from the interview?

BlueWolf16 wrote: »

Thinking of picking up Ag Science this year, did Biology and got a B3 HL, anyways..

The examiner comes in and interviews some people about their projects, right? What if I was an 'external' student? I'll only be repeating 3 subjects at most whilst working full-time.. I will not be going to school, so would I be exempt from the interview?

If you're an external you're pretty much guaranteed to be interviewed

Take Your Pants Off wrote: »

Which one of these would answer this question with full marks.

Explain the role of lime in cation exchange capacity.

1. you shouldn't be putting scans of textbooks on the forum.

2. The question is from the 2014 paper, you can find the answer in the marking scheme

3. Answering questions isn't about learning off a paragraph from any book. It's about interpreting the question and what is required of you to answer it.

i.e. what is cation exchange: it's the swapping of one positive cation for another on the surface of a soil colloid. cations being exchanged are typically Ca2+ for H+ or Al3+. Lime contains alkaline cations, Ca2+ and Mg2+. Therefore liming the land contributes calcium ions to the soil solution which promotes the exchange of Ca ions for H ions on the surface of the negative soil colloids.

Take Your Pants Off wrote: »

Thank you Rainbowtrout.

This question I was doing last night, from the 2008 paper on soil.
It asked about explaining the following terms as used in the context of plant growth in soil:
Field capacity, permanent wilting point, available water.

My answer:
Field capacity: only the capillary pores are filled and the large pores contain air
Permanent wilting point: only hygroscopic water is present.
available water: the water extracted by crops between field capacity and permanent wilting pont.

Marking scheme.
1. amount of water in soil after water has drained away by gravity
2. all capillary water used/plant unable to extract more/plant dies
3. difference between 1 and 2/ water plant can get

now is it that I am not interpreting the answers correctly, that they are the same, but said in a different context or is my answer completely wrong.

One more thing I wanted to ask, my friend sat the ag science paper this year and he said he didnt study any of the soil chapters because the qs on it are too vague and theres lot of experiments from it. He got an A2.

Is that true, that you can skip the soil chapters all together even tough its a guaranteed question with genetics, what other can you skip ?

Your answers are fine. It's not feasible to put every possible way of wording an answer in a marking scheme. There are several ways often of saying one thing which are correct. That goes for many subjects.

It would probably be good for you to take note of the phrases are used in the marking scheme and try and incorporate them into your answers.


I don't advise my students to skip anything. Q2 is always soil. But usually one of the experiements in Q4 is on soil. There may be a short question in Q1 and a scientific explanation in Q9. in 2014 there were two full soil questions.

The questions on soil aren't at all vague. The problem is usually that students misinterpret them, don't answer what is being asked, or find the topic boring so don't learn it properly.

E.g. some years there is a question on soil texture, other years there may be a question on soil type. Students get these confused all the time.

Texture is what the soil consists of (sand, silt and clay). I think this years Q was on soil texture, and hence, sandy loam, clay loam etc.

Soil type refers to the different categories of soil: podzol, brown earth, basin peat.

Your friend may have got an A2, but he probably knew everything else on the course inside out. I see plenty of students take the same gamble without knowing the other stuff properly. E.g. they skip soil but are not good at genetic crosses.

It's a wide ranging course and questions often contain subsections on different topics, so leaving out a topic can sometimes cause problems.

It's a decision you'll have to make for yourself closer to the time.

Take Your Pants Off wrote: »

Regarding the plant and animal id chapter.
Am I right in saying for the actual EXAM, the only thing you need to learn from that chapter is the families, names of plants and animals, phylums.
And be able to identify the features of the animals and bacteria.

Whereas in the exam, exact same but you have to identify them through pics.

No, you should be able to give the characteristics of the plants and animals which are the identifying features of those families. Life cycles have also come up in the past (e.g. liver fluke).

Alright thanks. Does that mean I can't do my project at home and get a teacher to sign it off when I'm done?

Thanks for clarifying. Hope you don't mind answering one last question is the course for ag science large?