Biology Higher level

subway_ie

Originally posted by Demeant0r
****ing hell, That was a **** hard paper. What the hell was with that DNA diagram? For the first exam of the new syllabus you'd expect it to be easy.

I think I just barely passed if even. :mad:

A lot of people from my school were saying it was a really easy paper? Maybe it's just your question choices?

DEmeant0r

Nope, I could do some of them, but the questions were worded really awkwardly.

mayordenis

the DNA question was phrased very weird couldnt really make sense of it.

DEmeant0r

I also studied the wrong experiments, that's my fault, but I most of what other things I revised came up, but the questions were fuking hard and weirdly phrased. If I passed I'd be really happy and lucky.

Cathy

That was a horrible horrible paper. They were all worded really really weirdly, but I think I did okay... Possibly a B, if I'm lucky. And what was the diagram in the second last question in section C about? It was weird.

PrecariousNuts

I thought it was very easy. I managed to answer every short question, experiment and long question. I knew genetics was a definite, same with photosynthesis and excretion so it was a matter of just writing out the answer.

I can't see the problem with the first part of genetics, all you had to do was label the sugar and phosphate group and draw in the complementary base and helix.

Second last question, wasn't that a diagram of the carpel with a pollen tube? I skipped that part and did b and c, much easier

c0rk3r

i found it easy but hard at some parts

what was the answer to 2 part (i) something liek "what do ecologist call it when the same species have different traits such as height" i wrote phenotype but wasnt sure


found the long questions kinda hard compared to the sameple papers and the mocks but managed to answer them well

PrecariousNuts

Only dodgy question was Q15a part b/c I didn't know if they meant drugs as is cocaine or drugs as in levadopa... so I did both

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by c0rk3r
i found it easy but hard at some parts

what was the answer to 2 part (i) something liek "what do ecologist call it when the same species have different traits such as height" i wrote phenotype but wasnt sure


found the long questions kinda hard compared to the sameple papers and the mocks but managed to answer them well

I said characteristics

PrecariousNuts

Originally posted by c0rk3r
i found it easy but hard at some parts

what was the answer to 2 part (i) something liek "what do ecologist call it when the same species have different traits such as height" i wrote phenotype but wasnt sure


found the long questions kinda hard compared to the sameple papers and the mocks but managed to answer them well

I said deviation from normal, sure it was a bell curve that they gave us and I don't remember it from the book. Ecology is a whole pile of waffle anyway, you should have seen my answers for the lemming question

CuTeAnGeL

i thought it was an alright paper, dont see wat all the fuss was about! it wasnt the nicest but it wasnt the worst of them either! everythin i studied came up...n believe me, that wasn't a lot, im so lucky! every1 in my year thought it was deadly, even harder than our mock but i thought it was easier! lol wat did ye all think of it?

DEmeant0r

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts
I said deviation from normal, sure it was a bell curve that they gave us and I don't remember it from the book. Ecology is a whole pile of waffle anyway, you should have seen my answers for the lemming question

I said the reasons they come back every few years was because the foxes all died and because of hunting

Cathy

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts
I thought it was very easy. I managed to answer every short question, experiment and long question. I knew genetics was a definite, same with photosynthesis and excretion so it was a matter of just writing out the answer.

I can't see the problem with the first part of genetics, all you had to do was label the sugar and phosphate group and draw in the complementary base and helix.

Second last question, wasn't that a diagram of the carpel with a pollen tube? I skipped that part and did b and c, much easier

Looking back on it, I suppose I didn't do too badly - but I just felt horrible coming out. The short questions were okay, but the experiments were a bit iffy. I hadn't really prepared them, I suppose. I was really tired and stressed this morning so I just left the details of photosynthesis and respiration out as I've never really liked them. In Section A, I did questions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, in Section B I did questions 7 and 8, (I had to make up half of 7 though, as I hadn't even looked over it), and in section C I did questions 10, 12, 13 and 15. The paper's already up on www.examinations.ie if anyone's bothered to have a look... and I've just realised that I could have done parts b and c of question 14 much better than I did 15... oh well, it's over. I'm just going to forget about it until August.
c0rk3r, I wrote variation, but I'm not sure. Precariousnuts, I'm sure either would have been fine. I would have done levodopa though.
I'm not sure if I wrote enough for question 13 b - for 24 marks, I only had about two or three points each for mRNA and tRNA. I wrote in rRNA but then I crossed it out because I didn't think it had anything to do with it... I'm going to bed. I never have to know Biology again!

PrecariousNuts

Yeah rRNA - binds weakly to the mRNA is all I could come up with. I got a decent amount of points for mRNA and tRNA. I was very disappointed with regards to the lack of cross questions in genetics. The part c was stupid, it was like a reading comprehension.

The experiments were crap. I had problems writing the dissection of the heart onto what? 6 lines?. The stem one was average and same with the fermentation one. I would have prefered immobilised enzymes or leaf yeast, but I think my long questions made up for it.

Anyway, I'll never have to do bio again and its reward enough.

Cathy

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts
had problems writing the dissection of the heart onto what? 6 lines?

Actually yeah, there wasn't enough room for most of my answers in Sections A and B. It was really awkward fitting it in, and I wasn't writing very big...ly. Is that a word? No it's not. But I don't care.

PrecariousNuts

English is well finished by now, bigly can be a word if you want it to be, anything goes.

Cathy

Originally posted by PrecariousNuts
English is well finished by now, bigly can be a word if you want it to be, anything goes.

Excemuhllent!

DEmeant0r

I was bagging on DNA experiment to come up so was my teacher, but once again the state commission screwed me in the ass. Wish I had revised the alcohol production experiment.

PrecariousNuts

You can still get an A (85% bang on) if you skip both of the experiments

5*20 for part A
2*30 for part B
4*60 for part C

340/400 = .85

Cathy

Excemuhllent once more... maybe I did better than I thought. Because they can't mark it that hard, can they?

Seifer

I can't see the problem with the first part of genetics, all you had to do was label the sugar and phosphate group and draw in the complementary base and helix.

Sh!t, damn, hell! I misread that and all I drew in were the complementary bases. I knew the other stuff too but didn't think they wanted that. It was phrased retardly and didn't ressemble a double helix in any way, shape or form.
I didn't have a morning exam this morning and its so much worse that way. you spend the whole morning being nervous and looking the book up for little things you've forgotten.
When I started i didn't like the short questions. I think I got five fully out but that height one was so f00king stupid!
The experiments weren't great. I much prefer the way they ask about them in physics and chemistry.
I did five of the long questions so that should improve my odds.
I was hoping for an A1 but might only get A2 now but with all the people complaining you never know...
Bring on the proper sciences!

Roller Toaster

It was okay really, theres so much time to do questions during the exam...I ended up doing every question bar the one with the photosynthesis cycles, I thought the question on human and plant reproduction was very nice.
I think my main problem with the experiments is that I just learn off the method in the book by rote so if the section B asks something beyond the method I get bogged down although without the paper in front of me it's all rapidly fading away...

Some questions though, is cambium a vascular tissue? I didn't say it was but it's part of the vascular bunde so I'm not sure...
Is a synaptic cleft the same thing as the node of ranvier? I did that question quickly at the very end so I didn't really put too much into it, I presume they just wanted a rough diagram to show it's location too without having to label the direction of the impulse too?

munkeehaven

RE:It was okay really, theres so much time to do questions during the exam...I ended up doing every question bar the one with the photosynthesis cycles, I thought the question on human and plant reproduction was very nice.
I think my main problem with the experiments is that I just learn off the method in the book by rote so if the section B asks something beyond the method I get bogged down although without the paper in front of me it's all rapidly fading away...

Some questions though, is cambium a vascular tissue? I didn't say it was but it's part of the vascular bunde so I'm not sure...
Is a synaptic cleft the same thing as the node of ranvier? I did that question quickly at the very end so I didn't really put too much into it, I presume they just wanted a rough diagram to show it's location too without having to label the direction of the impulse too?

i did the same thing as you-- we did feck all exps so i just had to "imagine" what the results would be.....i am beginning to slowly accept that i cant do anything to change how i did the exam...dissecting an exam is the worst thing to do...but i suppose we are all just a bit scared and confused ( i am at least!)...i think cambium isnt a vascular tissue its a secondary meristematic region to increase the plant's diameter...........and the synaptic cleft is the space between two neurons---how they communicate--the nodes of ranvier are the gaps in the myelin sheath of the axon of neurons that speed up impulses...........i studied loads for the exam and i didnt feel happy with at all but hey what can ya do?(acceptance and letting go is hard--buddhism comes in handy with exams!!!) just got to forget it until d-day on wed 18th aug:dunno:

PrecariousNuts

Originally posted by Roller Toaster
photosynthesis cycles

Heh, I told you so many times that it was definitely coming up. It was suprising that there was only one solid diagram question (excretion) on the whole paper.

Was you know who outside waiting in anticipation to see how you got on?

Roller Toaster

Yeah, she had her usual electric grin...pity the last teacher i talked to ever was eoin of the bald eoins

Kold

Originally posted by HarryD
Kill it ?

Surely the beheading would suffice in that aim?