Biology A1

coaster93

Okay,this might seem like a stupid question but if i was to study the revise wise leaving cert biology revision book on it's own,would that be enough to obtain a A1 in the LC ( and doing past papers of course!):rolleyes:
I'm asking this because biology is all theory really, and the questions asked don't have to be long essays,just fact.
Also,i would learn the experiments from the book.

If anyone got an A1 in biology could they tell me what they think:D.

dambarude

If you've covered the main text book in class, and understand all that is in it, then learning the revise wise book alone would probably work.

It did for me anyway, but I had a really good teacher so it kinda just sunk in without too much effort. The revise wise book covers nearly, if not everything you need to know. You might not get as good an understanding from it as you might your teacher or a more detailed textbook though.

coaster93

Thanks..ya we have read the book and i understand most of it,but haven't started learning anything off yet so i think i'll use the revise wise.

Just wondering,what grade did you get in biology?

ihavequestions

Hey I got a A2 (damn sure I woulda went up to an A1 if I had it sent away but anways...) If you want to just learn the revision book I would advise you to give a read through the sylabis (cant spell) also! I have one revision book that has LOADS of things that are wrong it it, and also loads of irrelevant material! My book is proberaly just stupid though.... Anyways , Im repeating and just got a A2 in the mock with basicly no study, cause my teacher is REALLY good ! If you LISTEN in class REALLY listen you will learn waaay more than going home tired and trying to understand what you did in class that day! But ya, it is definately possible to get a A1 by learning a revision book....just refer to sylabis!

dambarude

coaster93 wrote: »

Thanks..ya we have read the book and i understand most of it,but haven't started learning anything off yet so i think i'll use the revise wise.

Just wondering,what grade did you get in biology?

Sorry about the delay replying. I got an A1 (a very high one at that;)).

coaster93

^^^ Well done ,thanks for the advice :P

JohnFrusciante

I have a useless teacher, he used to just put on dvds for us last year until we complained to the principal; now he just gives us questions from the book to do in class while he sits in silence. I'm trying to learn stuff at home but it's so much harder to just read everything! Okay, that wasn't a question, but I saw a biology thread and I had to vent my spleen...

Seloth

Someone said if you just learn off all of section 1 and 2 and leave out 3 you can get away with a B3.That true cause I'm in desperate need to get atleast 65% inbio as I only got 35 in the pre's.

JohnFrusciante

Seloth wrote: »

Someone said if you just learn off all of section 1 and 2 and leave out 3 you can get away with a B3.That true cause I'm in desperate need to get atleast 65% inbio as I only got 35 in the pre's.

You need the experiments too: if you do 1, 2 and the experiments, that's 80% of the marks for 44% of the syllabus so you could get your B3 without doing section 3

PhosphoricAcid

is biology generally the easiest science subject?;)

danslevent

I use the revise wise as the base of my studying. I read the school book, then the revise wise one and add the bits from the school book that I think are important into the revise wise. I find the revise wise is good but they don't go into enough detail and sometimes you need that detail to help you understand what you are learning.
My teacher is dreadful too!

IronGirl92

PhosphoricAcid wrote: »

is biology generally the easiest science subject?;)

Well out of Physics, Chemistry and Biology it's the one that seems to be the easiest!? I do half the work for Biology as I do for the other two and it's still my highest of the three.. mind I did only get 89 in the mock Eh, hopefully going to push that up to an A1!

On the revision book though; the revise wise seems to have alot missing or wrong in it...imo anyway! The biology book itself is quite good and the summaries at the end of the chapters are handy!

dids6457

Seloth wrote: »

Someone said if you just learn off all of section 1 and 2 and leave out 3 you can get away with a B3.That true cause I'm in desperate need to get atleast 65% inbio as I only got 35 in the pre's.

Hi there guys I am a biology teacher and I have to say... yes section a is 100 marks out of the entire 400 and section b is 60 more marks but these two sections can have questions on ANYTHING on the course so you cannot leave anything out. Section A is a major hurdle and if you do well on this section you have a great chance of doing great!!
As for you revision books, I wouldn't recommend sole use of the revision book, have you considered going through the chapter in the book or notes you have been given as well as the revision book and make notes of your own?
I dont want to sound like im giving a lecture here just wanted to clarify about skipping sections!

spurious

Knowing the entirity of any text book is not the same as knowing the entire syllabus.
Questions can be asked from anywhere on the syllabus. Text books rarely cover the whole syllabus.

zam

I just use Revise Wise to study (the layout of the textbook is terrible and confusing!) and it equips me to answer all of the exam questions. So I won't be looking at the textbook between now and June.

dambarude

spurious wrote: »

Knowing the entirity of any text book is not the same as knowing the entire syllabus.
Questions can be asked from anywhere on the syllabus. Text books rarely cover the whole syllabus.

That's definitely true for subjects like geography and history. For subjects like biology it's a bit different though- the content is more defined. There is usually either only one answer to a question or a very narrow list of answers that can be accepted.

lilow

hi! got A1 twice, first leaving cert and repeat one. Def you need the marking schemes. they're available on dept.of education website. it gives exactly what you need to say o get the marks. and once you know that you can cut out stuff that would be nice to know but that won't get you marks which is helpful esp when you get to this time of year. thats what got me through the leaving cert in all my subjects.hope this helps:)

dambarude

lilow wrote: »

hi! got A1 twice, first leaving cert and repeat one. Def you need the marking schemes. they're available on dept.of education website. it gives exactly what you need to say o get the marks. and once you know that you can cut out stuff that would be nice to know but that won't get you marks which is helpful esp when you get to this time of year. thats what got me through the leaving cert in all my subjects.hope this helps:)

Marking schemes are indeed a huge help in Biology. It's good to see just how little you often have to write to get full marks. I once wrote a half page in answer to a question to later find out that I only needed two words to get full marks. Definitely look at them @ www.examinations.ie.

I realise that it's practices like this that lead to the grade inflation we've been hearing of!