How To Revise Biology O Level

[Kum Dana]

According to a rising chorus of biology educators, major changes in the teaching of undergraduate biology are needed to bring undergraduate biology courses into the 21st century. Such changes, these educators say, are necessary because modern biology has, in recent years, undergone major transformations. For example, biologists have used emerging technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations to rapidly open new areas of biological research and pioneer new approaches that enhance our understanding of living systems.

Associated advancements in biology are helping society better address urgent problems involving climate, energy, food and health. At the same time, a communications revolution has created a hyper-connected world in which information flows fast and freely. Because of these trends, the ways in which we discover, understand and learn about biology have profoundly changed.

In response to these new realities, biology educators are considering ways to better prepare college students for careers in the life sciences and to promote biological literacy in our citizenry. In doing so, they have increasingly recognized that traditional undergraduate teaching approaches that aim to "cover it all" cannot accommodate the ongoing explosion of new information in biology.

To help biology educators modernize undergraduate biology education, the National Science Foundation (NSF)--in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)--launched a national initiative in 2007 called Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology. This initiative was designed to distill a set of cutting-edge, 21st century approaches to undergraduate biology education from decades of conversations, reports and calls for change. Steadily gaining momentum, the initiative has, thus far, culminated in:

The final report's findings were summarized by a quote from Carol Brewer, professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Montana and the conference co-chair, that was included in a summary of the final report. Brewer said, "We all have work ahead of us to ensure that the transformations we make in biology classrooms around the country reflect the biology we do in the 21st century."

Another critical aspect of the report is its emphasis on the importance of developing student-centered teaching approaches that actively engage students in interactive, inquiry-driven, cooperative and collaborative activities. According to the report, these approaches should convey to students the wonder of the natural world and the passion and curiosity of scientists, involve students in authentic research experiences, and teach students how to evaluate complex biological problems from varied perspectives without just reciting facts and terminology.

To promote the development of student-centered approaches, the report directs readers to practical resources to help them integrate student-centered learning throughout biology curriculums, relevant examples of successful models and approaches to student-centered learning, and practical advice on using assessment tools.

In addition, the report recommends designing and revising undergraduate biology courses to incorporate clearly defined, measurable goals; the latest insights into how people learn; and successful best practices in teaching that have been identified by science education researchers and practitioners.

The report also cites the need for institutions--including colleges, universities, professional societies and federal and private funding sources--to create environments that promote advances in biology education. The report advises institutions to do so by preparing and training future faculty members to create student-centered classrooms, offering professional development in teaching to all biology faculty members, hiring biologists who have education specialties, and devoting funds and resources to improving biology education.

To further energize biology educators, the next phases of the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Initiative are currently being planned. These steps will involve engaging the biology community in the identification and dissemination of strategies for curricular reform at the departmental and institutional levels, and developing--in partnership with professional societies--a Web portal that features curricular resources for undergraduate biology courses that are based on the latest developments in scientific teaching.

What's next? A large, national meeting is currently being planned for 2013. This meeting will focus on updates to the initiative's progress and on methods used to achieve such progress. In addition, vision and change fellows will be identified who will work together to draft an implementation framework that is expected to help institutionalize the adoption of the recommendations across various types of institutions.

From adaptive learning platforms powered by artificial intelligence to good old revision guides you can order off Amazon, there are lots of options! We believe you should only have 1 or 2 core learning resources per subject, ideally one that covers the entire syllabus.

There are some subjects that you can secure an A or A* in purely through self-study. Luckily, Biology is one of them! There is a very simple study-technique you can use to achieve this. We call it the scribble technique.

I used this exact approach to achieve an average mark of 92% across all my Biology A-Level exams. It can also be used to learn content for Psychology A-Level, but to score well in essays, the Scribble Technique will need to be combined with an Essay Feedback Loop process.

Hi , been doing this method for a few chapters. but it all stays in my short term memory. How can i ensure it tranfers to long term because by the time the exam comes i have forgotten most of the content which is done by scribble technique

Hi, I am aware that doing as many past paper questions as possible is a really effective strategy, however it is actually obtaining the questions to do in the first place that I am struggling with: where can I find loads of past paper A-Level questions?

I have my end of year 12 exams in around 40 days. I usually make notes running up to the exam and when the exams are near, I plan to use the scribble technique. Do you think this is a good idea? Or should I forget about making notes and use the scribble technique from now

3 days before an exam you should be focusing most of your time on practice questions and a little time skimming through your textbooks filling in knowledge gaps. To calculate how much work you should be doing per week, work backwards from the total number of pages you need to cover and the time you have left before your first exam. Yojana can calculate this for you.

Hi, Is getting an A star in 4 months possible? I have the vision to becoming a doctor so I would like to do IAL biology from scratch to help me gain an edge to get in med school. Never learn the subject before.

To do what she did, you need to use the Scribble Technique properly and not glaze over the page without trying to understand the information. When we asked her to explain the information she learnt back to us at the end of each day, she nailed almost every single bullet point. This takes practice and coaching from an expert tutor or academic coach.

I just wanted to know where exactly and how I would scribble down things. Would it be neat for me to reuse later or just messy notes? Also, for scribbling things i missed would i use a fresh piece of paper or the same one i used previously.
Many thanks, any real life examples or an explanation would be helpful if possible.

My advice is to prioritise self-study and use school/teachers as learning aids. Not the other way around. Create a study strategy that outlines what learning resources to revise from and calculate your daily page target. Work through these pages in your evenings and weekends.

Hello,
I will be taking my mock exams in September and they will be very crucial as it will heavily influence our prediction grades for UCAS. The Yojana application seems very useful and I will try that after I write this message, however I was wondering how I could stand out and definitely achieve an A star in A Level Biology, Chemistry and Psychology as many other people will do this. Also, as I am currently averaging Grade C/D,I was wondering if you could give me specific advice to improve to a Grade A/A* as I believe most people in my class have already achieved a grade the top end grades,so I would REALLY appreciate your help. Also, I have just about 2 months of no school to accomplish this, so your advice would REALLY help. Thank you, it would mean the world to me!!!!!

Protein Synthesis, Evolution, Nutrient Cycles, and the rest. A level Biology can be quite a lot to take in, especially when only using revision guides. Seneca is free and trusted by over 2.5 milllion students in the UK. Thousands of students are using Seneca online to study for their A Level Biology exams. Instead of dreaming whilst flipping through revision guides, Seneca actually helps you learn 2x faster, whilst showing you Biology gifs, videos and animations.

Not only does Seneca cover all exam boards. They work with neuroscientists. An RCT (you know those from GCSE Biology) found that students using Seneca performed 2x better than those using paper textbooks or revision guides. Below you can find all the A Level biology courses with topics ranging from Substance Exchange, Energy Transfers, and Genetics and Ecosystems.

The general consensus within A-Level biology, especially when compared to another science at A2 like Chemistry, is that although biology has easier concepts to understand, there is a lot more content to cover. Even just glancing over the AQA A-Level Biology specification, which is one of the most popular exam boards for this subject, you can see that there are around eight main topics, each with upwards of 5-10 specific subsections.

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