Effective Biology studying

At the end of the day, there is only one way to learn and that is to sit down and study hard. But what is the secret to doing this effectively? Over the years, I have asked pupils how they most effectively work, and they had loads of useful tips.

1.         The study place must, obviously, be quiet and away from distractions such as the tv. Mobiles put on silent!

2.         Never lie on the bed to study! You know you will fall asleep…..zzzz.

3.         Make up a study time-table, and stick to it! Try to vary what and when so that you don’t bore yourself to death.

4.         Make sure that you have ALL the notes you need, and that you know exactly which bits of the syllabus you will be tested on.

5.         If you want to listen to music and it genuinely helps, so be it, but don’t just use it as an excuse to avoid concentrating.

6.         Give yourself breaks and rewards. “If I learn all about Haemoglobin in the next twenty minutes, I will go and make a cup of tea/briefly walk the dog/ play with my sister/eat ten smarties” or whatever. Getting up from your desk is a good idea as it moves the lymph that is accumulating! But then come back to that desk after five minutes and get on with it again…..

7.         It will not matter if you miss your favourite tv programme, it can either be recorded or it will come on as a repeat anyway.

8.         Make summary notes – use spider diagrams to include those important keywords, and

                        Use pictures

                        And colour

                        And make up poems to help you remember

                        Or come up with a rap

                        Explain the notes to your mum, or the dog, or a friend

If you use different parts of the brain eg singing, seeing colour, speaking, you have a better chance of retaining info.

9.         If there are keywords that you need to remember, make a list of them with their meanings next to them. You can cover up one or the other and test yourself, or get a friend to ask you the meaning.

10        Looking at, and working through old exam papers is brilliant. If you do enough, you will see that the same questions come up year after year, but they are just phrased differently: there are only so many questions that can be asked on eg chlorophyll.  You will also get the hang of the timing.

11.       Keep up any sport that you normally do – being healthy keeps your mind alert.

12.       Go to bed at a reasonable time; staying up until 4am ‘studying’ is not a good idea.

13        Study the easiest topics first. This will give you confidence that you have learnt a big chunk of the syllabus, and only do the difficult stuff once you have done the rest.

Unlucky 13?  There is no luck in taking exams. The more you study, the ‘luckier’ you will get.

But I still wish you good luck; it is a polite thing to do.