Revision tips for A-level Biology
Biology A-level is the wordiest of all the sciences. Not only is there a vast amount of content involved, but you also need excellent revision, maths and English skills to ensure you get the full exam marks. Here's what to cover.
Get to know the whole specification
Print off the Biology specification for your examining board, and read it before you start your revision for this subject. As obvious as it sounds, you need to ensure that you will cover everything on this specification in your revision schedule to get a high grade.
To help you know where to begin, go through the specification and mark everything you know with a green highlighter and then with a red highlighter, highlight your weaker areas. Red areas, then need to be prioritised in your revision schedule.
Summarise and revise every chapter
We all have different ways of revising, but for Biology A-level a variety of methods will work here from flashcards, to notes and diagrams. What also works is to go through the chapters methodically.
Whichever way you are taking or creating notes make sure you write down the specificity of what the examiners want as this is what you will get marks for (this information will be in past papers).
Conceptual diagrams are also crucial for A-level biology revision. These are diagrams that depict suggested relationships between concepts, which represents ideas and information as boxes with arrows as to how they all link.
Do as many past papers as you can
Past papers will give you an idea of what the real exam will be like, and as examining boards tend to repeat questions, they will provide you with vital help is scoring well. Doing lots of past papers will also help you understand what examiners are looking for in your answers - as well as the common topics or questions that often feature.
When doing past papers always analyse your answers to highlight where you are with revision. If you get a question wrong, is it an understanding issue, a memory issues, or did you not understand the question? Knowing where you went wrong will help you improve your knowledge base and perfect your exam technique.
The other important part to remember is that mark schemes are very specific. When marking practice questions do not tick something you feel you would have got right. Mark yourself to examination standards, right down correct wording of mark scheme. This will help you to learn your specifications mark scheme and how examiners want you to word something to get the most marks.
Lastly use past papers to link previous exam questions to your revision chapters. This way, when you finish revising a section, you can test yourself on real exam questions to see if your knowledge is up to scratch.
Practice your essay skills
Finally don't forget to add this component into your revision schedule. To get high marks in Biology, you also need excellent English skills. This is why you need to practice your essay writing in timed conditions to ensure you can show the breadth and depth of your knowledge for maximum marks.
To work towards a good score here, you need to know the content well and be able to write detailed paragraphs. You will lose marks for writing things, which are incorrect, so work on understanding your content thoroughly.
What can also help here is to get someone to test you on crucial subject areas for essays (look at past papers for these). See if you can verbally explain the answer and then write it down as fully as possible. This practice will help you to get the highest grade possible for your essay.
An A-level Biology tutor can help you with all of the above and more. For more information on A-level Biology tutors in your area, please get in touch.