Biology Forums - Study Force

Hello everyone

I was wondering if anyone can possible give me tips for studying for biology?
Thank you.

Textbook can be thick. Get a hold of the PowerPoints for your textbook and study off of them. Draw pictures of diagrams and make sure you put a picture to every concept you learn, because it helps you to remember :nerd:

I'm having a similar problem now in biology. I've taken my share of science and it has always been more "concrete" you could say. Like physics for instance where you solve problems and use math. Biology so far has been almost entirely memorization. We skim over things so you have no real understanding of why they happened, so you end up memorizing stuff such as how proteins are replicated starting from DNA, but again, no real idea of why these things happen, just the sequence they go in. So the stuff is just floating around and you don't understand the mechanics behind it. In physics, I knew why a ball fell to the ground or how hard it would hit a wall, but I have no real understanding of why, say, water passes through a cell membrane or ATP yields X # of glucose.

Has anyone tried and had good luck with mental mapping diagrams as study aids for bio?

I don't get Biology either.  It would be nice to have some examples better than what my professor gives.  She just basically reads the powerpoints as our lectures and that's it.

Maybe look for youtube videos that could help you learn the material better. Here's a website with some studying tips for any subject: http://greatist.com/happiness/better-study-tips-test/

Depends on what the professor or teacher gives you to work with, but this is how I tackled a tough bio course:

1) Take brief notes during the lecture (I had powerpoints to look/work off of)
2) Make real notes by re-listening to the lecture (if that's available), and using the brief notes to fill in some gaps
3) Rewrite the notes into your own words, usually you can either do this the week leading up to an exam, or just do simultaneously.

It really does depend on the teacher and how they teach. I had professor one semester who would post her powerpoints before hand and I would take additional notes for each slide in class. And studied off that. My textbook was merely something for me to read in case I missed something she said or didn't completely understand something when I could not go ask her to reexplain it to me. And my studying was mostly rewriting the powerpoints to integrate my in class notes. But, I know some teachers are horrible or the subject matter is really hard to grasp. With that I usually:

1) Take brief notes during lecture.
2) Read the textbook once.
3) Go back and reread it to outline the chapter.
4) If it is something like the krebs cycle or whatnot I look for something on Youtube, songs usually work no matter how good or bad the get stuck in your head.
5) I also find other professors from other universities that teach similar course and have video/audio files to listen to and have them explain it.

I know it is a lot, but receiving information multiple times in multiple forms allows you to encode it differently. And you can have other stimulants that can help trigger your memory on the subject matter. Also it is good to change up where you study, rather than study in one place. Just how I tend to work on my Biology.

Study and search for quizzes related to the topics you're studying! that should definitely help ;)

Use the SQR3 method! It has really work for me!!! Also, make sure when you study, you turn off and put aside social media, or any other thing that can distract you!!

I would say self learning is the key.  If you had a white board, just think like you are the teacher teaching biology (a particular lesson) and explain the lesson on the board assuming that you're teaching it to a bunch of students.  Also, having short notes, the usage of table and colored pens, papers really helps when you learn classification.
Try asking yourself questions to gain in depth knowledge.  Having a serious study buddy also helps.  Further more, do lots of MCQs and essay type questions.  This will automatically help your brain to retain information through practice.  Make your biology book interesting to study. :)
When it comes to essay writing to explain an answer, just because you know the facts doesn't mean that you can put everything in the paper.  So practice a lot.  Repeat whatever you seem to think is hard to remember and finally, take breaks when studying.  Do not go on studying at a stretch.  This may tire your brain thus resulting in less retention power. 
If you feel sleepy, don't study (that's what I learnt from experience) It never really gets into your head.  So have a short nap, refresh yourself and then come back to study  :D

I believe that the best way to learn is through diagrams and schematics.
You can use also some videos on youtube.

I know a lot of people might have stressed this earlier and sometimes it is difficult to do but try not to focus just on memorization. Understanding concepts is essential. Once you understand the concept, you can just figure out the answer(s) by thinking critically. For instance, when a person gets burned (physically, not slang lol), a lot goes on in the body. Depending on the type, extent, duration, etc, cells get destroyed and release K+ (Potassium). Once potassium is released, it counteracts sodium and sodium will decrease. These 2 kind of work in opposition. By knowing such, you will know that if one goes down, the other goes up and vice versa.

I've always taken short notes in class mostly just getting a feel for what to really dig into later. If you have a rough outline it is remarkably easy to go back through your text and sort of "fill in" what you need to know. Rogue memorization isn't really going to get you very far although, at some point you'll be able to spout of the steps of citric acid cycle and the yields since most year one bio classes really hammer that subject in. Which you will promptly forget the moment after the final.

Good luck mate.

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