[SPM] Effective methods to study for Biology

[maximR]

Hi there .
I'm a form four student this year . My first test is around the corner . Problem is , I have no idea what are the effective ways to master the subject . Not that I do not have any interest in it . I like the subject . But my teacher just doesn't help . She reads out loud the contents from the textbook , and that is about it . She explains in Malay while using English terms . She finished 3 chapters in 2 months and my friends and I got about only 1% from her classes .

The most shocking part is she told us that our first test will include the first four chapters [ form 4 ] . Currently , I do not even have the basics from chapter 2 , about cells . I can read from my SUCCESS reference book and memorise , but I'm worried if it will only serve as a short cut to what is to come for my SPM .

I'm a little bit worried . I'm normally not a student who does last minute revision and I usually prepare in advance by reading a chapter ahead before the teacher teaches [ I did this for all of my other subjects ] but for Biology , I just couldn't catch up with the teacher's lessons .

Help , seniors ?

[DevinKy]

i'm in form 4. my teacher's new but ok. but one thing's 4 sure, if u want a for bio, score paper 3.

[sliceofcheese]

Originally Posted by maximR

Hi there .
I'm a form four student this year . My first test is around the corner . Problem is , I have no idea what are the effective ways to master the subject . Not that I do not have any interest in it . I like the subject . But my teacher just doesn't help . She reads out loud the contents from the textbook , and that is about it . She explains in Malay while using English terms . She finished 3 chapters in 2 months and my friends and I got about only 1% from her classes .

The most shocking part is she told us that our first test will include the first four chapters [ form 4 ] . Currently , I do not even have the basics from chapter 2 , about cells . I can read from my SUCCESS reference book and memorise , but I'm worried if it will only serve as a short cut to what is to come for my SPM .

I'm a little bit worried . I'm normally not a student who does last minute revision and I usually prepare in advance by reading a chapter ahead before the teacher teaches [ I did this for all of my other subjects ] but for Biology , I just couldn't catch up with the teacher's lessons .

Help , seniors ?

How's it going currently? Since this post was quite long ago..

[kwongkienyi]

Originally Posted by maximR

Hi there .
I'm a form four student this year . My first test is around the corner . Problem is , I have no idea what are the effective ways to master the subject . Not that I do not have any interest in it . I like the subject . But my teacher just doesn't help . She reads out loud the contents from the textbook , and that is about it . She explains in Malay while using English terms . She finished 3 chapters in 2 months and my friends and I got about only 1% from her classes .

The most shocking part is she told us that our first test will include the first four chapters [ form 4 ] . Currently , I do not even have the basics from chapter 2 , about cells . I can read from my SUCCESS reference book and memorise , but I'm worried if it will only serve as a short cut to what is to come for my SPM .

I'm a little bit worried . I'm normally not a student who does last minute revision and I usually prepare in advance by reading a chapter ahead before the teacher teaches [ I did this for all of my other subjects ] but for Biology , I just couldn't catch up with the teacher's lessons .

Help , seniors ?

oh your school bio teacher is quite slow ,right? During form 4 my teacher use just 1 month to finish 4 chapter. (but because of this i change school haha)

Originally Posted by DevinKy

i'm in form 4. my teacher's new but ok. but one thing's 4 sure, if u want a for bio, score paper 3.

yeah if u want to score bio, 48 above for paper 1 and paper 3 is a must! actually, SPM biology is not as hard as u think (but not that easy as well) there are a lot of technique in biology which is important particularly in paper 2. Yes PAPER 2 i didn't mistyping or what. because sometimes even u know the answer but u won't get marks because the are a lot of terms which prohibited to use.(not prohibit but if u use it, u won't get the marks) for instance, diffuse and dissolve. if use dissolve instead of diffuse in some chapter (like chapter 3,7 (form 4)) and other chapter u won't get marks in real SPM. so that is why there are a lot of people get high marks in school exam but not in real SPM. u need to master the technique to make sure what u write in the paper worth the marks.
u can learn this by reading the SPM marking scheme or if u didn't have(because it is confidential) u can read the trial marking scheme/ mid yr or other standard exam.
in my own opinion (after compared with the marking scheme) the oxford fajar reference book is most reliable after the textbook. Sasbadi has too much irrelevant information(last few edition the latest one i didn't know) and Pelangi consist of too little information. (for me) and i found that the page layout of oxford is the most easier and comfortable to read and understand. ha