Biology

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday June 21, 2005

Jane West Gerry McCloughan

TAKE HINTS FROM KEY WORDS IN QUESTIONS, USE GRAPHS AND MAKE

QUESTIONS GOOD USE OF THE TIME YOU HAVE LEFT TO PREPARE.

HSC many students start to feel

overwhelmed by the whole process.

But don?t throw the towel in yet, it is not

too late to put in the effort required to

do well in the HSC Biology

examination. You just have to be

smart in how you use the time that is

available to you.

Use the Stage 6 Biology syllabus

(Amended October 2002) to design a

study plan. The questions in the

examination will be directly related to

the syllabus. Download the latest

version from the Board of Studies

website at www.boardofstudies.

nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/biolog

y_stg6_syl_03.doc

Build on the course work from your

teacher but take as many opportunities

to access a range of resources from

libraries, museums and the media to

watch, listen and read about the content.

A very useful resource is the Biology

node of NSW HSC Online at

hsc.csu.edu.au/biology/index.htm This

can help you with many aspects of

revision. The website provides notes for

each specific syllabus dot point, ideas

for investigations, references to useful

texts and links to supporting

information. It also contains tips for

the examination and additional

resource material.

Write your own summaries collating

all available information. Use Australian

examples to illustrate answers wherever

possible and be specific when naming

an organism (use ?red kangaroo? or

?black-faced wallaby? not just a generic

?kangaroo?).

Know the examination structure and

the question styles well before the

examination. A good way to do this is to

use past papers.

The 2003 and 2004 examinations,

available on the Board of Studies

website at www.boardofstudies.

nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/, are based on

the amended syllabus and are therefore

a better guide to the types of questions

that may be asked.

Questions will address individual dot

points in the syllabus as well as wider

issues found in the Prescribed Focus

Areas and Skills in Module 9.1.

Spending time to plan your answer is

useful for the questions that have a

higher mark value. You should be able

to show that you have integrated your

knowledge, understanding and skills

through the four modules studied but

also can demonstrate a more

comprehensive understanding than just

the individual dot points. The stimulus

material provided may include an

unfamiliar context to test your

application of skills.

Be aware that the verb used in a

question is a key word and has a

specific meaning prescribed by the

Board of Studies. The Board of Studies

provides meanings for these terms in A

glossary of key words, available from the

website at www.boardofstudies.

nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/glossary_

keywords.html

The verb used will give an indication

of the depth required in the answer.

The most common verbs used in the

Biology examination over the last

four years were describe, explain,

discuss, justify and evaluate. Practice

answering questions that start with

these verbs in particular. To help you

with this there are some useful verb

scaffolds available on the Department?s

Curriculum Support website at

www.curriculumsupport.nsw.edu.au/

science/index.cfm?u=2&i=6

Practical experiences make up an

important part of the course. Be

prepared to describe any of the practical

investigations found in column three of

the syllabus.

The syllabus requires you to gather

information from secondary sources.

It is important to know how to gather

materials from the Internet using a

search engine, as well as how to look for

information in books, journals and

CD-ROMs.

Choosing the right graph to display

data is an important skill for processing

and analysing information.

Use a histogram when the data is

continuous and a column graph for

discrete data.

A line graph is used to plot two

variables against each other. Usually the

independent variable is placed on the Xaxis

and the dependent variable on the

Y-axis. If the data shows the percentage

of a whole, then a pie chart or a divided

bar graph is used.

Make sure the graph is fully labeled,

has an appropriate scale, and includes a

key if necessary.

Refine your

examination techniques

Before answering a question, note the

number of lines provided for the answer

and the number of marks allocated.

There should be adequate space

provided to answer the question fully

and where appropriate, you can get full

marks through the use of labeled

diagrams, tables and graphs.

The Notes from the Examination

Centre (2001-2004) provide feedback

about candidates? answers in past HSC

examination papers and are available on

the Board of Studies website at

www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/

hsc_exams/.

Concepts that students found difficult

in the 2004 paper were; confusing DNA

replication with polypeptide synthesis;

misunderstanding the terms

?distribution? and ?abundance?;

knowing the different functions of the

cells from the immune response; the

current theories for the movement of

substances in the xylem and phloem;

confusing an ?aim? and a ?hypothesis?

and not including a risk assessment in

the planning of an investigation.

In the end, it all comes down to the

work you are prepared to do. Use the

resources available but ultimately it?s up

to you.

Jane West is an experienced teacher and

writer of Biology materials. She is a

teacher at Sydney Distance Education

High School and is seconded to the Centre

for Learning Innovation.

Gerry McCloughan is Senior Curriculum

Adviser, Science, in the Curriculum K-12

Directorate, NSW Department of

Education and Training.

© 2005 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home