Exploring the Learning Process in Advanced Biology: A Question for Biologists

[Bladibla]

When you go to advanced Biology, do you just memorize facts like i do for school tests? Or is there more to it?

I ask this because, i am currently doing 'AS' lvel Biology in UK, and it just seems...like that. With this keep going, i would just drop it at the end of AS for a AS in physics or another subject.

Naturally, it could be said i am biased, because i have a lot of repsect for physicists.

 

[Monique]

I don't know your school system, but why would you have more respect for physicists than for biologists?

There is a lot to biology besides memorizing 'facts' (what do you mean by facts?) understanding development, genetics, genomics, proteomics (and other subfields) stands on the basis of understanding life, thus it is a very interesting subject to study.

 

[xeon]

A2 biology is harder than As it involves learning like before but you have to apply what you have learned rather than churn of facts. I am doing my A2 exams now and although they are harder and challenging they are more enjoyable because there not boring. I do physics as well and you would enjoy A2 biology much more than As physics and I am going to uni to study physics lol

 

[Phobos]

Introductory courses in any of the sciences involves memorizing facts. Once you get the foundation, then you can start applying it in more complex situations in the advanced courses.

 

[briton]

When you go to advanced Biology, do you just memorize facts like i do for school tests? Or is there more to it?

I ask this because, i am currently doing 'AS' lvel Biology in UK, and it just seems...like that. With this keep going, i would just drop it at the end of AS for a AS in physics or another subject.

Naturally, it could be said i am biased, because i have a lot of repsect for physicists.

Try posting here http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/ - more relevant to the UK!

 

[jhirlo]

When you go to advanced Biology, do you just memorize facts like i do for school tests? Or is there more to it?

I ask this because, i am currently doing 'AS' lvel Biology in UK, and it just seems...like that. With this keep going, i would just drop it at the end of AS for a AS in physics or another subject.

Naturally, it could be said i am biased, because i have a lot of repsect for physicists.

If you’re double thinking about physics or biology, don’t think twice, physics is right choice (if you prefer “hard” thinking).
When you put it on scale dividing memorizing vs. thinking, believe me thinking part (esp. creative) arising from biology (classical or molecular…) is like box of matches’ vs Empire State Building (). But please NHF, because, it’s all about what you love or like, you can not say that biologists are stupid, it’s quite opposite, as I sad that’s question of flavor.

 

[Moonbear]

As Phobos pointed out, introductory courses in any science (I'm not sure what AS level is) is going to require a lot more memorizing just to get the basics established before you can begin applying them. Once you get to advanced levels, you're going to have to do a lot more than memorize to do well.

jhirlo, I think your bias is showing. You can't rank the sciences as "harder" or "easier" thinking; they all require the same rigor of using scientific method to develop questions and conduct experiments to seek answers.

 

[Monique]

Still curious to know why physicists earn a lot of respect..

 

[matthyaouw]

When you go to advanced Biology, do you just memorize facts like i do for school tests? Or is there more to it?

I ask this because, i am currently doing 'AS' lvel Biology in UK, and it just seems...like that. With this keep going, i would just drop it at the end of AS for a AS in physics or another subject.

Naturally, it could be said i am biased, because i have a lot of repsect for physicists.

I did A2 biology last year (got myself a B) and I found that there was not a huge amount of memorising tedious facts to do. The worst were the photosynthesis and respiration pathways, but with some perseverence, I managed to do those fairly well. Exams are less about specific facts, and more broad essays or paragraphs, many of which are described as synoptic, which means that rather than wanting a definate right or wrong answer, they want you to speculate and come to your own conclusions. Essay questions are somewhat broad in A2, for example "Discuss the biological importance of water" being one that I have done. This is the case with my exam board in any case (I think it was OCR) but I'm not certain about the others. Ask your teacher if you can see the syllabus and some past exam papers, or talk to people currently doing the course. The exam board website may also have the past papers on it.