It’s the night before your HSC Biology exam. What do you do?!
If you’re stressing about how much you can cram into one night, don’t fret.
You can still learn information that can be stored in your short term memory before tomorrow, so not all is lost!
Although it’s encouraged that you spread out you study in advance of your exam date so that you can store info in your long term memory, we’ll help you make the most of the night before!
Without further ado, let’s get stuck into 5 simple tips to help you study the night before your HSC Biology exam!
Things to Remember Before You Begin
Tip #1: Do a needs analysis
Tip #2: Find the key points
Tip #3: Use short term memory techniques
Tip #4: Jump to practice questions in the last hour
Tip #5: Stay calm
Things to Remember Before You Begin
Keep it in perspective.
Calculate how much tomorrow’s test is worth in the bigger scheme of things, and keep this in mind while you work. Even your Trials are only worth 20% of your overall HSC mark!
Our brains tend to trick us into thinking that a test that we haven’t studied for is the be all and end all. All that this does is stress us out to the point where it is impossible to do any study at all.
Here are my top 5 tips for studying the night before your exam – they are designed to maximise your productivity in the smallest amount of time.
I’m basing this on the assumption that you will be studying for at least 2 hours the night before.
Tip #1: Do a needs analysis
The first step is to narrow down what needs to be done and to prioritise the work. The most effective way is by using the syllabus as a checklist.
Grab yourself one of those bad boys and rate your understanding of each syllabus dot point between 1 and 5.
5 is that you could explain the content of the dot point to your dog without any struggle, and 1 is that your dog is likely to have to teach you the dot point.
For example:
Anything that you have rated 4 or 5 can be left out of your night-before-the-test study. It is very likely that these dot points have made it all the way to your long term memory at some stage during the term, so they are a strength.
Even if you only have a few of these, this is already limiting the work that needs to be done tonight!
Studying for Chemistry as well? Check out our night before guide here!
Tip #2: Find the key points
I have a secret to share: in each dot point, there are main ideas and there are trimmings.
The highlighted parts here are the main points of this first dot point of Module 5: Heredity.
We only need to focus on the main ideas, because these are our biggest wins in the test tomorrow.
If you need a quick recap of certain HSC Biology syllabus dot points, make sure you check out HSC Together which has FREE video resources on every single syllabus dot point so that you can revise effectively!
Tip #3: Use short term memory techniques
Remember that diagram right up at the top? What you’re focusing on tonight is turning the sensory input into short term memory. Once you’ve done that, it’s much easier for your brain to convert it into long term memory to be recalled tomorrow.
Here are some tips that I’ve gathered for you to try:
#1: Make a mnemonic
A m…what?
Yeah, I know, the spelling is rather strange. It’s pronounced ‘nemonic’ – apparently silent Ms were in fashion whenever they made up that word…
Mnemonics are quick and easy techniques for memorising lists of words. The idea is that you make something funny or new out of the words that need to be memorised, because funny and new things are much easier to remember!
#2: Make a funny song!
(Or sing the biology words to your favourite tunes!)
Our brains really enjoy learning things in song, which is one of the reasons why repetitive songs tend to get stuck in our heads for ages.
You can memorise whole sentences or sequences of numbers like this!
#3: Draw a tree diagram or a flow chart
If you’re a visual learner, you’ll appreciate this one!
You can even add small bits of information to add a little bit to turn your 1s into at least 3s!
Tip #4: Jump to practice questions in the last hour
I know that it’s scary to start doing practice questions when you’re not feeling 100% on top of your work, but this is the fastest way of making sure that you are prepared.
Grab any past papers and go for it! That way you will have a good idea of the types of questions which are going to be asked and what you are expected to know.
You can then make sure that you revise the topics which come up most often in the past papers so that you have these ones down for sure!
We’ve put together 25x HSC Biology Module 5 Practise Questions to jumpstart your revision!
Tip #5: Stay calm
Remember that you are doing the absolute best that you can in the circumstances — don’t let the stress get to you! If you let the stress get to you, you won’t be able to study effectively.
If you have a study buddy, or even someone else at home (your parents, siblings, puppy) who can help you to keep a clear head, maybe give them a heads up so they know that they should keep an eye out for you to make sure you stay calm.
You can use some simple mindfulness techniques such as taking 5 long deep breaths with your eyes shut before continuing with your work.
I like to use this website which generates different types of background music to help you focus. I personally like the cafe sound mixed with the fire crackling — it helps me to block out the other noise around me so I can concentrate on what I need to.
Remember to have a quick break every half hour, even if it’s to get up and get a glass of water and stretch your legs. Intensive short term memory work takes up more brain power than, say, writing notes because you need to be concentrating intensely for the whole time. Make sure that you compensate for this by taking regular breaks to clear your mind.
If you have any questions about studying the night before your exam, ask your Art of Smart coach — they’ll be able to help you!
On the hunt for other study plans for the night before an exam?
We’ve got you covered for the following subjects — check them out:
Is your subject not here? Check out our general guide! Here’s What to Do The Night Before Any HSC Exam to achieve great results!
Looking for some extra help with HSC Biology?
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We offer tutoring and mentoring for Years K-12 in a variety of subjects, with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!
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Gia-Yen Luong has been an Art of Smart coach for 3 years, coaching a range of subjects including HSC English, Legal Studies, Biology, Chemistry and General Maths. She is in her final year of a mega double degree in Law/Science (Neuroscience). She graduated high school with an ATAR of 99.9 and spends most of her time trying to convince people that it’s wholly possible to get such a mark while still having a normal life during YR 12. She enjoys reading, podcasts and getting catchy Taylor Swift songs stuck in other people’s heads.
