BIOL10004: Biology of Cells and Organisms

The exam is a real mixed bag. The first section, consisting of multiple choice has questions that require logic and critical thinking and others that are purely memorisation. Some of these questions may be a little bit contentious, where you have to decide which is going to be the best answer.

Section b involves filling in the blanks of a paragraph using a word bank. This section is not too challenging as long as you remember some of the buzzwords from the semester.

Section C is an extended response type question and is where most students do the worst. This is where the skills workshops were meant to help. The questions could be anything (you are told who is writing each questions during the final tutorial) and are more there to test your scientific thinking than simply being able to regurgitate information.

During SWOT VAC the biology department ran a series of lectures to assist with section C. If they run them, I highly recommend that you attend them as they provide extra section C questions and the criteria required to get full marks.

One practice exam is released. Often there will be questions on the practice exam that will also appear on the exam.

Exam 50% (hurdle), 25% practicals, 20% 4x module tests, 5% assignment

Exam: 50% hurdle consisting of 3 sections with approx. 180 marks. Section A is multiple choice, some worth one mark others worth two. Section B is a fill in the blank, quite straightforward for the most part. Section C is the only section where answers need to be written and the questions can vary wildly. This year the examinable content was not just that taught in lectures but also on any extra material (skills workshops, practicals, tutorials, videos and textbook readings).

Module Tests: Each module had a test worth 5% (4+5 were combined). Some of the questions could be a little contentious with ambiguity between several answers (admitted by the tutors), however they encompassed the content delivered in lectures and were a good feedback tool, however they weren’t available in feedback mode like chemistry.

Assignment: The assessment unanimously hated by the cohort. We were given some data on the molecules involved in photosynthesis and told to write a lab report on it. Hardly any information was given and the word allocation was extremely low (less than 300 for the entire thing). Don’t have high hopes for getting a good mark with this.

Practicals: The pracs for the subject were quite simple and easy to get full marks on if you followed the demonstrators advice. I personally found most of them to be rushed (much more than chemistry) but easily completed if you keep up with the demonstrators. Unfortunately you are not told what you are being marked on until you get into the lab (or if you have friends who have already completed the lab). Some of the labs I found that I would only complete the tasks we were being assessed on due to time constraints.

I really enjoyed this subject and felt that it was taught extremely well.

Yes, with screen capture

Alex Johnson, Andrew Drinnan, Lauren Salo, Mark Green, Mark Elgar

Alex Johnson: Alex gave lectures on cellular biology, which were my personal favourites. His voice was extremely pleasant and he spoke at a perfect pace. The content was quite straight-forward. The lectures covered the different components of cells and how they function together as well as the origin of these components.

Andrew Drinnan: Andrew gave lectures on plants, as well as cellular respiration and photosynthesis. He was more interested in telling us random facts about plants rather than delivering the content he said he would. However, the parts he taught were quite simplistic and he gave quick summaries at the end of each lecture of the important information that we would need to know (and his exam questions reflected this)

Lauren Salo: Lauren’s lectures were on physiology. For the most part she was very thorough in her explanations and the content was delivered exceptionally well. However, she kept running out of time and would carry over content to the next lecture, resulting in her final lecture only being half completed, which was a shame as it was an interesting lecture.

Mark Green: Only gave 2 lectures on reproduction and they were fantastic. He continually applied the content to real life and at the end of the second lecture did a quiz asking questions that most people should know the answer to (about birth control etc.) and gave out razors and condoms to people who got the answers correct.

Mark Elgar: Mark taught the evolution aspect of the course, which consisted mostly of rote-learning. I didn’t find him to be very engaging but the content was quite easy to remember. He would give monologues about an evolutionary scenario, which came up on the exam word for word. His monologues are still embedded in my memory long after the subject, so he did a good job of ensuring that the content was learnt.

One sample exam as well as extra extended response questions

4.5 Out of 5

These were a new addition this year. The aim was to boost our ‘scientific’ skills (understanding data, writing experiments, hypothesis, written responses etc.). The intention was good but the delivery was not very helpful. I found them to not be very clear in what we supposed to be learning. Often the examples used were obscure and a bit difficult to understand. The content is exam assessable, usually in the form of part of the section 3 content (e.g. write a hypothesis for this experiment, analyse the data).

Biology: An Australian Focus (provided as an interactive e-book)

The tutorials are quite useful depending on what tutor you have. I had Michelle and she was fantastic, she knew exactly where most students would be having trouble and put a great deal of effort into helping us understand it. There are plenty of worksheets that are completed (depending on the tutor) which make fantastic revision material. The tutor will also tell you what is coming up in the future (assessments, practicals) so that you don’t forget.

2x 1 hour lecture per week, 1x 1 hour tutorial per week, 5x 2 hour practical every 2 weeks, 5x 1 hour skills workshop alternating with practical

Semester 1 2017

89 H1

The other reviews are great but I just want to highlight some important bits for those who haven't done biology before. I didn't do any VCE biology before this subject and was REALLY uneasy about it.

The bio dept counteracts this by releasing "biobytes", short videos on topics that will be covered. These are REALLY GOOD, make sure you watch them and understand everything, namely the names/shapes/function of the organelles in eukaryotes and the processes of Respiration and Photosynthesis.

With respect to tutorials/pracs and workshops, what ever the tutors highlight in workshops is REALLY important and they do a good job of covering them. For tutes/pracs make sure you complete the pre-prac test and the post-prac test. In terms of in-prac assessment:

Prac 1 & 2: [I can't draw so I did horrible in these]
- Drawing of cells including labels and heading (Use the apendix to help with the format).
- Multiple choice question(s) at the end of the prac. When the tutors speak make sure you listen! Whatever they're rambling on about usually ends up as the MCQ.

Prac 3:
- Graph and short answer question at the end of the prac.

Prac 4:
- A "point at the structure of the heart" and MCQ on the structues in the heart.
Loved this prac as we cut open an animal heart (Make sure you memorize the structures) so fun!

Prac 5:
- All MCQ at the end of the prac.
This prac was also enjoyable, cutting open a mouse and identifying the components of the digestive system.

Top Tip: Don't feel unmotivated if you start off on a bad foot, my Prac 1 result was 5.5/10.
The other posts pretty much covered everything else.

4.5 Out of 5 (b/c of Pracs 4 and 5)

2014 sem 1

H1 (88)

A 45 minute multiple choice test held mid-semester (10%); work in practical classes during the semester, made up of a combination of written work not exceeding 1000 words, assessment of practical skills within the practical class, or up to 5 short multiple choice tests (20%), completion of 5 independent learning tasks throughout the semester (5%); a written assignment not exceeding 1000 words (5%) a 3-hour written examination on theory and practical work in the examination period (60%)

Yes

Rick Wetherbee, Andrew Drinnan, Geoff Shaw, Stephen Frankenberg, Mark Elgar

One sample exam given just before swotvac.

4 of 5

Prescribed text is 'R B Knox, P Y Ladiges, B K Evans and R Saint, Biology, An Australian Focus 4th Ed, McGraw-Hill, 2009' however you can easily get by with lecture notes alone.

3 x one hour lectures per week, 36 hours of practical activities pre-laboratory activities and computer workshops (independent learning tasks), averaging 3 hours per week and 6 one-hour tutorial/workshop sessions during the semester.

2012, Semester 1

H1

Comments: This is a subject that most science students undertake as part of the prerequisite requirement for a variety of majors. I thought that the content covered was very interesting and the lecture notes were reliable to count on. In addition, the exam at the end of semester was incredibly fair for most students, provided they had put in the hours studying when finishing up the semester (i.e. not just during swotvac). There was a fair amount of content to cover, however this is as to be expected from biology. This is from a student who did not do well in VCE biology (C on one exam), and it just shows that putting in the hours in studying for this subject really pays off. What I didn't exactly like about this subject from personal experience is that sometimes it felt as though my work was being marked quite harshly, for example during one prac losing a couple of marks for not 'elaborating on the results' i.e. providing an average to the results written up in the result table, which was not asked in the particular prac. I didn't think the tutorials helped a great deal, considering we had only 1 per 2 weeks and what was discussed during these tutorials was often not mentioned in the lecture slides, however was expected to know. The mid semester test had quite a few hard questions in there that I didn't remember being fully covered in lectures, however studying for this earlier would have ensured better marks. The 5% assignment we are required to complete was once again also harshly marked, and 1/2 of this assignment was based off writing a correct citation, where we received some resources to help us out with this, however even in following the exact rules of these pieces of information, I still managed to lose about 45% of marks from the assignment. At the end of the day, I did enjoy this subjects and most of the time the lectures were enjoyable too.