Damn gang thank you i’m glad it helps!

Hi, I’m Toby! I’m a big yapper who loves bio with my entire soul 🧫🧫 I got a 47 in 2024 biology, so I get a lot of DMs and comments asking for advice, so I decided to make this document. I periodically check it for your questions (sorry I #forgor to check it the night before the exam). I’m a bio 3/4 tutor and am now pursuing a BSci at UniMelb with a major in pathology. Bio 3/4 is kinda the love of my life in a weird way.

My reddit is u/toby_finn. If you have specific questions (content or technique), feel free to ask. Can’t promise timely replies but I’ll try. I can give you practice papers (including the Frankenpapers I mention below) but be aware it’ll take me a hot minute because I need you to accept ownership of them on Google Drive for the sake of my limited storage. (reciprocally if you have any commercial 2025 / 2026 papers please send them to me I’d madly appreciate it).

Bio tips:

Know how you learn: Personally, I’m super pedantic about details and I just HAVE to understand why and how things work, so I took very detailed notes. For some topics, I pre-read my teacher’s notes and textbook, as I knew they would be tricky, and I wanted to be fully attentive in class. For others I chose not to and just accepted what I was told in class and did further learning on YouTube later whenever I was confused. My general point is that you should have notes that work best for you, meaning use the number of images and diagrams, Google drawings, definitions, sample questions etc. that you need. Make them as precise as you need, and don’t be afraid of the whole ‘ahh don’t review or rewrite your notes’ thing (I’ll get into this later)

Digital vs traditional notes: I took digital for most of the year, with the exception of U3A1. I think U3A1 is the most diagram-heavy, so traditional notes work, but if you’re doing traditional notes, review them at the end of every class and type them up. This forces you to strengthen your knowledge (#EbbinghausForgettingCurve I guess?)

Read official VCAA material: I’m sure after this year’s disastrous exam everyone will be more wary of it, but you need to make sure you cover ALL of the Study Design, including stuff like the scientific method. You can find definitions for ethics terminology in the Study Design as well. Google the ‘VCAA Bio FAQ’ document; it has so many good answers to important questions about what you need to know. It is particularly helpful for Trp Operon and Human evolution. Google and memorise ‘Unpacking the terminology – Data and Measurement in VCE Biology’ VCAA page. This is most important for the Poster SAC (poster info is in the Study Design too)

Textbooks vs extra reading: I did a lot of reading for bio—like I said, I love thorough notes. I had two textbooks—Jacaranda and Pearson (my school uses Pearson). I liked Jacaranda more, however, as it was more accessible (PDF), used simpler language, had better diagrams, fewer obscure case studies and LOTS of numbered steps that makes answering exam questions SO much easier. I think reading two textbooks is overkill in some ways, but I liked it.

Due to having 2 textbooks, I had a 4-stage process for making my notes:

  1. Take notes in class, then at home clean them up for grammar etc.
  2. Read relevant Jacaranda pages and save any photos I want and add examples and clarifications etc
  3. Read relevant Pearson pages and save any photos I want and add examples and clarifications etc (sometimes I skipped this lol I hate Pearson)
  4. Add in all diagrams and photos, and make my own google drawings sometimes (I love google drawings and I believe they are so useful)

 

I got a bunch of extra books like Cambridge Checkpoints, A+ exams, ATARNotes, Insight revision booklets etc. but I never used them. I have heard the 2023 Checkpoints is the best Checkpoints, but I cannot verify.

Practice papers and exam technique: People say do a lot of practice papers, and that is good advice! BUT it’s important you consider a few things:

  1. Timing is single-handedly the most important factor. In practice exams, I was finishing 60–75 mins early, and then for the actual exam I would say around 30 minutes early as it was a weird paper. Start studying for your first SAC by doing practice questions as early as possible, so you have the greatest number of days to get used to answering questions fast. You do not want to leave questions blank!!

  1. Spacing: don’t wait to start practice papers until after your last SAC. I don’t think you need to jump right into it immediately (I didn’t do any till Term 4) but the reason this was okay for me was that I did a tonne of questions throughout the year, which I’ve elaborated on below.

  1. Frankenpapers: Use Unit 3-specific commercial papers to prepare for U3 SACs. But you might notice that most companies don’t produce Unit 4 exams. To study for the U4 SACs, I made ‘Frankenstein papers’, where I went through every VCAA and commercial exam I could find, screenshotted questions relevant to the AoS, and then printed them and did them. I did it untimed but obviously did try to be fast. This meant that throughout the year I was really getting into exam questions for each AoS. This is especially great for MCQ because you can get through like 100 MCQs a day. (P.S. DM ME i will give them to you i’m u/toby_finn on reddit)

  1. DO MORE THAN JUST PRACTICE EXAMS: I do NOT buy all this ‘Oh all you need to do is 50 papers’ thing. No way. Yes, it is critical to do a bunch of papers (I did 13 between September and the exam, but loads of questions throughout the year as I said). But there is SO MUCH in my notes that was never covered in a paper, and I did end up using those niche facts. Certain topics (allergens, lymph system, insulin) rarely come up outside of MCQ, but I have seen Short Answer Qs that require an in-depth level of knowledge on them. I am glad I memorised some niche facts that I didn’t expect to have to pull out in the final exam. If you’re realising you don’t have time to do 50 exams, that’s ok! You need to focus on getting the maximum good out of every exam. During a practice exam, I had a notepad beside me, and whenever I came across a topic where I couldn’t think of a bunch of facts, I wrote it down and at the end of the day I reviewed my notes on that in depth (usually just scribbled them down on butcher’s paper). Then, the night before the exam, I went over all my notes and wrote down EVERY single thing in them that I didn’t know—every niche fact. I do not believe that ‘rewriting your notes is a waste of time’. Rewriting your notes pointlessly is a waste of time. But if you’re focusing on IDing the stuff you don’t know, and practicing distilling everything into numbered steps, I think it can be useful.

  1. Bulletproof Booklet / Error log: During the year, when I did practice questions and SACs, I noted down what questions I got wrong at the bottom of my notes. I also then made a new doc for September onwards where I noted down all my practice exam mistakes (and categorized them as silly/obvious mistakes vs ‘vital’ mistakes it was essential I memorise). I then went over the ‘vital’ mistakes + my ‘end of notes sections’ the night before to just make sure that I REALLY wasn’t going to make those mistakes again.

 

  1. Exam technique: Everyone is different, but my strategy was flipping through the Short Answer section first (ignoring the MCQ) and noting any particularly hard questions or trick Qs etc, understanding all the command terms etc. Then I would leave about 8 mins of reading time to go to the MCQ and would select my answers and try to remember them (usually with a mnemonic e.g. ‘Anne And Ben Don’t Care About Bianca’s Dog’ for AABDCABD) Once reading time ended, I’d mark that down on the MCQ sheet, checking carefully that I didn’t misremember anything, and then continue doing MCQ. This generally helped me save time.

Resources: Here are some resources I recommend

  • Kurzgesagt immunity
  • Kurzgesagt gene editing
  • I love ethics as much as I hate certain applications of forensic science. To strengthen your knowledge of how flawed forensic evidence use can be (for bioethics, or just general knowledge purposes), John Oliver Last Week Tonight has a few pieces about it, as well as gene editing.
  • Vox’s ‘False Positive’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO6kYkoCEsA) is an excellent short doco. It is a perfect case study for the misapplication of some forensic ‘sciences’ in the judicial system and will get you thinking about bioethics and the justice system. However, if the humanities aspect doesn’t sell you, it’s also the best explanation of Short Tandem Repeats I’ve seen to date; you can start at 22:17 if you want to just watch that part (but i’m so serious i’m begging you please learn about forensic sciences errors. Not for vce. Just for fun. For my sake.)

There’s loads more videos I consumed throughout the year, but these are the only ones I saved lol. I will note Amoeba sisters as a good channel, even though I personally don’t think I really benefitted from any of their videos, they do really work for some people.

 

Holiday prep: I would recommend that you read the early textbook chapters for your first Area of Study… for most schools this is either U3A1 basic genetic stuff, biomacromolecules and transcription and translation, or U3A2 enzymatic properties and reactions, respiration and photosynthesis. For holiday pre-reading, I favoured traditional notes using the Cornell Method. I don’t use Cornell for anything else but I think their focus on IDing clear topics and listing questions to investigate later is great.

Watch as many bio-related YouTube videos as you can (textbooks and teachers tend to be bogged down in the details, so less-complicated YouTube videos can help you zoom out). If you didn’t do Unit 1 and 2, invest in learning about the roles of the organelles in the cell, and ethics and experimental design.

Questions: Feel free to use the suggestion/comment feature on Google docs below to ask bio Qs and I’ll try to answer I guess? they can be science or technique related i don’t really mind :0

Question - Would you recommend mindmapping concepts or is that a waste of time?

  • I think mindmapping has its uses! For most concepts I focus more on the sequences and steps for each process, but there are some where mindmapping applies—mostly Unit 4. For example, disease control and prevention, fossils, types of pathogens, human migration, acquired immunity and plant defences I think are all topics I would mind map. Keeping a mind map of an Area of Study could also help with just ensuring you know all the key terms; at the end of every Jacaranda chapter they have a little flowchart of the key concepts covered in the chapter and I think that was useful as a mental checklist for revision. If you’re into memorising definitions, mindmaps can also be helpful! Mindmaps as flowcharts for how the body responds to an infection could also be good! Also I think unpacking ethical case studies as mind maps would be good since almost every factor overlaps in some way :)

Question-Did you take bio in y11 as a standalone ¾ or in y12 along w other subjects?? Curious to know if a high ss is manageable for it while juggling other time-consuming 3/4s ?

  •  I took it in Y12, along with geo, Art CP, english, and methods. I measured the time I spent doing homework for each subject (including spares and practice exams etc.)
  • Bio 8000 mins
  • Geo 5000
  • Art 5000
  • Eng 4000
  • Methods 4000
  • What helped me achieve in bio i think was that i genuinely loved it and never struggled with my motivation for it—i did a lot of bio study in the times when i was super demotivated studying for my other subjects because i find bio’s format appealing and straightforward. I was a joint Honour roll dux for bio in my school and the other dux was also a y12!! It’s definitely possible :)

Question- Did cue cards/info cards help you?

  • My fav study method was super detailed digital notes → write out on big A2 butchers paper sheets all my notes (depending on how cooked i was for time, sometimes i’d only write out stuff i didn’t feel confident in) → highlight everything i didn’t know or remember → put it into a Quizlet
  • I actually paid for Quizlet Plus which … I like it but I’ve heard Knowt is a really good alternative. I just like to type my answers out—pure flashcards like Anki don’t work for me. I’ve also heard Mochi is good. Also physical flashcards are fun but less time efficient.
  • I think flashcards were good for memorising specific wording more than anything, and finicky details (like which of the immune cells are APCs and granulocytes etc.)

question - am i cooked chat?

  • probs not, never too late to lock in. I didn’t really need a high bio score or good atar, but i got one just with the philosophy of “i want to know everything”. I think the universal philosophy of y12 should be “You Won’t Regret Mildly Locking In”. Always better to start trying now, even if the previous assessments haven't gone your way.

Another question - did you do chem or physics….

  • No! I didn’t do chem which was def frustrating at times, but at the end of the day you eventually work out some stuff (like the fact that H+ ions are acidic and are also called protons? Totally new info to me in y12 that now that i’m doing chem at uni i realise it common knowledge :p)

Question - Do you have any of the niche facts?

  • Great question do is
  • It’s been a while
  • Ok from the actual exam i remember things i mentioned include proteins being broken down via hydrolysis and the concept of epigenetics
  • Other niche stuff i like is related to how anaphylaxis works and the way epipens work, comparison of lymphatic and circulatory systems, a bunch about ELISA and RAT (can you tell my favourite area of study)

Question - Did you have to remember the specific numbers of inputs and outputs for photosynthesis and cellular respiration (I know you have to remember ATP yield, but did you have to remember the others?

  • I don’t believe you do. I’d actually discourage knowing exact numbers just because they don’t all add up—there’s a mismatch in the number of hydrogens that you will be horrified to learn about in uni. The only thing that I'd def learn numbers of is ATP, NADH, FADH2 and also CO2 just because I think it helps you wrap your head around the pyruvate oxidation / link reaction / transition reaction step.

Question - I did well on the 2024 but do u think exam pressure will bring down my score

  • It’s very possible, but also depends massively on how harshly you mark. I was generally getting around 75% on practice exams but felt I did extremely poorly when I did my actual exam in 2025, but I ended up getting 90% even though I felt I was doing awfully. It really does depend. If exam pressure becomes serious anxiety please try seeking mental health support and (if you’re continuing education at a secondary or tertiary level next year), getting an alternative exam plan. But tbh if you did well on VCE 2024 I’d assume you’re not bad with being thrown curveball questions, so you’re probably still ahead of the curve, since that’s what caused the most exam pressure for the average student.

Started studying for the exam today, i think im cooked

  • It’s never too late to start studying! You can accomplish a lot in a short period of time—cramming isn’t the ideal for sure but it can be pretty powerful. Building flashcards n stuff throughout the year so that you don’t have to spend your ‘cram time’ on that sort of stuff can be a good strategy since if you’re doing bio ever again (i.e. at uni), i can confirm it gets worse :’)

Did you have a tutor / is a tutor necessary to get a 45

  • No I did not and no it is not. But I was a joint dux and the other student had a tutor so … to each their own. But i will say i think students who do well are just actively engaged and ask a lot of questions, so ask questions, whether that’s to a tutor, reddit, your teacher (ideally, if they’re competent), or a study group.

Do you have to do unit 1/2?

  • No. You can do extremely well in bio with or without 1/2. The biggest benefits of 1/2 are a bit more time to grapple with a few things that students often leave year 10 confused about. It also gives you time work on exam skills like pacing and answering command terms. 1/2 is also an extremely fun course and I do genuinely recommend it purely because it’s enjoyable. But, if you didn’t do 1/2, here is a list of topics to study over the summer. I have included links where I thought it was relevant. Amoeba sisters probably cover most of these in videos.
  • The structure of a nucleotide. DNA vs gene vs chromosomes.  How do mutations (germline + somatic) arise? A layman's understanding of what cancer is.
  • Organelles and structures in plant, animal and bacterial cells. Comparison of prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells.
  • What is endocytosis (pinocytosis / phagocytosis) and exocytosis? (essentially understand that cell membranes are a thing and that they can bud off to bring stuff in or out).
  • A simple understanding of osmosis (movement of water from one area to another) and diffusion across membranes (including simple, facilitated and active transport). Understand related surface area concepts (i.e. the “Square Cube Law”; high Surface Area:Volume ratio is good for transport of substances across a membrane e.g. intestinal microvilli, or structure, e.g. large elephant ears or intestinal villi.)
  • Layman’s understanding of alleles and natural selection.
  • The only actual content from 1/2 that is directly repeated in 3/4 is bioethics, and the key science skills e.g. precision, accuracy etc. Bioethics (and I believe science terms?) are defined in the study design, and science terms can be found on this VCAA webpage. https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce-curriculum/vce-study-designs/biology/unpacking-terminology-data-and-measurement-vce-biology 

HELLO I SAW UR REDDIT POST AND I SAW U SAIDU GOT A 217 ON EXAM DOU MEAN 108/120? IF SO WHAT WERE UR SAC MARKS LIKE? SORRY FOR POSTING UP HERE ITS VERY URGENT also I go macrob my school avg for bio is liek 39 w 50 ppl getting over 40 last year . my u3 sac average is 89 . u4 is also 92 (both after scaling) and i average 88% on prac exams like 108/109 . do u think i have a chance of 45+ BE SO SOS OSSOSOSOOS HONEST

  • Yes that’s pretty impressive and similar to me. My scores, VCAA report, and comments below :)
  • U3A1: 39.5/40 → 99%*
  • U3A2: 33/40 → 82%**
  • U4A1: 37/40  → 93%***
  • U4A2: 37/40 → 93%
  • U4A3: 38/40 → 95%

*If you’re curious how i achieved this, i wanted to be a geneticist as a kid so nothing was stopping me from getting crispr under my belt lol. I was an ethics olympiad kid, debating 3rd speaker (most underrated highschool activity i think on my feet, highly recommend for bio, geo, art and english) still am a rabid leftist so the ethics part was too easy lol. This is my one brag guys please let me have this.

**This was actually my first SAC bc my school is weird hence why it’s lower… also i just hated it lol

***(I got four extra marks by fighting the teacher on this always fight when you know you’re right)

U3 is out of 80 marks and U4 out of 120 marks :)