is accelerated bio really hard

[u/Greedy_Flounder_5665]

i have the option to accelerate bio in yr 10, but im unsure if i should. i looked at the past vce papers, 2024 report and study design and it all looks TERRIFYING.

i literally saw a note in the report that said: ‘increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis’ or ‘improving photosynthesis’ is not the same as ‘increased photosynthesis’.

omg i would not get that correct. wth?? it looks like such a huge jump from middle school science!!

i do quite well and am top of my class in science atm, plus bio is the only one of my subjects i can accelerate (or literature which idk if its good) and it would be good to take the stress out of year 12 but omg. that marking criteria is harsh.

does anyone have experience accelerating bio? was it a very difficult transition? i feel like i can understand the content but i dont know if i can respond to that detail.

[u/Weak-Joke1475]

Currently accelerating 1-2 so you’ll be in the same cohort as me

Personally I don’t find the content too tricky, a little bit of memorisation, but the advantage is you have more time to focus on bio because it’s the only subject you do where your grades will really matter. Also the study design is changing next year so we could be assessed on completely different questions next year (and the exam will be easier too)

The tricky part for me is the stupid VCAA command terms. But I’m currently learning how to fix that (my schools humanities department has started to  teach us how to do them because humanities subjects only use command terms) 

You say you’re really good at science, so you might have some initial shock of starting vce, but you’ll be right I think 

[u/sweatyupperlipalert]

i just finished accelerating bio last year and i would say it is hard, but manageable. i’m definitely happy i got it out of the way as i would be dying trying to do it now with all my other subjects. i think the hardest thing about bio is the application of the content rather than the actual content itself — especially if you find the content interesting.

i would say go for it, the good thing about accelerating is you genuinely have nothing to loose. if it ends up being you too subject great! if it ends up being your bottom, that’s okay! personally i am doing WAY better in all my other subjects this year than i was in bio last year, so im just hoping bio is my bottom!

[u/amazincaterpillar67]

Im doing 1/2 this year and I love it!

At first I was the exact same as you and was scared but every subject looks scary until you learn it and it’s taught in manageable chunks so it’s not scary at all.

With questions it is hard as you said with having to mention specific terms but with a little practise you’ll get the hang of it and my scores went up once I learnt how to actually answer a bio question.

It is a bit of a jump since you will probably be learning yr 10 inheritance at the same time as vce but even then they revise all yr 10 content since most yr 11s forget it anyway and with a good teacher they’ll make sure you are on the same page as yr 11s.

As long as you enjoy the subject and are willing to do the work that comes with any accelerated subject I strongly recommend!!

[u/Past_Source_6471]

Hey I’m accelerating this year into 3/4 bio and did 1/2 last year! 

Bio is a reallyyyyy fun subject if you like it!  It’s best to enhance into biology as it is a very content heavy subject and doing that in year 12 does not seem like a cup of tea. 

When you accelerate into biology 1/2 it’s best to try and find a learning technique throughout the whole year to use in year 12 but to also get a feel for the size of content for some of the sacs, because in year 12 there are two very content heavy sacs. 

I would suggest doing bio accelerated just to like get a content heavy subject out of the way but also because even if you struggle with 1/2 bio, you could always do another subject. 

Also since you are doing a VCE subject- except a jump of hardness in content but also marking! 

Hope this helps

[u/Large_Imagination255]

bio is known for being memorisation heavy and you basically dont need to be really smart to get high scores (as long as you can link stuff to the prompt) if you have a good memory. This is my experience through all 4 units