I've read somewhere that biology in JC does not carry over much
to Uni - but I chose it because I absolutely hated physics in
secondary school. Not much of a choice there, heh.
What about the nature of biology in JC? The only lasting
impression I current have is that biology is
1) lots of memory work
2) requires a certain level of understanding
3) questions require keywords (chemistry does as well -
bleh)
very true. for my jc... memory, understanding, keywords are very
impt and the phrasing... many a times i memorise the exact phrasing
of the ans... cos my teachers are pretty fussy...
10x more distinctions? That's probably an exaggeration.
Nonetheless, that's good to hear, for the sake of the H2 Bio
students in your JC.
As for why I discourage pple from taking H2 Bio (perhaps to look
at it more constructively, I encourage pple to take H2 Chem 1st,
then H2 Physics 2, then H2 Bio last).
It's nothing personal, no hard feelings really. I'm personally
more of a Chem and Bio person more than a Physics person. I do like
Bio, and have nothing against it as a subject.
What I feel sorry for (the students), is the H2 syllabus in
particular, as well as how JCs go about teaching it. True, one
can argue the limitations/flaws of how JCs teach, applies to
Physics and Chemistry as well. But the damage (to the student),
imo, is less severe than for Bio.
I don't want to go into a detailed critique of the H2 Bio
syllabus, and/or why the way JCs teach it is less than ideal.
Anyone interested can google it out. I'm far from the only one who
feels this way about.
Now, to the most important point (as to why I encourage Chem and
Physics over Bio, specifically at 'A' levels), which is essentially
about the sake of the student. It is a fact, that in
terms of prerequisites for number of University
Science courses, H2 Chem and H2 Physics ranks far above
H2 Biology, in terms of relevance or importance.
Of course, to be fair, there are a few (a minority, to be sure)
of Uni courses that favour H2 Bio over H2 Physics, such as Medicine
(at least according to a current medical student who posted
here a couple weeks ago).
"Then, isn't your advice harmful to those students who
want to take a course in the Uni which requires H2 Biology, or at
least favours it (over H2 Chem or H2 Physics)?"
Firstly, such courses are a definite minority. More to the point
though, I expect students to be cognitive enough, to know what
he/she/you want for yourself, in terms of a future
career/profession, and therefore what the relevant Uni course is.
If you're dead sure you want to study a Uni course which favors Bio
over Phys or Chem, then by all means go ahead.
My advice is targeted at the vast majority of students, who will
find H2 Chem and H2 Physics far more useful than H2 Bio, when
applying for University. Students exempt from this category, should
be cognitive enough to know my advice doesn't directly
apply to them.
After all that's said and done, congrats to those who did/do
well in H2 Biology, including for the 2009 'A' level batch (results
will be out soon next month).
opps...my percent sign is missing. it is like bio dist rate is
90% while physics is like 80%...