How to Be Successful in Honors Biology

Although you might not believe me right now, you will most likely be challenged in this course at some point during the school year.  Over the years, I have learned the strategies and practices of successful students and decided to share them with you!  If you are ever wondering what you can do to improve your understanding of concepts in Honors Biology, and thus your grade, please check out the links below!

Get Organized

There is an awful lot going on in your life and it can be overwhelming to keep everything organized! It can be very helpful to have all of the information that you need to know in one central location. Consider these resources to help you with organization and planning:

  Weekly Class Planner - if you want to organize your life one week at a time

Linking your Canvas Calendar to your Google Calendar - have notifications sent right to your phone! 

Paper Weekly Planner - this is how Mr. J. did things back in his day! They work! That's why they are still making them over 100 years after he graduated!

Take and Use Organized Notes

For the most part, the first time you learn about a concept in Honors Biology, you will be asked to read about it in your textbook and take notes.  The best way to do this is to take organized notes.  Organized notes are NOT a list of bullet points!  Although it takes more time initially, writing organized notes now will help you study more actively and efficiently later.  There are several ways to take organized notes:

Standard Outline  |  Power Notes (Mr. J.'s method)  |  

Cornell Notes  (can be used in conjunction with outline or Power Notes) 

Know How To Use Your Learning Targets

Everyone always asks me if there is a study guide to help them prepare for a test.  That answer is YES, but not the way that you might be expecting.  I do not give you a list of questions that are meant to help you review material.  Instead, I give you a list of Learning Targets that show you what you will be expected to do in order to demonstrate your understanding of a concept.  You will notice that each Learning Target starts with "I can" and is followed by some sort of verb (describe, explain, compare, analyze, etc.)  Treat these Learning Targets as study guide questions.  You should be looking at them throughout the entire unit, rather than just at the end.  

Remember, there are 6 different ways to demonstrate your understanding of a concept.  These 6 ways can be divided into 3 different categories:

Beginning: remembering and understanding

Progressing: applying and analyzing

Mastery: evaluating and creating

Your tests will ask you some "beginning" level questions, but most of the questions will focus on applying your understanding of a concept to a new situation, analyzing data sets, evaluating the validity of certain statements based on your own knowledge or available data, and creating connections between the variety of different topics throughout a unit.  

Have An Active Mind While Studying

For many people, "studying" involves simply looking over notes and trying to memorize information.  You will be expected to do more on your tests than simply repeat and/or verify facts from your notes.  In order to prepare for this, you must have an active mind while studying.  There are many ways to do this, including:

Performing the tasks of your Learning Targets

Five Word (or less!) Definitions - Can you take a word and define it in 5 words or less?  This forces you to really think about a topic in a new way and get down to what is most important about that topic.

Create and Use Note Cards - These are not your regular run-of-the-mill note cards that your grandparents used back in the old days!  These are the real deal!  They ask you to do more with a concept and demonstrate your knowledge in a variety of ways.  

Concept Mapping - All of the concepts in a unit are presented together because they are connected to each other.  A concept map allows you to show those connections.  It will also "train your brain" to think about how different ideas are related, which will come in handy on the test since you will often be asked to do this.  We will model these in class as well.  

Research-Based Study Strategies

How to Study Smarter, NOT Longer - these strategies come from a psychologist who knows how the brain works.  You should try them!

It is Better to Guess an Answer Rather Than Google it - you will ultimately do better on tests etc.  Also, I don't write questions that I want you to Google.  I want you to think!

Hand-Write Your Notes Rather Than Type Them - when you write by hand, you need to paraphrase and put things into your own words.  You are processing the information, which begins the learning process.  This does not happen when you type because you can type faster than you can write.  It is an even worse idea to simply take a picture of something to use as your notes.  This does not engage your brain at all. 

Knowing What You Don't Know is Just as Important - in one study, students improved their grades by comparing predicted quiz/test results to actual results.  They were able to see how confident they were prior to a test and whether or not that confidence was warranted.  They then adjusted their study strategies and classroom behavior, which led to an improvement in their scores.  Consider doing this yourself!