Hear from students studying VCE Biology
Juho (Year 11 )
My name is Juho and I’ve chosen to undertake VCE Biology as I personally always had a great passion for science. From what I’ve experienced so far in Biology, you can expect normal topics such as cells, proteins, DNA, immune system, evolution etc. You delve deep into the whole world of interconnected functions between organisms and systems, and eventually your understanding of the natural processes will develop and maybe you’ll appreciate nature more. This is one of the only subjects I don’t find myself forced to study because I always end up revisiting it just for my curiosity’s sake. However, something that can be challenging in this subject is the specificity, but if you practise and revise enough, you can easily overcome it. It’s good for you and peers to have discussions as well as ask questions often as it can further your knowledge to eventually improve. I hope you choose Biology like I did and have fun with it.
Kushari (Year 12 Biology)
My name is Kushari and I’ve chosen Biology because I have always had an interest in learning about the world we live in and finding out the reason why certain things happen. If you end up choosing this subject it will be really worthwhile. You can expect to learn so many new things, especially about your own body that you didn’t know before. There are so many processes that happen inside of us that keep us functioning everyday but we have no clue about them. In Unit 3, AOS 1, we cover proteins and nucleic acids as well as aspects like genetic engineering which is really fascinating. This area of study was probably my favourite. Next in AOS 2, we learn about photosynthesis and cellular respiration. I know we learn about these processes all throughout middle school and Unit ½ and you might have even learned about it in primary school. However, in Unit 3/4 we go into depth and explore all the reactions that take place. You look at these processes from a new point of view and all the questions you had before get answered. In Unit 4, you learn about pathogens as well as evolution. One of my favourite things about Biology is that I initially didn’t expect to learn so much about the real-world, but I did. That’s the rewarding thing about this subject, when I first started, I didn’t believe I would learn as much. But as the lessons continued, I realised I could make so many connections and even understand my own body and what goes on way better. You might believe the subject is content heavy and you're not wrong, that’s the most challenging thing about it, it’s very content heavy. There is a lot of content to learn and understand for Biology, but don’t let that stop you from studying the subject! One tip I have is to always ask questions if you’re unsure or even curious about something (it will pay off) and also keeping up to date with your notes and the work in class will help a lot. Trust me, as long as you have a passion and interest you will ace VCE Biology.