Unit 3 Biology exam feedback
By Heath McGregor on Jun 9, 2009 in VCE Biology, VCE Exams
Hi all,
By now, you should have finished the Unit 3 VCE Biology exam for 2009.
What did you think of the paper? What was hard? What was easy? How do you think you went?
Let me know your thoughts and comments below (please keep them clean!)…cheers
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Harry | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
Multiple choice I found harder than previous yrs but short answer was way easier than 07-08 exams. Btw what is the role of cholesterol in the cell membrane??? Had no idea!
James | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
MC was much harder
SA was sort of… i dunno.. just really sort of broad and not direct like previous VCAA exmas.
1st Question was easy on proteins
2nd was one DNA. RNA. relatively easy – although i hadnt really prepared at al for this
3rd was photosynthesis/pigments/chlorophyll – had no idea and had never come across despite the absurd number of prac exams id done
4th was experimental design – relatively straight forward – last question wasnt sure (said the odour would deter caterpillars? apparently it attracts the wasps; which then eat the caterpillars :S)
5th was neurons i think, the one with a diagram of a reflec arc
6th was a TSH egative ffedback diagram quite stragithforward – bit of signal transduction
7th was about clonal selection b/t cells
8th was on designer drugs – found the last one on this a bit trciky
There were really easy MC questions, then i found there were some real WTF?!!?!?! ones i just hadnt seen before or anything.
e.g
-blood one, made a guess think igot it wrong
-last one on proteome/proteins
-one on membrane bound organelles
-similarities between plant and animal hormones?
overall thought aiming for a mid 60 which will hopefully give me a mid.high range A+
Bina | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
I found it really fine.. except for the one with the breathing thingy..
for the blood mc I chose O giving to the other one as O is a universal donor..
plant one I chose the fluid answer.. wasnt too sure..
overall, very ok…!
anyone finished like 30 min early??
the best qu for sure was to draw a nucleotide.. a joke I must say..
CHEM coming up!
Bina | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
anyone knows around what mark is an A+?
tina | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
it was alrite.. i guess. but pretty confusing in some questions cause it was more logical thinking and stuff.
the last question was hard.. had no idea why that one was better than the other chemicals. and the chlorophyll question… was a bit stumped on that one.
it seemed harder than the past papers… and my hands were freezing up so it was harder to write. =(
but i just hope i did okay.
James | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
well i believe last years midyear a 61/75 got a A+
i reckon this years was a bit harder tho in comparison
Phu | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
I found this exam really ambiguous as the wording was different to previous years.
Some of the answers were straight recall, as for the Cholesterol question, I referred to the Fluid Mosaic Model and Cholesterol maintains Fluidity in the cell membrane so it isn’t riggid.
I was pretty frustrated that I wasn’t prepared enough for the Dna/Rna/nervous system questions.
I’m really hoping I get above a B, I managed to finish all the questions.
Tough exam in my opinion.
Sarah | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
am i the only one who found the exam not as bad as i was excpecting
the respiration question was crap
the one with the 3 graphs march april and may was crap too though
the MC was pretty hard i found
Dana | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
It definitely wasnt as hard as i thought. there were a couple of MC that were really stumping, but im not sure. i think i stuffed up the one about if the plant shed its leaves or not and to do with the differing levels of chlorophyll and i (stupidly) wrote that the cholesterol made the membrane rigid but i didnt mean it!!! i only just realised. idiot
and to tine- my hands froze up too!
Bina | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
hmm cholesterol does make it more rigid and less fluid but at very cold temp it prevents it from solidifying…
thats what i wrote and the books agree with me..
now i am stressing out.. help?
Sarah | Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
i wrote it makes it more rigid too…
Milano | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
i wrote sum crap like it keeps the cell’s flexibility..
feeling doubtful at the moment
;(
Sam | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Section B had a lot of straight recall, not alot of application type like what is generally there.
But when you think the MC is tricker (like i did with a few) it does make you feel a bit uneasy :S
G | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Does anyone remember what the first m.c was- was it about prions or viroids? I just had a freak out that I made a very stupid mistake! =[
T | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
The first multiple choice was something along the lines of what are prions made of.
Sumeya | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
yh the first was about prions. the answer was proteins……the mc was harder this year but the short answers wasnt as hard as i expected it to be…what did you guys label for the.. neuron quetion? was it connector neauron? and what was the other one..there was two…
Andrew | Jun 13, 2009 | Reply
does anyone know a website where i can find the exam answers?
i heard there are a couple of sites i just can’t find them on google
thanks!
246 | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply
If anyone knows where the answers put the website up
izzi | Jun 16, 2009 | Reply
I’m think cholesterol helps the membrane balance between extremes- such as being too firm as well as preventing it from becoming overly fluid. But I wasn’t really thinking and wrote about it helping it be rigid.
then again I think they should give us marks for fluidity or rigidity if they are both correct…
Jess | Jun 16, 2009 | Reply
yeah… i second andrews question… if anyone knows where to find answers, please share! I heard this exam might be scaled down (by 1 or 2) since it was easy compared to previous years. Heck it was nothing compared to chem :S
Dolores | Jul 27, 2009 | Reply
im totally freaking out now!
i though i did okay.. kind of thought that the MC was actually okay, but then i read the exam paper again on the vcaa website..& now im not really feeling all that confident. i finished the exam, but some questions i cant recall ever doing them?? lol Short answer question were resonable.. just the nevouse system stuff really got me confused. but hopefully i get higher than a B.*FINGERS CROSSED
Liz | Aug 3, 2009 | Reply
i thought it was great. got me pumped for chem haha (which was a blow out
)
the very last question on the designer drug, why it was better? took me a while to nut it out. but i thought it was because you could weaken the bonds more quickly/easily because there was a piece missing (induce fit hypothesis) therefore increase reate of reaction?? haha.
i said the cholestrol added stability to the membrane. i though rigidity would be the wrong word (seeing as you want it to be a bit flexible.)
haha. the caterpillar one. it was only worth one mark but i said so that they could have one last chance to reproduce hahahaha.
hoping for an A+!!!!
chicka | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
hey does anyone know what the top mark was for this exam???
i got 81% and an A+….there has to be someone higher than that??!!
hannah | Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
got a B.
thought i wouldnt do as well as i did, but apparently i knew my stuff.
ahwell, finals here i come
rahima | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
it was sooo hard dis site really helped
gosh i wonder wat i got
i refused to noe
Danielle | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
In the weekend leading up to mid year exams (I had Biology & Psychology to study for) I had a severe flu (and NO, not of the Swine variety), but this worked in my favour to some degree, as I was unable to go out and do other things. But I think it may have hampered by ability to retain as much information as I am actually capable of,but anyhow…
Anyway, when I was waiting outside our examination room and i was trying to remain as calm as I could, I was feeling fine, i knew i studied hard but then everybody kept coming up to me asking last minute questions- not sure whether it was an attempt to psyche me out but I think it worked because i began to second guess myself and whether there was ANYTHING what so ever that I’s skipped.
And then I thought PRIONS! WHAT ARE THEY? That was that tiny weeny section in the textbook and study guides that i was going to of course ‘read later’, as you do…
and i contemplated pulling my book out during the last minute before i went in but i though nahhh as if they will have anything on the paper about Prions!
*walk into the room & reading time starts*
M.C
Q. What are Prions?
*freaks out!*
i read the options, and proteins stood out clearly (maybe because just about everything is or is made of protein)
so i took a stab! Went home and checked the good old book, and I was right. But seriously…trust it to be the FIRST question!
Another question that I’d really messed up was the role of the tRNA, i think it was in S.A section asking the role, and i wrote down the role of mRNA istead.
I think this was partially due to the majority of the content on mRNA and tRNA is covered early on in unit 4, not unit 3.
If i was given that question again I’d confidently answer it.
I disliked the catepillar question, i hate experimental design with a passion!!
Overall the exam wasn’t too bad!
I’d done many past exams and I thought this was a fair bit harder but not bad all the same.
I got my results back, and I got a B which I’m pretty pleased with
Danielle | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
I enjoyed having to draw a nucleotide haha so many people crashed and burned with that one apparently.
Alot has to be said for listening and paying attention in exam revision lectures, when we were all told he should know exactly how to draw a nucelotide because it WILL be in the exam…and the lecturer was an examiner.
elizabeth | Nov 3, 2009 | Reply
you see, this is why i LOVE doing both bio and chem.
they help me sooo much in both subjects together haha
oh so what about the unit 4 one yesterday?
wanna make it any longer! only 7 questions in short answer…but some pretty full on reading and writing in them!!! i almost didn’t finish haha
Mahima Tellambura | Feb 28, 2010 | Reply
The Cholestorol in the Cell Memebrane reduces the permeability of water and water soluble substances across the membrane.
jojo | Apr 26, 2011 | Reply
hi,
could anyone help me. i am going to do the unit 3 exam next term. please tell me some tips that would be handy.
thanks a lot.