Part 1 (Short questions):  This section carries 30 per cent of the total marks so, if your target is a high grade, you need to score well here

However, the questions are drawn from every nook and cranny of the course so, if you have been selective with your study, you can be badly caught out.

You are required to answer six from seven questions (each carries 20 marks) but it is advisable to answer all the questions if possible, and all parts to each question. Leave no blank spaces. You will be marked from your best six answers.

A good way to prepare is to know all the answers to the past exam papers, including those prior to 1990 - it is amazing how frequently the "old" questions are repeated. Write your answers in pencil into the exam book, have them checked by your teacher, and correct them if necessary. It is also a good idea to practice on the ordinary-level past papers. These include some tricky and interesting questions, which help to reinforce the basics and build your confidence.

Great revision can be done by getting a friend to quiz you on these questions, asking them in different sequences. Don't be satisfied until you can "rattle-off" all the answers without even thinking.

Part 2

(Longer, multi-part questions)

Take the time to choose your best questions in this section. You are required to answer four questions from eight (each carries 70 marks) so there is a good choice available. One way to choose would be to read each question carefully, think about it, assess the grade you would expect to achieve if you answered it, and then jot the grade beside it. When you have completed this exercise for all questions, select the four highest graded questions.

Start with your "best" question, followed by your second-best, and so on. This will build confidence, but be careful not to go over 30 minutes on your first answer. Check over it quickly and move on to the next question.

Follow your teacher's advice about reading and interpreting the question.

Detailed trawling through past exam papers catches a few interesting "creatures of habit" in biology.

HIGHER LEVEL

Almost every year questions appear on the following relatively short topics: plant life-cycles, animal life-cycles, photosynthesis, genetics and ecology. These topics, along with human biology, represent the backbone of the exam paper. Your primary aim should be to learn these areas thoroughly - they pay out with great regularity.

Do not make the mistake of neglecting an item this year because it appeared on the exam paper last year - there was a full question on insects in 2000 yet it featured strongly the following year! Human biology is generally the most interesting area for students, but it is very long and it is not possible to predict which topics will be examined each year.

About 10 per cent of students obtain an A grade each year, indicating they have scored highly in all parts of each question, including the difficult small parts. These are the topics that are avoided by most students in their revision but essential for those aiming for a high grade - the rule is "if you don't like it, you must learn it!"

About 65 per cent of students obtain a C grade or higher, so most parts of each question should appear manageable if you have done some revision.

ORDINARY LEVEL

Certain topics appear on the exam paper with remarkable regularity. Watch out for the following: the cell, mitosis, basic genetics, plant life-cycles, animal life-cycles, ecology, soil, photosynthesis, respiration, enzymes and human biology.

Many of the questions are based on material learned in the biology section of higher Junior Cert science. In 2001 you could have scored 80 per cent on Part 2 just by knowing your Junior Cert science. (See questions 8, 9, 13 and 15 (b) of 2001.) Amazingly, you could have scored 80 per cent on Part 1 on only Junior Cert material. (See questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.)

A good idea when studying the past papers is to highlight or underline the material you recognise from the Junior Cert. Keep your Junior Cert science book or revision book and use it. You can almost reduce your workload to one-third of what you had to do at Junior Cert.

FOUR PROBLEM AREAS

DIAGRAMS

Drawings are difficult to avoid in biology. Four of the eight questions in 2001 required you to draw diagrams.

But fear not - you don't need artistic ability to gain full marks for your drawings. Just make them big, and have all the important parts in the correct positions. Do not waste your time on shading or colour and only use pencil.

Like other information, the diagrams must be learned. You need to practise drawing them and test yourself regularly. When practising, don't write out the labels, just mentally test yourself on the names of the different parts as you draw them.

In the exam, the labelling of diagrams is essential. If you are not instructed as to which parts to label, or how many, then label every part. Remember to include a title for each diagram - it is often taken as a label.

EXPERIMENTS

Biology is supposed to be an experimental science and each year experiments feature in three or four questions.

You may be asked to describe how to run a particular experiment. Don't panic if you can't remember every detail. For example, the most detailed experiment in the biology syllabus requires 19 points of information, but full marks can be gained for just 13 of them.

An increasingly popular type of question on experiments involves being asked how to perform a particular aspect of the experiment, e.g. how to control the temperature, or to explain the reason for a particular procedure such as placing a green leaf into boiling alcohol. It is therefore important to understand the experiment, not just learn it by heart.

GRAPHS

A graph is just a "picture" of the numerical connection between two variables, e.g. the level of light intensity and the rate of photosynthesis. It does not take any mathematical ability, just a little care and attention to draw a graph accurately. Your only problem may be that you forget to label which variable is on each axis and the units the variable is measured in.

You are expected to know the shapes of certain graphs - such as all the graphs on enzymes, photosynthesis, insect growth, hormones of the human female menstrual cycle, ADH and water reabsorption by the kidney, population curve of a bacterial culture and some others.

DETAIL

The detail required in the answer can be assessed from the wording of the question itself or from the allocation of marks on the paper. If the question uses the words "brief" or "concise" or "write notes on", then only a short answer is needed, with the major points mentioned - there will be no marks for tiny details.

The marks indicate the time you have to answer the question. A lot of time means a lot of detail is expected. A little time means just a short answer with the main points. Make the answer fit the time.