Acing Biology

Biology is more of a conceptual subject but it does involve learning the facts. You won't need to memorize everything forcefully. As you revise the concepts over and over, the facts will unknowingly start to settle in your mind.

Just like other subjects, start biology from day 1. But don't go for the past papers. Just read the book (I'd recommend the one by Mary Jones and Geoff Jones) portion by portion and divide the course equally so that you are done with the book once one and a half year prior to the paper. And as you move on, don't forget to attempt the in-text and end-of-chapter questions as well since they will help you learn some of the facts.

After one round of the syllabus coverage, revise what you studied and after going through each topic, start with topical past papers from 2005 to 2008 (paper 1 and 2). You should have a year left before you are done with the first revision.

At this point, start paper 6. Remember: This paper may seem to come from the same course but it actually is very different than p1 and p2. For the preparation of p6, all you'll need is practice. And don't leave out the blue practical boxes if you are using the book by Mary and Geoff Jones. They are very important for helping you attempt it. And as you move forth, you will find that the questions seem to be quite similar. So for this very paper, do notice the statements which are repeatedly appearing in the question papers.

Start p6, p2 and p1 from 2008 till 2011. You don't need to time yourself. Just train yourself for solving yearly papers. It doesn't matter if you exceed the time limit at this point. Just make sure you complete the papers and mark them. If you are scoring less in some questions, mark them and revise the concepts that the questions are related to.

With six months remaining, you should start doing papers from 2012 onward. Time yourself now. Attempt at least five papers in a week. You may do p1 the first day followed by p2 on the second and p6 on the third and so on.

By the time you are done, you will be having at least two weeks to go for your first paper. If it's p6, I'd suggest you skim through the papers you've done once more (no need to cram them) and resolve the questions you didn't score very well on before. Also go through the repeated statements you noted down.

If it's p1 and p2, I'd suggest going through the past papers and solving the questions you weren't scoring well on earlier.

And just a tip: While practicing for the last 2 subjective questions in p2, don't write fully structured sentences. Just write bullets to save your time. Don't do this in the actual paper though. Try to write as best as you can.  

That's all I have. If you have any questions, you can comment below. :)