how do you make an A in biology?

Answer 1

Study. Then study. Read your textbook, then study again.

Answer 2

Two pieces of advice:

1. Understand the roots of terms (Latin and Greek). It unlocks all the jargon.

For example, when you encounter a term like 'endoplasmic reticulum' break it down (endo=inside, plasma=fluid, reticle=net ... so this refers to some net-like object inside the fluid of the cell). This may seem like more work at first, but it becomes *less* work as you go on because when you encounter new words like 'endochrine', 'endothermic', or 'endoscope' ... or 'protoplasm' or 'cytoplasm' ... you not only have a head-start on remembering the word ... but the words all start to relate *to each other*.

Another example ... when you learn the words 'prokaryote' and 'eukaryote' ... it's good to know that pro='before', eu='true', karyote='nut' (the nucleus). It is then no longer a task of sheer memorization to understand that prokaryotes came 'before' eukaryotes which have a 'true nucleus' ... it's all right there in the terms.

Or the word 'chromosome'. chrome='color' and soma='body'. That tells you a little about how chromosomes were discovered (they stained differently in microscope slides), and also gives you a head start on words like 'cytosome', or 'somatic'.

Learn a handful of Latin/Greek roots, and you have a lot *less* to memorize.


2. Look for *unifying* concepts. The two BIG ones in Biology are: cell theory, and evolution theory. These are what make disconnected facts all start to come together.

For example, cell theory helps you understand fundamental *structural* differences between bacteria (no nucleus) and eukaryotes (a true nucleus)... or between animals (no cell wall, and therefore far less rigid strucure), and plants (cell wall, far more rigid bodies).

Or evolution theory explains the *tree* of life, how embryos develop, why structures (like the bat's wing and the human hand) have the same bone structure, why we have a big toe, why we need a new flu shot every year, why plant chlorophyll is so close in chemical structure to animal hemoglobin, and on and on.

Without these unifying concepts, biology (like any science) is just a huge bunch of disconnected facts you have to memorize. Science really is about understanding the *unifying* concepts ... not just getting lost in the details of memorizing the Kreb's cycle.


Both of these things brings Biology *together* ... and this makes the difference between a B (doing well on a test by sheer effort), and an A (really *understanding* things using *less* effort).

{P.S.}
The above applies not only to Biology ... but to Chemistry, Physics ... or *ALL* science. Unify, don't just memorize.

Answer 3

Study.

But if you're lucky maybe you'll be like me and just "get it." I never did the homework never studied for a test and got all A's on the tests and passed with more than a 100 A.

Answer 4

Two slanted lines and a cross-bar about half-way up. Pretty much the same way you would do it in any other subject.

Answer 5

study

Answer 6

Ask lots of questions.

Answer 7

study hard