How To Remember SPM Biology Facts

HOW TO REMEMBER SPM BIOLOGY FACTS (by Nathanael LYS, BMHS 2009)
Now, what I am expounding here is not the RULE OF THE THUMB, rather, these are MY methods to
study SPM Biology
1. Please SELECT ONE reference book only as your primary reference (apart from your textbook).
2. Please DONT DUMP YOUR TEXTBOOK although we may think GOSH, THE TEXTBOOK SAYS
RELATIVELY LESS THAN THE REFERENCE BOOK because IT IS THE MAIN OUTLINE FOR YOUR SYLLABUS
3. AFTER OBEYING THE TOP 2 RULES ABOVE:
(i) Read the textbook first- 2 rounds
(ii) Then read your reference book. MAKE IT A HABIT TO POINT OUT THE FACTS WHICH ARE NOT
MENTIONED IN YOUR TEXTBOOK BUT ARE STATED IN YOUR REFERENCE BOOK! HIGHLIGHT THEM.
(iii) Remember, when you read your reference book for the first time, observe which facts are
already in your textbook and which facts arent. For facts which you can find in the textbook but
are not stated in the reference, please scribble them in your reference book. Then HIGHLIGHT IT.
(iv) Read/skim through the reference book of your choice once through (for that particular
unit/chapter). You CANT remember most of what you read at this stage. BUT, take note of the
main topics covered in the chapter, the WHOLE outline of the chapter and ALL the definitions
involved.
(v) Then, read for the SECOND TIME, SLOWLY AND INTELLIGENTLY. (Intelligent here means To
question every fact you read. E.g. Why is photosynthesis called photosynthesis? Why? What is
involved? How? What are the factors affecting photosynthesis? If possible, after reading a certain
paragraph/section/unit, you BETTER make diagrams to help you remember.)
(vi) Whilst reading for the second time, it is better to have highlighters with you. Highlight the
phrases which are striking to you (striking means, which you know youll surely forget). After
highlighting, please READ THROUGH THE CHAPTER/UNIT/SECTION again, and start UNDERSTANDING
EVERY WORD YOU READ.
(vii) Remember, DONT MEMORIZE, instead UNDERSTAND. Really know what
mechanisms/processes/factors/inferences and how they apply/work. Dont go about blindly
memorizing (and please refer to a dictionary is you dont understand any words).
E.g. of memorizing cases:
Teacher: please define what Eutrophication is?
Student: (after blindly memorizing) Erm, it is the artificial nutrient enrichment of the aquatic
system with organic material or inorganic nutrients causing an excessive growth of aquatic life.
Teacher: Good. Can you explain what you have just said?
Student: I just memorize, but I dont know what I am saying.
4. Start to make short notes RIGHT AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE REFERENCE. Close the book, chuck it
away and then to test yourself how much you remember, for example you have just studied The
Process of Mitosis, scribble on palm-sized cards what Mitosis is about. Please write in POINT FORM
and KEY WORDS. USE UNDERSTANDABLE SHORTFORMS.
E.g. MITOTIC CELL DIVISION
Interphase: G1-gap-synthesize new matl.- MetaRa high-crucial- decision- divide/not- chrom fine- xvisiblestill chromatin

S-synthesis- replicate- 2 ident. Sis. Chromatids- iden. Copy of chrom orig. DNA
G2-gap- cont. grow- MetaRa still high- accum E- compl. Final prep. 4 div.
(doesnt matter whether your friends understand it or not, this IS your system of remembering)
If you cant remember, just move on to other point s you still recall. Then refer back. After that,
jot them on your short-notes-palm-cards. Highlight those points you failed to remember on your
palm cards.
5. Read through your palm cards. Connect IN YOUR HEAD the words you have written to form the
COMPLETE idea. Scan through the cards a few times until you are SO FAMILIAR WITH THE WORDS
YOU HAVE JOTTED UNTIL YOU CAN EVEN FORM WHOLE PARAGRAPHS BY JUST LOOKING AT THOSE
SCRIBBLED WORDS/SHORT FORMS.
6. READ them aloud to YOURSELF.
7. Question yourself and test yourself based on your palm cards.
8. Once you have mastered your palm cards, read the reference book again. See which information
still sounds foreign to you. (Foreign meaning you seem to be unable to remember them easily.
Jot then on a piece of paper labeled Points to remember. Read this after you have read your palm
cards.)
9. Once you have exhausted your reference book, you are PERMITTED to REPEAT this process (steps
3 to 8) on ANOTHER reference book of your choice. Add whatever points that are NEW to you to
your palm cards. Points/Definitions which you find difficult to memorize MUST be written on the
Points To Remember paper. Please use separate palm cards for separate units. After finishing the
entire syllabus, youll have a THICK stack of palm cards, but the entire reference book in your
head.
10. Now that you have roughly the Textbook, Reference book and possibly another reference book
in your head, YOU MUST START TEACHING. Start with yourself. Lecture yourself on the unit you
have just studied and made notes on. If it doesnt sound right to you, re-check and then re-lecture
yourself. You may repeat to yourself as many times as you want until youre comfortable (meaning
very very familiar) with your subject matter. Lecture yourself till youve finished the entire
unit/section of that chapter.
11. If youre still jerky, you may refer to your reference book .
12. If you have an audience (a parent at home/sibling), you may preach what you have studied to
him/her. If she/he can understand what you are saying, then you have just become a reference
book. Good!
13. If you havent, then you may want to lecture yourself again.
14. Now you have already had roughly 70% of the unit/section in your head. You may think you
a;ready know it well enough but we need to really test it. DO QUESTIONS FROM ALL THE EXERCISE
BOOKS. Good publishers you should must at least finish: Pelangi, Arah Pendidikan, Sasbadi,
Longman. If you dont know, REFER BACK to your notes. If the answer cant be found there, REFER
to your REFERENCE book. If you find it there, PLEASE WRITE YOUR ANSWER USING RED INK. No point
CHEATING. And based on my observation, you tend to remember your mistakes better with red ink.
(LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES OK).

15. If the answer cant be found in any reference book (including the school textbook), DONT
REFER to the answers at the back of the exercise book yet. FINISH ALL THE OTHER QUESTIONS
FIRST.
16. Check your answers. DO CORRECTION WITH RED INK (OR ANY WAY YOU WANT, AS LONG AS YOU
REMEMBER)
17. Make an ANALYSIS OF YOUR ERRORS. Cross refer with your palm-notes and if your palm-notes
lack the answers you were looking for when you were answering the questions, please UPDATE
them. Then refer back to your reference book and read up on the sections where errors occurred.
UNDERLINE THE FACTS INVOLVED WITH RED-INK.
18. DONT BE AFRAID TO ATTEMPT QUESTIONS OF ALL EXERCISE BOOKS. DO AND LEARN.
19. After doing the exercise books, I advise you to OPEN YOUR PAST-YEAR QUESTION BOOK. (It is
okay to buy your past-year question book in Form 4, youll just be short of 1 years paper in Form 5)
20. LOOK for all questions PERTAINING TO THE UNIT/SECTION YOU HAVE JUST STUDIED.
21. DO THOSE QUESTIONS AND CHECK YOUR ANSWER. REPEAT STEPS 14-17.
22. Its ok to SCRIBBLE random short notes/symbolisms all over your exercise books/ reference
books to help you remember facts and concepts. You draw use crude pictures to help you
remember.
23. NOTE: DO the structured questions first, then check. Then, ATTEMPT the ESSAY QUESTIONS.
24. FOR ESSAY QUESTIONS, apply STEPS 14-17. Write the points you left out in red ink and jot them
in your palm notes. Refer to your reference book and highlight the points involved. (Place an * next
to the points you forgot to mention in the essay/structured questions. Highlight them as well and
underline them in red ink.)
25. For EXPERIMENTS in that particular section/unit you are studying (if any), READ THEM AFTER
YOU HAVE MANAGED TO MASTER THE FACTS IN THAT PARTICULAR SECTION/UNIT. Please take note of
the:
1-OBJECTIVE
2-HYPOTHESIS
3-VARIABLES
4-APPARATUS/MATERIALS
5-TECHNIQUE
6-PROCEDURES USED TO CONTROL ALL VARIABLES , MEASURE/CALIBRATE RESULTS, AND TO RECORD
READINGS (DO REMEMBER THE INSTRUMENTS/FORMULA/METHOD/CONCEPT YOU USED/APPLIED IN
YOUR PROCEDURES)
7-PRESENTATION OF DATA/ TABULATION OF DATA/ OBSERVATIONS/RESULTS
8-ANALYSIS OF DATA/ GRAPHS
9-CONCLUSION
10-DISCUSSION AND ALL THE INFERENCES FOR THE OBSERVATIONS
26. MAKE PALM NOTES (again repeat steps 4-8) and ATTEMPT THE QUESTIONS. Repeat steps 14-17.

27. When studying Experiment questions, PAY ATTENTION to the Hypothesis, the
Observations/Results and their Inferences, Graphs, and the Discussion section. AND ALSO PAY
ATTENTION TO SET-UP OF APPARATUS---understand as to why the apparatus is set up that way (e.g.
why the Liebig condenser always has water flowing through the lower nozzle and exiting through
the upper nozzle which is the first point of contact between the steam and the glass wall of the
Liebig condenser. To help you remember, this is the reason why coolants i.e. water, is flowed flow
the lower 'cooler' point to the upper 'warmer' point:To maintain a smooth and correctly directed
thermal gradient so as to minimise the risk of thermal shock to adjacent glassware (in other words,
to prevent the glass from cracking). Sketch the diagramme of the set-up a few times to be familiar
with it and record it on a piece of palm card for your quick reference.
28. When studying experiment questions, do not forget to try to speculate what kind of
operational-definition questions may be asked in Paper 3. And you may also want to start asking
yourself deduction questions. (Such as Based on the observations above, what can you deduce
about)
29. Having done all these steps 3-28, you MUST STILL REFER TO YOUR PALM NOTES AT LEAST ONCE
DAILY. No last minute work is permitted. And refer to the exercises youve done before constantly. A
once-daily skimming suffices.
30. WHAT IF you cant find time to do structured/essay exercises? You may look at the answers at
the back of the book and make them your study notes. Treat the answer sheet as your
short/express notes. No harm. But of course Ill still encourage you to attempt the exercises if you
can.
31. Concerning Diagrams and Pictures: In the exam they may ask you to draw a
diagram/sketch/anatomy, hence you must also take note how to draw those diagrams, e.g. the
Anatomy of the Respiratory System of a Frog. You may sketch these diagrams in your palm notes or
in your personal exercise book which you may name MY DIAGRAMS FOR BIO. Dont forget to label
them (in your book and in your exam)
I have already said all there is to be said. Thank you.
P.S. do remember that to enable ourselves to remember at least 90% of what we have studied,
we MUST SEE, HEAR, SPEAK AND APPLY/PRACTISE what we have learnt.