• It's so hard for me lmao. It's not that I don't understand it but the test and quizzes are hard. What about u?


  • @Raye yes


  • @Raye well when im studying it im like- damn... this is ez but when i take the test im dead.😐


  • @Raye Yes, they were a bit difficult for me, but I still managed to get average grades. For me, chemistry is harder than biology. The teacher matters a lot, if he knows how to explain it to you and make you understand.Butt still I had to cheat sometimes. :winking_face:


  • @Raye
    Yeh it is difficult for me 🥲


  • @laylaa_ sameeee


  • @justB well cheating is hard cuz the teacher walks around and stuff but u have chemistry next year💀


  • @Raye I have experience, i usually sat in front and i could easily cheat, and like you said the teacher was walking around.But i didn't always cheat :)
    My method of learning is to write what I have to learn and then read. It's easy for me to memorize something I write. I don't know if it helps you.


  • well i dunno but applying it is always appreciated i guess


  • nah bro i took bio in my freshman year since it was required and it was so horrible i absolutely hated it. chem is easier but chem honors will kill u dont do it


  • Biology was harder specially the diagrams and nomenclature, but coding seems more harder 😅😅


  • @taarini that's what in doing rn lol


  • litterally currently yes and im sure for everyone, biology jus sucks lmfao


  • @Raye that sucks good luck babe youll need it


  • "Was" = hard

    Yes to the "was" part of the question.

    learning

    I think you put your finger on it, because it was made a mandatory subject in school that entailed graded testing and quizzes etc at frequent intervals it got to be a bit tedious and/or nerve wracking.

    "Is" ≠ hard

    That said, to the "is" part of the question. I'd definitely have to say no. I won't pretend that I'm an autodidact or polymath here, but I often do decide to delve back into past studies from time to time - whether that's one of the sciences, mathematics, the social humanities, linguistics, art, anything really. And in that light, where there's no real external pressure, I'm just learning for the sake of understanding, it suddenly gets SO. MUCH. EASIER.

    lightbulb

    Sure, I might be going at a snail's pace that'd piss off some of my teachers in the past. But no matter how leisurely my progression is, the fact that I'm not moving onto the next concept or topic in that subject until and unless I've gained a solid grasp of the current material means that I'm slowly but steadily gaining true mastery of the subject since I no longer have gaps in what I know.

    Even if I know very little compared to someone else, what I know, I know that I know... if that makes sense? Cuz it's no longer this rushed and frantic weekly memorization technique (most of which I immediately forget by the following week anyway). No, I can legit talk to you about anything from

    • the physics of subatomic particles
      • like quarks,
      • protons,
      • neutrons,
    • the covalence of electrons in atoms
      • and how that ties to the chemistry of molecules,
    • which eventually leads to a convo about complex organic molecular compounds,
    • then we take it a step further by talking about possible abiogenesis events and the experimental evidence to support those hypothetical models of how the building-blocks of life like amino-acids and self-replicating RNA came to be
    • voila now we're talking life!
      • Here's tonight's homework, stand in front of the mirror and say "deoxyribose nucleic acid" 3 times, fast. You'll get so dizzy you'll start to see double helixes everywhere 🧬
    • now we take it another order of magnitude further by talking about the speciation of complex forms of life,
    • and before you know it - here we are - talking about the anatomy and biology of various flora and fauna in our evolutionary tree of life.

    To me, that sort of understanding of how everything interconnects is invaluable. It's definitely worth more than the silly "one-speed fits-all" curricula and bell-curve based grading-metric they used to use back in my school days (and, it sounds like, still do for plenty of you as well). To know the subject well enough that I can rephrase it and teach it to someone else -- and not just memorizing and parroting it, but to be able to hold a conversation about it by organically connecting to and drawing from some of the other sciences, disciplines or fields and interweaving those ideas together... that's a superpower.

    Terrible (but pragmatic) advice

    So... as "bad" as this next bit of advice will sound.. go ahead and memories/cheat/etc whatever you have to to get those fast-paced short-term "sprints" of grades.

    learning

    I hate saying that, but then again

    • the entire damn school system is basically just a giant assembly line from K through 12
      • and that model hasn't changed since we copied it from the Prussians.
    • Attendance is required, compulsory and mandatory - so says the state.
    • Everyone is divided by age, not by what subjects they need or want to learn.
    • Leaving little or no opportunity for students to explore a subject in depth, to develop a passion, to hone a skill. It's just an hour for one subject, then an hour for another.
    • Hear the bell ring? Off to be herded to the next class like cattle. Your teacher for that next class is about to take attendance, so go to your assigned seat, in your neat little rows, in your cubicle-shaped desk-attached chair so that you can be marked present on this cell in that row of their nice and neat spreadsheet.
    • Teachers are considered qualified if, and only if, they have the required certificate. Whether they can teach well is irrelevant.
      • (oh, also, for those few rare gems that deserve credit for caring... there is little to no recognition of superb teachers, except perhaps from individual students who notice)
    • And the content of whatever they teach is fixed, and taught at a fixed rate, even if that doesn’t work for some students.
      • It centers around a state-standardized curriculum and lesson plans, not real-life experiences.
      • Therefore both the students and teachers alike come to believe that the main purpose of school is preparing students to get a good grade
        • on monthly exams
        • or the weekly quizzes
        • or the daily homework
      • ... even if this relentless pacing leads to (as was mentioned by a few people above)
        • shoddy memorization techniques preferred over actual learning
        • and certain students opting to cheat in order to get that passing grade rather than risk falling behind everyone else.
    • TL;DR version: The OVER TWO CENTURIES OLD Prussian model is associated with discipline, obedience, subservience, conformity, grading, rigid curriculum, mindless memorization, suppression of creativity, suppression of intelligence, and various other negatives.

    I wish I could wave a wand and somehow magically change your school system to mirror something more like Plato's academy rather than a Prussian factory. Where the entire system was set up with learning as their primary goal. Generally they were voluntary; students were not required to attend, they wanted to do so. Often teachers were not paid, or received donations; they wanted to transmit knowledge and wisdom. This is the antithesis of the system that is widespread today.

    Unfortunately, I can't magic the madness of the Prussian model away for you. What's more, I've gone through that machinery already, so I can empathize with your situation of "hating" a subject (when really it's the compulsory nature of it, the way in which it's taught, and the frantic pacing, topped off with the risk/reward system). I get it. So I'm not gonna pretend to take some higher ground over you and say y'all should quit cheating or memorizing for grades. I don't think you will learn that way, but if I'm being completely honest, I don't think you (or I) learn effectively with this system of schooling regardless of whether we used those shortcuts. So... do what you have to do "for the grade"

    learning

    But afterwards, at some point down the road, whether it's your summer vacation, or after you graduate high school, or several years down the road in your spare time, I'd implore you to learn simply for the sake of learning what you can learn. Treat it like pet hobby or a side project and go at your own pace. Meaning you ought to feel free to walk away without worry whenever you get stuck on some weird biology concept you can't grasp... cuz that breathing room is what gives you the energy to come back to it with a drive rather than becoming increasingly disappointed and disinterested.

    Or, at least, that's been my experience so far. Maybe it's not universal for all, but I think there are enough kernels of truth in what I've said that at least some of it will resonate with you. So... yeah, do what you have to do now (knowing that you're not gaining mastery at it, you're just "sprinting" to get the next dangling carrot grade) but then whenever this entire K-12 factory is done and over with, i.e. you look back at how biology "was" -- try re-learning how it "is" again (no more constant, cyclical, relentless "sprints" but focusing on a more self-paced "marathon" just to see if you have it in you to make that mile). I'm pretty much willing to bet money that you'll be surprised at how much easier it comes to you when all that crazy chaotic daily/weekly "passing grade" pressure drops away from your weary shoulders.

    TL;DR / Conclusion

    Anywho, I've rambled on long enough 😅 Basically, I don't think bio is hard... but I used to think so, and I understand why you all would. It's cuz our school system is (quite literally) over 200 years old and none of the things that are broken and badly designed about it have changed one bit since way back then. It's dumb. It was deeply unfair to me and it's unfair to you too. But I hope, once "the factory" spits you out the other side, you're able to shake all that conditioning off and be willing to explore and discover old subjects (whether that be bio, or any other field that seems "hard" right now) to re-learn what you actually turn out to have a knack and passion for when not pressured to perform for their spreadsheets.

    learning


  • @taarini lmao thx


  • @Raye What kind of topics are you viewing? To me it wasnt hard, not that I learned a lot tho; I just enjoyed contemplating the pictures, specially those of sea life. XD mostly theory.


  • @DaNii rn cells but over the semester we will go over cells, DNA, genetics, stuff like thay


  • @AllAboutGay same