The story of Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) is a story that mirrors that of Dubai. When it was founded in 2004 as the first technology-free zone in the emirate, DSO was designed to be a community where innovation, research and education would co-exist. Over the past two decades, DSO has evolved from a largely commercial hub to a fully developed residential community where globally mobile professional families have made their homes and sent their children to the schools along the DSO-Academic City corridor, and where the long-term plans for academic achievement and success that A Level Biology is part of have begun to take shape. For students in this community who aspire to venture into Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Pharmacy, and the life sciences, A Level Biology tuition is not "enrichment" - it is the structured learning and expert support that makes the difference between the grades students are getting now and the grades they will need to get to university. Amourion Training Institute's campus at Office 410, SIT Tower, DSO is where this occurs. Dr. Anil Khare addresses our students' questions.
My son/daughter is good at memorizing content but does not do well on long questions. What is the issue?
Dr. Anil Khare: Memory and performance are distinct skill sets in A Level Biology, and mixing up the two is one of the main causes of educated guesswork in A Level Biology. Long answer questions which are the six mark, eight mark and essay type questions which are worth the most marks on every paper in Biology, are not tests of memory. They are tests of structured biological reasoning. A student must be able to generate every mark point expected, structure them in a logical order, use appropriate biological words and phrases and explicitly state cause and effect relationships. A student with the content knowledge but a poorly structured paragraph response will miss marks regularly. We solve this problem by teaching students to think about longer questions as having an internal structure, by planning their answer and ensuring that all required mark points are explicitly mentioned.
I have a child who is confused with the overlap of topics in A Level Biology. How can you help with integrated questions?
Dr. Anil Khare: Integrated questions are where A Level Biology most clearly rewards genuine understanding over isolated topic revision. Questions that link cellular respiration with muscle contraction, or protein synthesis and protein structure, or ecology and human activity - these cannot be answered by students who have prepared for the exam by revising each topic separately, without an understanding of the connections. We work from the beginning of the A Level Biology course with the idea that it is a system, and build connections between topics as we introduce new material to make sure that students have the synoptic knowledge required to answer integrated examination questions. This approach not only aids synoptic questions but all questions.
My son wants to get an A in A Level Biology but is currently getting a B. What will he need to do differently?
Dr Anil Khare: The only gap between grade B and an A in A Level Biology is not of content. B grade students generally have good subject knowledge but fail to score well in three distinct, correctable ways. First, biological word usage, writing a molecule is carried, for instance, rather than actively transported, is a mark lost that cannot be replaced by knowledge. Second, incomplete answers that are mostly correct, but lack the one or two detail points the examiner is looking for. Third, poor evaluation on the most challenging questions - reporting results without considering mechanisms or limitations. We concentrate the revision period on the above three points, using past paper questions and mark schemes to practice the level of detail, completeness and evaluation that consistently earn A grades.
My child's school doesn't have much lab time. Does this impact on their practical exam?
Dr. Anil Khare: Not as much as students worry because A Level Biology practical exams are written questions, rather than practical tests. The skills assessed - design of experiment, naming of variables, recording, graphing, spotting of anomalies and writing of conclusion - can all be practiced in a tuition environment with past papers. We teach the students exactly what the examiners want: axes labels, choice of graph, use of language and format of written experimental conclusions. Students who tackle practical questions in this way find this component of the examination less difficult than their experience in school labs would have prepared them for.
The A Level Biology Grade That Opens the Doors You Are Working Toward
A Level Biology is a test of content recall, examination accuracy, reasoning and understanding. For students across Dubai Silicon Oasis looking for the right support to build that skill set, Amourion Training Institute's DSO campus is the place to be.
Contact Dr. Anil Khare
Phone: +971 55 956 4344 | +971 4355 4850
Email: anilkhare@anilkhare.com
Website: www.anilkhare.com <
Dubai Centers: Sheikh Zayed Road | Jumeirah Lakes Towers | Dubai Silicon Oasis | Abu Dhabi: Hamdan Street