Varsity Tutors can help you to explore more concepts in the academic field of biology, as part of your test prep or class assignments by linking you to an experienced and understanding biology tutor. Working with biology tutors can help you to work toward academic progress in a lower-pressure environment, especially when your biology tutoring is one-on-one like this would be. Instead of wasting precious time searching for "biology tutors near me," you can use that time to focus on the concepts in biology that you're trying to understand more fully before tests and to complete your classwork. A private biology tutor can help you to get more done and it's easy to get started quickly when you contact us today. Keep reading to learn how a tutor can reinforce your classwork and complement your efforts in the academic discipline of biology.
What is Biology?
Biology is one of the natural sciences. It focuses on living organisms and includes a wide variety of concepts, from physical structures of cells and chemical processes to physiological mechanisms and evolution. The academic field as is known today has a long history, dating back to ancient times, although it came to prominence in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The word was first used in the 1700s by a Swedish scientist, and then by a German who translated Carl Linnaeus' work. The increase in the use of the microscope, in the 1600s and 1700s, led to scientists' explorations of cells, bacteria, and other tiny organisms.
More recently biology subtopics, like genetics, have flourished and expanded. There's still much to know and learn, academically and professionally, in the field of biology. Biology is a big field to study and explore. There's a lot you can learn about, and there are many opportunities in life to use what you know. There are many different branches in the field of biology, and focused biology tutoring with a private biology tutor can help you to feel comfortable as you examine topics in any of these. Some of the different topics in the overarching biological sciences include the study of the environment (ecology), animals (zoology), genetics, plants (botany), and many more. Evolutionary biology and research is well-known. The field of biology also includes topics like how drugs work in the body and how the body's immune system works. The list below outlines a few of the branches of biology but is not an exhaustive list.
Subdisciplines of Biology (non-comprehensive)
- Ecology
- Biochemistry
- Botany
- Molecular biology
- Immunology
- Zoology
- Pharmacology
- Neuroscience
- Microbiology
- Evolutionary biology
- Cell biology
- Genetics
If you're just getting started in your study of biology, enlisting the help of biology tutors early on can help you to feel more confident in any of the subtopics in biology that you're learning about. Biology tutors can help you to develop specific skills that you can use in describing what happens in a cell, in classifying different species of animals, plants and organisms, and putting scientific theories to use. You may even go beyond foundational understanding and skills in biology to explore future opportunities in the field.
Learning Biology
Even though specific biology courses typically don't begin until high school, students of all ages can benefit from biology tutoring, because students first learn about animals and plants early in their school years. Students learn about different animals - mammals, fish, reptiles, and insects - from an early age and that's zoology. They even learn about fossils and prehistoric life - that's paleontology - sometimes before they're in junior high. Teachers can help students in early grades to become more comfortable with the various topics in biology over the years. It's usually a sophomore year course when students take an actual biology class. That's a great time to begin looking for a "biology tutor near me" or "biology tutoring near me," because that's about the time that a student starts focusing on biology as a subject in its entirety.
Even if your student is learning about biology earlier than their tenth-grade year, or you want to get a head start on that education, biology tutoring is a great option. One-on-one sessions allow a biology tutor to focus solely on your student's academic concerns, and to build a study plan that highlights their strengths and builds on their weaknesses to help improve those.
A biology tutor can help you to recall more than just concepts in biology, but to put that knowledge to use. They can help you to connect what you're learning in school (at any level) with what you see and experience in your daily life.
The list below outlines some of the skills you could be expected to use and explore in a biology course, although it is not an exhaustive list of the topics you might find in a biology course.
Biology A Curriculum Topics (Suggested by the National Human Genome Research Institute)
- Use methods of qualitative and quantitative observation.
- Describe the general structures, functions, biochemistry and diversity of cells.
- Describe levels of organization.
- Explain perpetuation of species.
- Apply laws of classical genetics and the principles of chromosomal inheritance to problems of genetic differences in individuals.
- Explain the general functions of DNA and RNA.
- Compare scientific theories of the origin and evolution of living things.
- Apply methods of taxonomy to classify organism.
- Identify career opportunities in the biological area.
Biology and Testing
Biology students will likely face a number of standardized exams throughout the years from high school through graduate school. These tests have attributes that make them different from regular classroom tests, and when you prepare for them, it's a good idea to do more than just content review. Your biology tutor can help you learn valuable test-taking techniques and strategies that can help you demonstrate your true ability level in the subject. These might include strategies to aid in time management or learning about the test's structure and question formats.
Some standardized exams for biology students include:
- AP Biology – AP classes give high school students the opportunity to take entry-level college classes and potentially earn credits that could allow them to skip introductory-level college courses. The final exam assesses subjects like the chemistry of life, cellular energetics, gene expression and regulation, and more.
- CLEP Biology – CLEP exams allow college students to earn credit by demonstrating the skills they have already learned, allowing them to skip over the earliest classes in a subject to save on tuition and time. The Biology CLEP tests molecular and cellular biology, organismal biology, and population biology.
- GRE Biology Subject Test – This test is taken by undergraduates who plan to apply to a graduate school program in almost any major field. The Biology Subject test includes material evaluating your understanding of metabolism, organelles, chromosomes, immunobiology, plant structure and reproduction, and so on.
High school students can benefit from biology tutoring too, whether they want a little help in understanding their course work or they want to prepare for end-of-the-year exams. A biology tutor can give you the chance to slow down and really focus on learning the material you go through in biology class each day. One-on-one biology tutoring means that you don't have to feel like you're slowing others down, or feel embarrassed if you have to ask a question.
Standardized tests for college admission and college-level exams to gain academic credit for knowledge of a subject aren't the only biology exams that you might have to take. You may have biology tests in end-of-the-year tests as well. One of those is the Pennsylvania Keystone Exam. Three years of results of the Pennsylvania Keystone Exam for eleventh-grade biology students are outlined below.
Pennsylvania Keystone Exam Biology Scores - Grade 11
| Proficiency Level | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Advanced | 20.6% | 27.1% | 27.6% |
| Proficient | 38.3% | 38.7% | 35.9% |
| Basic | 22.7% | 19.7% | 20.5% |
| Below Basic | 18.4% | 14.5% | 16% |
Why Work With a Tutor?
If you're searching for "biology tutors near me," Varsity Tutors can help you or your student to feel more prepared during the test preparation process too. Working with a biology tutor means that you can get personalized learning plans or add to a test prep plan in a variety of ways. You don't have to search for "biology tutoring near me" to get test assistance that helps you to focus, or to study the way you learn best. A biology tutor can help with more than just the academic topic too. They can help you to manage test anxiety and show you time management techniques that you may want to employ to ensure that you work through as many of your test questions as possible during the time allotted.
Biology tutors understand the concepts you might be learning, and what you might be tested on, even if you're taking a state-required biology exam as a high school student. They can help you develop plans that include practice tests, verbal quizzes, and lecture-style biology tutoring sessions if you're a student who learns best by writing things down. A biology tutor can use a variety of approaches that work best with your learning style.
A biology tutor can find supplementary materials and sample test questions that can help you gain more from one-on-one study sessions than you might get in regular class sessions. They can help you focus more on what you're learning in class, to pick apart the concepts you're less sure of while ensuring that your study plan also highlights what you do feel most comfortable with. A biology tutor can also help you to understand what your ideal tutoring session looks like so that you can create that kind of experience on your own throughout the academic year.
Biology isn't a topic that's going away - it's the study of the basics of life, and everything around us. That's why it's important to make sure you understand the concepts as you learn them.
Like your tutor, we want you to get the most out of your sessions and your time. That's why we're here. Reaching out to Varsity Tutors is a fantastic way to stop wasting time by searching for a "biology tutor near me" and to get started on your focused one-on-one study of biology, for test prep and to feel like you're gaining confidence and comfort in your academic understanding of the topic. Whether you're a college student looking for some help with your studies or the parent of a high school student who wants to help their student succeed and prepare for further academic study or professional work, we would love to help you take the stress out of biology. Contact us today so we can connect you with the biology tutor who meets your individual needs. We hope to hear from you soon.
