<p>Is anybody like beginning to self-study AP Bio right now? I'm using Cliff's, and I feel overwhelmed by just flipping through the book and seeing all those complicated processes and pictures. :( Granted, I'm in an honors bio class, but there's a ton of stuff already I feel I haven't learned after completing the chem intro at the beginning of Cliff's. I'm taking notes as I go, but I tend to write almost everything down, such as everything in bold and their definitions, and it's taking a super long time to progress through the book. Right now, I'm on page 26. Out of 348 (excluding practice tests). </p>
<p>Anybody have any similar experiences? I'm not sure if a 5 is in reach at this point, but I'm aiming for a 4. I really need some advice on how best to approach self-studying AP Bio. What should I focus on? Is it necessary to know every little detail of the processes? Like in the pictures, do you have to know where every H atom and OH molecule are located? Any and all help would be greeeatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Sigh.. I feel your pain.. Ok. If you're going to self study for the Bio in less than a month you need three books. Get Princeton Review first of all and read through it carefully. Princeton is the best book out there for review because it stays away from in-depth concepts and helps you focus on the main processes and functions. This will definately help you. If you are really feeling unprepared, this is the way to go. At least with a broad understanding you should be able to get a 3. If you're really looking to score a 4 or 5 you'll need to do more. Once you've gone through Princeton's go through Barrons. The material will be very hard and very detailed, but it will prepare you for the actual thing. Then read over Cliff's because this gives the best detail, and it is detail that is relavent to the test.. If you don't feel confident at all about it and don't do at least something like I've said you're going to be in for a rough ride..</p>
<p>P.S. Take a practice test if you haven't to assess the situation.</p>
<p>PPS. If you're really in a rush don't write notes. The information is the prep books is extremely condensed and if you write stuff down you'll basically be copying the entire page. Instead, just read for understanding. Read a page 2-3 times if you have to.. It will still be faster than notes.</p>
<p>Don't bother taking notes; the CliffsAP book is notes in and of itself. Simply memorize the material. I know it seems like a lot, but if you devote at least an hour to the material each day, you can get through it. I wouldn't advise self-studying for AP bio (one of the hardest AP classes), but since you've already started, just keep plowing through it. You might also get other review books to supplement/reinforce the information, with practice quizzes/exams.</p>
<p>"Is it necessary to know every little detail of the processes?"</p>
<p>No. Know the more general flow of what's happening. You don't need to know all the names of enzymes/proteins/etc., but you do need to know, for example, that in cellular respiration, the electrons are passed from protein to protein (whose names you need not know), cross the membrane and generate ATP, etc.</p>
<p>"Like in the pictures, do you have to know where every H atom and OH molecule are located?"</p>
<p>No, definitely not. The AP exam is only ~80 questions, so it can't go very in-depth. You might have a general idea of H and OH placement in the functional groups (carboxyl, carbonyl, etc.).</p>
<p>Omg. Thanks NaughtySanta. I dont know what I should do. I have until May 14th for this. How do i get it into memory. Its so hard to memorize so much in like 3 weeks. </p>
<p>I guess I'll Go thru PR and then Barrons and finally the Cliffs. </p>
<p>I highly suggest if you're really short on time .. to just stick with one review book alone (in this case, Cliffs). I self studied w/cliffs alone last year and made a 5, so I'm sure it's plenty reliable. I would use other review books for supplement only after you finish one review book and have time to skim through another one.</p>
<p>Oh, and instead of taking notes, you can underline important things in the book and jot down terms to the side ... so when you're reviewing, you can go back and look through those terms to see if there are any that appear unfamiliar. It's what I do, but everybody works differently.</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat. But, I'm like 175 pages in. The only bad thing is I never study for it cause I'm still getting over mono and I come home and sleep until like 9, do other homework, and go back to sleep. I'm so screwed =[.</p>
<p>PS: If I don't get a good grade this year then I'm actually going to check out the AP book at my school and study all year next year.</p>
<p>You're going to get a 1. Sorry to break it to you, but you can't self-study AP Bio and expect to cram it in only a few short weeks. The AP Class doesn't even cover ALL the material that's possible on the exam.</p>
<p>If you don't get a 1, PM me, and I'll send you a cookie.</p>
<p>Thanks for giving everyone here confidence, hahaha.</p>
<p>I've heard numerous cases in my school were someone reads Cliffs twice before the test, and have gotten 5's. Nothing's impossible, and the curve's pretty lenient. Although, yeah, studying throughout the course of the year would have made more sense.</p>
<p>I studied a few weeks before the exam I guess ... but then I took a break from bio and focussed more on world history, and for the last 4 days before AP Bio, I crammed and reread through the entire cliffs book from beginning to end. It was really a pain >_< but alot of the things in the book were on the exam.</p>
<p>I peeked at the answers to the FRQs of the Cliffs practice test. I expected to see like a page of information to answer each question, but instead I just see a couple of bullets for each part (a,b,c etc.) for each question. It says 1 point for each and a maximum of 4. So one line = one point? Or do you have to go a lot more in depth? I'm assuming this, but I want to be sure. For instance, the sample questions at the end of every chapter contain lengthy answers. These are what the graders are looking for right?</p>
<p>For those who took the exam, typically, how much space did you take up per question?</p>
<p>The readers grade you on how much stuff you have that they are looking for. They basically have a list of things similar to what you see in the Cliffs (those bullets of info), and as long as you talk about them, you get that point. If you can get 3 points max for a certain part, and that part has a list of 6 things you can address ... as long as you address 3 of them, they readers don't really care about the rest of your answer for that part.</p>
<p>It's a good idea to write as much as you know about the question so you can be sure that you address all the stuff, but don't say anything extra that they don't need. If the question asks to explain photosynthesis, just regurgitate all the terms and processes you know about photosynthesis (in paragraph form, not bullets) ... if you adress enough things that they look for in their list, you get the full credit. =P</p>
<p>Don't waste time writing stuff that doesn't answer the question. It won't help.</p>
<p>A good analogy:
Some people who play pool believe that if you hit the balls hard enough on the opening break, at least one of the balls will go into a pocket. Doesn't work. Neither does writing down everything you know.</p>
<p>lucidity: How much detail should you know for processes like photosynthesis and respiration? I'm using Cliffs to self study, but chapters on those processes and others have so much detail. To do well on the FR sections, can you just know the basics, instead of trying to soak in all the details and crazy vocabularies?</p>
<p>Also, what chapters or topics are commonly tested on the FR section of the Exam?</p>