<p>Ok, so if anyone has any advice, I'm in dire need...</p>
<p>We started ecology this week (and I'm missing 3/5 days, atleast ecology is easy to learn on my own). Instead of learning last week, we watched videos about dinosaurs. We rushed through plant and animal systems so that very little stayed in my mind (Cliff's and Kaplan's, along with Campbell, are all my new best friends). The main thing I'm having problems approaching are the labs-- We've only done the transpiration lab and the transformation section of the one where you're supposed to do gel electrophoresis and everything. </p>
<p>So here are my questions:
How important are the labs? My review book says they are included in about 10% of MCQs and 1 FRQ. I can probably work my way through the MCQs pretty easily, but how am I supposed to prepare for these other 10 labs for the FRQ section? What kinds of things about each lab do I need to know? Cliff's has an overview but it's kind of confusing, since it's only designed as a review instead of a lab procedure.</p>
<p>What else can I do to review besides constant reading? I feel like I'm not comprehending as much as I should be, since much of the material I'm reading I have never heard about in class (atleast I can stop studying for other classes now, since I finished my other 3 AP's in the first two days :D).</p>
<p>Now to end this rant, I want to add a disclaimer: I love my bio class. It's super fun and interesting. My teacher is hilarious, and he actually does teach us, it's just that he could care less about the AP exam. He wants to spark our curiosity, which I thoroughly enjoyed the entire year, up until this week when I started stressing about the test. </p>
<p>Also, as a side note, if I'm planning on becoming a biology major, should I just retake freshman bio anyway? The college I'm going to separates freshman bio into a couple of different classes, so a 4 or 5 would test me out of just one of those. I am not too afraid of falling behind in material if I test out of one of those, but moreso I'm afraid I won't have a proper footing in lab procedures.</p>
<p>I'm a little apprehensive about the test as well, because at my school, which is a block school (four classes a day, 90 min. a day, new classes each semester), AP Bio is only a one semester course so we never even got to animal and plant systems. I ended up reading Chap. 30-49 on my own time. What a pain. I'm going to review it (see how much I actually remember...) this weekend. Luckily, from what I've heard/seen, the curve is quite gentle, so it will probably be okay.</p>
<p>For the lab thing, it depends on how much experience you've had in school, primarily in Bio and Chem (especially Chem at my school :) classes. If you've had essentially no lab experience, than I would probably take the freshman course, though I am essentially BSing, as I have no real idea. Good luck Monday!</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat. My teacher spent way too much time on chapters 1-30 (skipping a few here and there) and then told us we were on our own for 40-49, animal systems/reproduction etc. and 7 other random chapters. So... I'm taking calc tomorrow and lit Thursday and then it's all bio for me. Awesome.</p>
<p>yeah Cliffsnotes lab review is kind of iffy. For the MC lab questions, I just did loads of practice tests and reviewed my mistakes. I "learned" the labs this way (my class is online so I didn't do any labs).</p>
<p>For FRQ labs, just make sure you label and graph the data points and axes correctly, and that's 3 pts. I suck at experimental design so I just kind of struggle through it and squeeze off a 5-6 total for that question, which is enough to score the 5.</p>
<p>What I found to work was, instead of just reading, keep doing practice tests. You will retain information by reading wrong answer explanations, and every mistake adds to your knowledge. Just reading through won't tell you what you don't understand and what you do understand. Only practice exams will do that. I suggest the 5 extra AP practice exams from Cliffs. I also find practice exams a little more interesting.</p>
<p>I do suggest reading Cliffs sections on subjects you're iffy about, and maybe a 1-time read through just to reinforce, if you have the time. Maybe buy the Sparks AP Powerpack and go through flashcards during class.</p>
<p>there are about 30 questions on lab (or lab related) but they'll give you a graph or tale and ask you to analyze the results. One essay question is always a lab question as well. By knowing the labs, it is much easier to get a higher score. They're an easy 30 points so why not get them?</p>
<p>If you didn't do the labs, then you can virtually do them online at the above website. The website will also review key concepts that you need to learn from the labs. My teacher used this for one or two of the labs she thought were tedious. You can complete all 12 of the labs within 1-1.5 hours so I would do them, especially if my teacher didn't cover them. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the ideas! I will definitely look at that link this week, and I'll try to find some good practice tests as well, since that's what worked best for me for ACT and SATs. Thanks guys.</p>
<p>....I am going to write love odes to sympathetic graders all over my FRQ booklet. My teacher hasn't taught us half the book (all of anatomy/physiology) and she just told us to guess <strong>weeps</strong></p>
<p>tinu, the number of questions on anatomy/physiology in MC is like 5. There's not that many. You may want to worry if an essay comes up but the information you are required to know is very VERY basic. You could easily learn it if you devoted an hour or so. We didn't even cover all of the systems; we did immune, digestive, respiratory, excretory, nervous, and circulatory. and that link above should help you greatly if you decide that you want to finish the labs.</p>
<p>well that was a joke...but uhhh i actually don't know them! i know its prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase. but what happens in each? beats me. can't wait to start that! </p>
<p>but here the college board breaks down what topics to study for the test. AP:</a> Biology</p>
<p>DO not read Campbell fully. It really helps to go through Barrons and Cliffs- THe combination for Bio is ideal. I got a 5 last year and I read only the two guides before the test.</p>
<p>If you take a look at last year's free response no4, you'll see that the lab question was really hard and most people who did the labs would also have skipped it. YOu should be in good shape for a 5 even if you are not fully ok with labs.</p>
<p>Don't use PR, it's pathetic for Bio. I wouldn't worry too much about the labs, I didn't memorize each one and still managed a 5, all you have to do is go online and find summaries of the ten labs, that's what I did. I also used Sparknotes flashcards, they're okay, but not great.</p>
<p>We didn't cover about 1/4 of the material, because our teacher wanted us to fully understand each concept so she'd give us an extra week to study for a test. Bio tends to be a fairly easy AP test, with questions like last year's famous FR - Tell what biome has an arid, dry climate.</p>
<p>lol we BARELY did ecology, i didnt know there were 9 phylums until probably...20mins ago, our focus was cell cycle, dna rep and photosynthesis....no ecology i have no idea what chordates, and w.e even are....</p>
<p>apple sauce i left my own thread because ur question scared me off. =(
but its ok, weekend of cramming =D</p>
<p>My econ teacher is a great guy but also sucks at preparing us for the AP exam. He just barreled through notes the entire year...no quizzes or worksheets for review.</p>
<p>Haha sorry flamingspirits... you can feel free to hijack my thread if you wish. Or just join in the Q & A session! It's pretty helpful, even if you just read other people's responses. Or you can use resources to answer questions, it'll all help you review :D</p>