AP Bio - Hardest AP course?

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>Ahh!</p>

<p>I don't know if this is my school or not, but AP Bio is insane! My school goes on a block scheduling system, so we have to finish the entire curriculum in 1 semester...</p>

<p>Basically, how did you guys learn in this course? The teacher gives us really brief notes and expects us to read 1 chapter per night (plus notes). So it's really a self-study course with an in class mark...</p>

<p>The book is huge! It has about 1600 pages or w.e. that Campbell book has... I don't think I can cope with this, while doing college applications and other AP classes at the same time.</p>

<p>So what I'm wondering is whether AP Bio should be so much more difficult than the other AP courses? Is there a better way to learn than by writing notes on a 1600 page textbook? Should I just drop the course and just self-study since the teacher is not teaching that much?</p>

2

<p>Bio is one of the “difficult” AP’s, as is Chem, Physics, Lit, Euro, USH, and Calc BC. And, yes, the amount of reading is tremendous. It could be brutal on a block schedule, but then I assume you only have three classes on this block?</p>

3

<p>Actually I have 4 >.></p>

<p>AP Chem, AP Physics B and AP French…</p>

<p>I have less to do on these three combined than Bio…</p>

<p>For some reason my school broke down these three AP classes into 2 parts. So I take 1 part in junior year and the second part in senior year.</p>

<p>For some weird reason, they’re cramming the entire AP Bio curriculum in 1 semester…</p>

4

<p>Wow, three science classes and a foreign language. What happened to math and english?</p>

5

<p>Next semester >.></p>

6

<p>Drop it and self-study. That sounds nuts. If you can still use the textbook, use it to study.</p>

7

<p>We have block scheduling too, but all the hard sciences (Chem, Bio) are full-year. It really helps. Anyway, use CliffsNotes to study, and Campbells to reinforce any material you have trouble on, if you choose to self-study.</p>

8

<p>Despite this, AP Bio is still considered one the easiest AP tests. The harder ones include APUSH and the AP English Language and composition</p>

9

<p>AP Bio teachers make the class insane so you can do well on the test. My teacher was impossible and I got a 5 on the AP Exam without even cracking open a book. I guess i got lucky that none of the essays were on muscles, nervous or skeletal systems since i was too lazy to learn them. Still, i filled in 97/100 questions and had a good essay for each of the 4. USH on the other hand, i wan’t so lucky. I expected a 5 after studying intensely and even reading the whole AMSCO book twice and i only got a 4.bummer</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>For me those were jokes. Bio was the only test that I actually had trouble with.</p>

11

<p>Did your teacher check you out a Student Study Guide for Campbell? It covers most of the same material in half the space.</p>

12

<p>The difficulty of AP’s as courses depends on your school and your teacher. </p>

<p>And AP’s as exams depends on what you’re good at.</p>

<p>Period.</p>

13

<p>I got a 4 on Bio but got 5’s on USH, Lang, BC, Physics, etc. I think Bio is the easiest out of all of them - all you need to do is memorize stuff with very little application. I was just young [14 and in 9th grade], and I had never taken an ap before, so I was not really prepared for the exam.</p>

14

<p>AP bio at my old high school was taught by a PhD. He was an insane teacher that taught the most elaborate topics that weren’t even present on the test. But in the end, all the students did well on the test not necessarily well in the class.</p>

<p>But yeah, bio is pretty much considered the hardest AP. In my opinion, Biology is just memorizing facts. If you’ve got a knack for that you’re good to go.</p>

15

<p>AP Bio is a joke test.
No it isn’t the hardest AP. I got a 5 in 9th grade with no previous AP or bio experience.</p>

<p>Anyways…its only like 1300 pages.</p>

<p>Are you a soph?</p>

16

<p>AP Bio at my school is one of the slacker classes. we have people getting Cs in regular Chem coming into the class lol. and from my experiences, its pretty much 60-70% repeat from regular biology. if u did fine in regular biology, you should already be familiar with most of the stuff in textbook (campbell)</p>

17

<p>Yeah, today I just had my first dose of intense AP Bio work. For the next two weeks, we’re covering a chapter a day and being quizzed every day. The weird part is that my teacher doesn’t even teach this year, which is so different from what I’ve heard about her from previous students. I hope I do well on that actual test …</p>