<p>I am signed up for an online AP Bio course, where the teacher wants us to study from Campbell Biology text. Doesn't favor review books. I am finding studying the huge tome quite challenging.</p>
<p>How does one get a 5 on AP Bio?</p>
<p>Will this work - read Campbell, study Cliffs or PR?</p>
<p>What other strategies? Please post tips especially for free response questions.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I have not taken AP Bio, but I recommend that you read campbell and study Cliffs. Cliffs is an excellent guide for AP Biology. It is very concise. Good Luck :)</p>
<p>Cliffs was a great book, i used it in the days leading up to the exam as a refresher, and I got my 5. You should definately focus on the textbook and in class notes, using Cliffs only as a review for tests and the AP, as it is a concise overview that doesn't give you everything you may need. </p>
<p>for free response questions, print out and complete every single past test you can find...my teacher did this for us, and by reviewing them all and practicing writing specifically for the test, I was able to leave the test extremely confident that I had gotten a damn near perfect score on the free response section. </p>
<p>Just keep practicing them and drilling the key topics (theres only so many they can do, and many overlap) and you'll do fine.</p>
<p>Campbell is over packed with tons of information you probablyu wouldnt need. I'm taking AP Bio now, and i find the Cliff's to be VERY helpful</p>
<p>It honestly depends on how good you are at bio and memorization. I think Campbell is a great book. I never did any formal prepping for the AP bio exam, just studied off my notes/textbook and some past free response Qs from the APcentral website and I got a 5. That won't work for everyone though.</p>
<p>What kind of skills do you need for AP bio?</p>
<p>Practice Free Response
Practice Free Response
Practice Free Response!!!</p>
<p>Campbell's is a great book, so read and take notes on every chapter, read and review Cliff's in May, and practice free response questions as much as you can! The MC will be fine if you're good at memorizing, but the free response will be difficult if you haven't done any labs or essays. Find someone to grade your essays for you, too, or you won't know how to improve. </p>
<p>btw, I got a 5</p>
<p>Wow!</p>
<p>Thanks folks for the great tips!</p>
<p>BTW, how many hours/week did you study?</p>
<p>I am just intrigued how I am going to remember all those 50 odd chapters....!?!</p>
<p>I love Biology, very interested...and am keen on doing well.</p>
<p>Do you see free response questions being repeated from the past?</p>
<p>Thanks very much.</p>
<p>Read every chapter of Campbell. The first time just read the book, and the second time copy down everything you don't think you'll remember. Never go back to those notes again. Then study your butt off in April. You don't need to bother too much with practice tests so long as you're learning the subject.</p>
<p>Once you do that, the 5 will come naturally.</p>
<p>read cliffs for the two days before the test</p>
<p>easy 5</p>
<p>"online AP Bio course,"
not necessary</p>
<p>"read cliffs for the two days before the test</p>
<p>easy 5"</p>
<p>thats it??? two days???
how hard is it to self-study?</p>
<p>each subject is different
bio is one of the easier ones</p>
<p>Haha My friend Barely read the textbook and studied Cliffs like a month before the test and got a five.</p>
<p>If you can memerize, you can get 5.</p>
<p>I also bought the Barron's AP Bio book. Is that a helpful tool, or was it just a waste of my money (or, rather, my parents' money)?</p>
<p>Is it really that easy cause the ap class is giving me a hard time?</p>
<p>The free response questions on the AP exam are generally basic. I am taking AP Bio now, since we go chapter by chapter the test questions for the class are really specific, which results in making it a hard class. Study from cliffs its gives a broad but basic preperation for the exam.</p>
<p>How you do on the AP Bio exam kind of depends on how you do in the class. I was an average student in my intense class, but I had read every one of the 50 chapters at one point or another. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, because of massive procrastination and other AP's, I didn't start studying for the AP until about three nights before, at which point Cliffs became a savior. I felt pretty screwed, but the Cliffs book was small enough that I could make sure to cover every topic. I was so rushed that I couldn't do the practice questions at the end of each section, but I just made sure I had a couple of AP practice tests down. Free response was knew, but I just had to learn how to approach it appropriately.</p>
<p>In the end, I foudn the AP exam to be fairly easy with basic MC quesitons like those on the SAT II (I got a 790 on that), and ended up with a 5. So yeah, a basic understanding of biology by studyign throughout the course plus a couple weeks (much more than what I had) of review with Cliffs should get you set.</p>
<p>Basically use Campbells for all your classwork, it's a really good book but a little boring. Cliffs is a good supplement to the book, they go together very well. When I was a junior people told me all you had to do was read Cliffs the weekend before as a refresher (if you worked hard all year) and you would get a 5. I did just that and got a 5...good luck!</p>
<p>P.S. I agree w/ the poster who said if you can memorize you can get a 5 :)</p>
<p>Campbell is hell. Way too detailed. Pay attention in class and study Cliffs.... easy enough.</p>