***AP Biology 2015 Thread***

Test Preparation AP Sciences
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<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I'm going to be taking AP Biology next year as a senior. I looked and couldn't find one of these threads for people taking the AP Bio exam in 2015, so I decided to just make one. This is for anyone who has taken AP Bio in the past or is currently taking it, regardless of whether they took a course or self studied it. We can use it to talk about tips, resources to study, etc. and to cram/cry the night before the exam.</p>

<p>Good luck to all!</p>

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<p>Does anyone have access to the AP Bio 2014 exam information that AP_Trevor is talking about from the following tweet? </p>

<p>"For teachers, Dr. LaTanya Sharpe has posted within the AP Bio Teacher Community more details on the AP Bio results: <a href="http://ow.ly/yeJ6B"&gt;http://ow.ly/yeJ6B&lt;/a&gt;" </p>

<p>I remember last year someone posted the stuff from 2013, was wondering if we could get a look at this years stuff. really curious to see it. </p>

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<p>Here’re some tips that’ll hopefully help you with the course</p>

<p>The Bio exam MC was a joke. I’m glad I didn’t even try to study for that. Its mostly to all reading a passage and answering questions (you will have to have AP Bio knowledge though to fully understand the questions.
The FRQs on the otherhand were ridiculous, I did super crappily on them, mostly because it was heavily based on the systems and ecology (both which my teacher didnt bother teaching, instead giving us independent studies to do). Though in hindsight, they wouldnt have been to bad if i wasnt bsing half of the frqs.</p>

<p>The class itself depends on the teacher. My teacher spent the majority of his classes giving lectures using the Campbell’s provided powerpoints. TAKE NOTES (but not on every little bitty fact). Sometimes the info on the campbell pp is redundant so make sure to take notes on what pops out to you as important (The does not want you too know every small detail, just that you know how everything works and how it interacts with the environment and stuff, bunch of cause and effect)</p>

<p>Work relatedness, my teacher’s only work were weekly (or sometimes biweekly) Guided Readings. I would definitely recommend reading the whole chapter v. skimming to find the answers. The notes plus reading helped me retain the info alot so while everyone was cramming for the chapter test the next day, I was just skimming my notes.</p>

<p>The only other hw were lab reports. These first seem to take forever, but will seem simple and short as the year goes on. The labs were the most fun part of the class, and one of the main reasons I loved the class. </p>

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<p>Oh and check out Bozeman’s and Hank’s Crash Course serieses on Youtube. They’re great for cramming and helping you learn the info</p>

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<p>@Zeppelin7‌ what year did you take the exam? Was it before or after they changed around the curriculum/format of the course? Also, thanks for the tips!</p>

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<p>@coolschool Oh, I took it last year as a Soph. (so yeah, after the curriculum was changed). </p>

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<p>@Zeppelin7‌ Did you use any review books? Were any particularly helpful?</p>

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<p>@SilverSmart I personally used the latest edition of Barron’s</p>

<p>Was it helpful? Truthfully I’m not sure, but that’s because I never really used it, I prob used it more to review plants (which is barely to none in the AP curriculum) for the Bio SATii than for the AP exam. (well that’s a lie, I prob did study more, but didn’t that much, I just sorta flipped through the book for quick review). CC gives both the Barron book and Cliffnotes for Bio high reviews (look @ this thread to see the main differences of the two <a href=“Cliffs vs Barrons 2014 AP Bio - AP Sciences - College Confidential Forums”>Cliffs vs Barrons 2014 AP Bio - AP Sciences - College Confidential Forums). I can’t speak about Cliffnotes though since I didn’t use it.</p>

<p>Overall though, I think Barron’s is good. If I actually studied the systems from the Barron’s (my teacher didn’t teach em), I think I would’ve gotten a 5 (buuuuuuuuutttt I was too lazy and thought system’s weren’t going to be a big deal). </p>

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<p>As you can probably tell from my posts, I’m pretty cross that my teacher didn’t teach me the systems; hopefully your teacher won’t be so behind</p>

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<p>I’m taking AP Bio this year as a senior, too! Did you guys get any summer assignments? At my school, I know other AP Bio students had to read some of the textbook and do a small assignment over the summer, but it hasn’t been taught in 2 years and my teacher hasn’t contacted us or given us anything. I feel like my class is going to be really behind…</p>

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<p>coolschool made a thread i believe.</p>

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<p>what are the differences between studying for the AP Bio exam and SAT Bio? </p>

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<p>@college123college SAT Bio has a much more content over plants, while AP has virually nothing.
The SAT MC are harder than AP, because AP is more reading comprehension while SAT is straight to the point: Do you know this?.<br>
SAT covers more systems than AP. </p>

<p>@ashleybear97 My teacher gave us an optional assignment, which was to cover the first few chapters of Campbell (which aren’t really tested on the AP exam, but would I would recommend skimming it so you’ll better understand the class) which covered the basic chemistry you’ll need for bio (not much at all) and stuff like that</p>

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<p>@Zeppelin7 Did you use a prep book for SAT Math 2 (what company) ? IF so , did that cover plants enough to help you get a high soore?</p>

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<p>@College123college I’m guessing you mean Bio? Sorta, I got a McGraw Hills version from a friend for free so I sorta just used that (Do not use it, it’s way easier than the actual thing and gave me false hope the first time I took it in May). It did not cover plants, so when I retook it in June, I just studied plants from my Barrons AP prep book (they have the plants in the book although it was taken off the curriculum), yes it was the latest edition</p>

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<p>I signed up for this course and hope to take the SAT subject test in the spring. The summer assignment is basically guided notes and some other reading. The chapter is pretty long and I think we will have that much homework during the school year so I’m pretty nervous. Other than that, I miss biology and I’m excited to learn more about it.</p>

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<p>I took AP Bio this year. AP Biology is a great course because it is very straightforward and you do learn a lot (this is not at all to say that it is easy, because it is not).
The actual AP Exam was kind of a joke. My school did the late testing day, and with the exception of the first short answer question (The one that was 1/8 of the entire test lol) everything was a joke.
Tips-

  • I hated plants so much. You should know them well. Especially photosynthesis, phototropism, etc. (Photosynthesis was the answer to the first short answer that I didn’t know the answer to. It was a really weird question though.
  • If you are bad at biochemistry, that is a major problem. Fix it ASAP.
  • Ecology is part of the curriculum, but its a small part. In my school we didnt even cover it but it was assigned independently as an optional assignment (I didn’t do it lol I studied it when I studied for the SAT II). However, you should know ecology well, but you won’t have to know it as thoroughly as, for example, evolution.
  • You better know evolution and you better know it well.
  • PAY ATTENTION TO THE LABS
  • This class is much less memorization than it used to be, but my G-d does it help to memorize things. This is not to say that you don’t have to; it is biology, so you do need to be able to recall things at the drop of a hat, but you don’t need to know all 12 of the reactions involved in glycolysis like you once did (Thank G-d).
  • Study. This cannot be stressed enough. As straightforward as this class is, you need to take it seriously.
  • If you have any choice in your textbook at all, I highly recommend Campbell and Reece’s Biology 7th Edition and Campbell’s Biology in Focus. They are extremely thorough and literally the only textbooks I have ever had with which I have been satisfied.
  • The SAT II is much more detailed. The AP Bio exam tests how well you can science, but the SAT II is more like knowing which phyla of animals have four chambered hearts, and which ones have open circulatory systems.</p>
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<p>I took the AP Bio test and received a 5. </p>

<p>This is what I did to prepare for the test</p>

<p>Read Chapters 4-25 from the Campbell Book (First Semester)</p>

<p>Read Chapters 40-55 from Campbell Book (January - April)</p>

<p>Read AP Biology Book and paid very good detail to plants (4-25 and 40-55 do not include plants, and if you read the plant section in the Campbell’s book, you will know WAY WAY WAY too much information about plants… maybe 1 question was about plants)</p>

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<p>Hi, I’m a rising sophomore and I’ll be taking AP Biology this coming year. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to buy the Barron’s/Cliffnotes’ AP Biology book early so that I can review over the book while going through the year corresponding to whatever chapter we’ll be learning. I was wondering if I should do this so I can be more prepared for the class tests and the AP exam as well so that I don’t have to study or review as much when the AP bio exam comes. I plan on getting a near 100% grade in the class and also a 5 on the exam. So is it necessary? or just a waste of time?</p>

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<p>Nope! I am a sophomore who just took 2014 exam and got a 5 w/o studying at all. I bought both Barron’s and Cliffnotes and only opened Barron’s the day before the test. (I had a crappy math grade and AP
Psych to worry about). And found that nothing in that book really helped me. The only advice I give is DO ALL THE FRQ ONLINE. Seriously, I gave up the day before after 2 hours of Barron’s and did all of the old ones and found patterns on what they looked for. The test was really easy then. The FRQ was honestly the easier section after I figured out what collegeboard actually grades. Maybe read Barron’s for reference cuz u need background knowledge for MC but don’t stress about doing all the practice questions and stuff. Good luck!</p>