<p>I guess the question is pretty self explanatory. But anyway, I'm going to be a sophomore next year and this is undoubtedly going to be my hardest class. And I have a ton of questions about it, please forgive me if it's too much. How should I prepare for the class over the summer? (I just finished taking Chemistry and I need to brush up on my Biology a bit.) What is the best book for getting a good grade in the class and reviewing for the exam? And what is the exam like, and how hard was it? How much homework will there be? I may have more but I can't think of them at the moment...</p>
<p>The exam isn’t that bad, and generally doesn’t require lots of specific knowledge - so don;t worry about lots of memorization as far as studying for the exam goes (although the class may be different as far as memorization & tests go). As for preparing for the class, my only advice is make sure to do the summer homework.</p>
<p>@2016bostonian - I don’t have any summer homework. Is that weird?</p>
<p>That’s a little uncommon, but not weird. In that case I would just quickly review molecular biology, which is usually the first unit in biology courses.</p>
<p>@2016bostonian - Ok, I’ll do that. Should I buy an AP book to go over it, study over the Internet or look over my biology notes from two years ago?</p>
<p>If you plan on buying a prep book, then I would buy it now and use it to quickly go over the molecular stuff. If you don’t plan on buying a prep book otherwise, then I would just use the internet and your notes.</p>
<p>Since the redesign of the exam, the test is one that has received amongst the lowest percentage of 5’s (6.5% this year). Whether teachers are not effectively teaching the subject matter or the students just are not getting it is open for debate. Get a good prep book.</p>
<p>The AP biology test this year (which I took) seemed to have a lot more logical, experimental questions. So, they made it easier to get 3’s and 4’s, but harder to get 5’s. I found some of the open responses to be a bit challenging, so if you get an AP prep book, make sure you thoroughly review it and know how to write those essays/open responses.<br>
Definitely brush up on your molecular stuff though. I agree with @2016bostonian.</p>
<p>@asianchica15 and @skieurope - Any specific prep books you recommend?</p>
<p>Princeton Review is usually my favorite. </p>
<p>what about Barrons or 5 Steps to a 5? How accurate was the information and practice tests in those as compared to maybe PR?</p>
<p>I’m also taking AP Biology next year and I don’t know which ap prep book to pick. Should I get Barron’s or Cliffnotes? Is the test going to be changed again? </p>