AP Biology?

<p>I'm taking it next year, and at the college I want to go to, getting a 5 would be very, very helpful. But I've heard AP Bio is a hard class to begin with, so I'm a little terrified... how hard is it to get a 5? </p>

<p>I did pretty well in freshman Biology. I got As, but I wouldn't say I knew the course backwards and forwards.... then again, I didn't study all too much for it either since I had the A already. </p>

<p>I know it depends on the person, but is it near impossible to get a 5?</p>

<p>Well its definitely not impossible because nearly 20% of the people who took the Bio exam this past year got a 5. I haven’t taken it, but from what I’ve heard, its mostly memorization. I know many think it is a very difficult exam, but if it’s just memorization, how hard can it be?</p>

<p>Don’t underestimate how hard memorizing could be. AP Bio is filled with a ludicrous amount of terms and concepts that you have to be able to connect together through an estimated 50 chapters of curriculum depending on your book. It takes up a lot of time, and it won’t be as easy as you think.</p>

<p>There was only one 5 in my class this year out of about 80 kids, and we’re not exactly stupid, but it really does help if you have a good teacher that my school lacked.</p>

<p>It all depends on your motivation really.
It’s definitely not impossible.
I was in honors biology this year, but my teacher was knew and hated everything about plants, animals, systems of the human body, photosynthesis, and respiration. We basically spend the whole year studying genetics. I studied a little bit throughout the year (but never really seemed to recall the information. I basically just read, forgot, read, forgot, read, and forgot again). Then I crammed for 15 hours straight for two days (the weekend before the AP exam) and went into the exam feeling sleepy and unprepared. I got a 5 though… so I guess you could say I self-studied since I had to learn most of the information myself.</p>

<p>Two of my other friends who also crammed like I did (we all self-studied, but didn’t do study groups or anything. They studied less than me and only touched upon human systems) and got 5’s as well.</p>

<p>Definitely not impossible. I used Campbell AP Biology 7th edition textbook, which is the biggest textbook I’ve ever had (minus Art History). We didn’t completely go through all the chapters, and skimmed through a lot since our teacher kinda accidentally got pregnant. </p>

<p>I pretty much agree with gomdorri’s “it all depends on your motivation” statement. Do you love science/biology? For me, I think what got me my 5 and through the class was because I absolutely love biology, and thanks to my interest in it, I didn’t have to work hard to memorize everything. And even though it’s memorization, everything’s connected, so learning one concept helps to clarify another and so on. It’s not purely remembering terms, but you do have to know terms, too.</p>

<p>The new AP Biology Curriculum guide said that it’s less memorization intensive. Of course you’ll have to memorize terms and all that good stuff, but there will be less of it. Getting a five in any AP test will take hard work and dedication. You will have to study, study, study. The best thing to do is to study every night.</p>

<p>Yeah, it’s hard to say cos they’re changing the bio curriculum from what those of us who have taken it know.</p>

<p>I got a 5 this year on AP Bio and I found it really easy, but that’s because my mind is definitely wired for science. Memorization was never difficult for me, I could look at the pictures in my textbook for a couple minutes and just understand how everything fit in. For the stuff that was harder for me (the endocrine system, ugh), flashcards were very helpful. I also recommend the Princeton Review for Biology (and for any science class). It really helps you know exactly what you need to know for the test. I didn’t study a lot for Bio at all.</p>

<p>^ Same, in my Honors Biology class, when we took the Cell Processes (Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, Cell division) test on the essay we had to explain cell division and photosynthesis. The diagrams really helped me, I took a quick look at the different cycles, and it took me seven pages to explain it all lol.</p>