I know this isn’t about college life but I need answers asap. I’m taking AP Bio next year and some of my classmates who took it last year told me that Campbell’s Biology in Focus is horrible. I emailed my teacher about this situation and she said I should look into Campbell’s Biology (aka AP Bio Bible). I looked on Amazon and found these two editions were the “most popular”. Which one do you think I should buy/rent and are there any differences between these two editions?
Typically the variance in edition for STEM subject texts pertains more to problem sets and page numbers than actual content (the field of Biology hasn’t changed tremendously between copyright years) – so if you’re only going to be using the text as a reference and not for homework problems, it won’t matter.
That is true, I can alternate on which textbooks I can use for studying or doing homework problems, but I don’t know which edition of this book is better for the new AP Bio examination.
Like the poster above said, they’re likely very, very similar. If you’re just using the text as reference, then it will not matter which one you get. Neither is going to make you or break you when it comes to the AP test. If you’re getting the standard edition, neither is written to the AP test either–they are written for an introductory college biology course. Neither is going to be better or worse for the AP test. If you’re getting an AP edition of the textbook, then… maybe the more recent edition is aligned with the AP test? I’ve never used an AP version of a textbook, so I really don’t know how good or bad they are or how good they are for preparing for the AP test.
But, really, in terms of content, there’s likely very little different between the two editions. For your purposes, it probably will not matter. Neither one is “better” for the AP Bio exam. To be honest, what might be better for you is to just buy an AP Bio prep book to help you study. It will be more guided and more focused towards the AP exam with practice questions, and if there’s any topic that you feel like is unclear, you can always look up a more detailed explanation online, in your course textbook, ask your teacher for clarification, or watch a youtube video explanation. If you’re really concerned about which edition to get though, ask your teacher if they have an edition they recommend.
The two editions differ by only three years. Graphics are usually clarified. There are going to be some differences that address points of clarification arising from the previous edition. There might be some recent additions from science that won’t matter for the AP Biology test.
If you plan to coordinate with anyone on questions or exercises, you cannot expect the two version to be the same and it could be confusing.
Personally, I’d save money by going for a used copy of the previous version which will almost certainly be much cheaper.
I took the “new” AP Bio exam back in 2013 with Campbell’s 7th or 8th edition and got a 4 (this was the first year of the change, the year that only about 5% got a 5). Biology is biology; different editions aren’t going to vary that much. If you want something to cater to the AP exam, I hear 5 Steps to a 5 is good for bio.
The books are essentially the same. I took AP Bio last year while my sister was taking freshman year bio in college. I used the 9th edition eTextbook while she had the 10th edition physical textbook. Some days I would bring her book to school to look at diagrams and fill out the reading guides, and the only difference I noticed was that there was one extra section in one of the ecology chapters in the 10th edition that was not in the 9th edition book (section wasn’t even mentioned on the AP exam).
If your teacher does not care, get the cheaper one. There will not be any difference in the text which will impact your AP score.