<p>Like a lot of other students, I am deathly afraid of those ap bio essays. How should I practice? Right now I'm just answering the essay questions with the help of my books/internet etc. and eventually I'll be able to do it without help (I HOPE TO GOD I CAN). does anybody have any suggestions?</p>
<p>My AP Bio teacher gave us six essay questions during the entire year: 2 for the summer assignment, and 4 on the midterm that was structured exactly like the AP exam. I turned out alright and got a 5.</p>
<p>The hardest part of AP Bio essays is that you need to know the facts. It’s not like a history essay or English essay where you can BS your way through the question. You either know the answer or you don’t.</p>
<p>First, be clear and concise. Do NOT write opening or closing paragraphs. The shorter, the better: if they ask a question like “Explain the process of translation”, you can do about a paragraph, with a sentence or two for each detail. Don’t do a 5-paragraph essay or anything.</p>
<p>Second, write as much as you can (if it is somewhat relevant to the question). If you have to compare and contrast lipids and phospohlipids but don’t know a single thing about phospholipids, say as much as you can about lipids to ensure that you get those points for discussing lipids; anything helps. Interestingly, the test question graders don’t take off points for extraneous wrong answers. For example, if I was answering a question about population dynamics, and then I went off on a tangent talking about how the sugar plum fairies make DNA out of magic dust and rainbows, I wouldn’t get points off. They only award points for a correct response that answers the question.</p>
<p>Third, make sure you study those 12 AP labs. One question will be based off (or even the same as) one of those AP labs. Last year, it was a catalyst lab and was extremely similar to lab 2. If you know the indpendent variables, dependent variables, controls, etc, then you’ll know them for the laboratory essay question.</p>
<p>Hope I could help!</p>
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rofl. you have a nice sense of humor. and thanks for the advice! im self studying actually, so i was totally freaking out about this cuz i have no experience with ap tests. thanks!</p>