How Hard is AP Biology?

<p>It may be TMI, but it still certainly prepares you. It’s not that bad of a read. Just read a few chapters each week and you’ll be fine. Review with Cliff’s and you’re golden.</p>

<p>I used Peterson’s AP Biology Review Book and Campbell and Reece’s “Biology: 7th Edition” text this past year, and found that to be a really good combination. The Campbell and Reece text does tend to have too much info, but it is written in a super fluid way - so I would definitely recommend reading it, even if you learn a little more than you might need for the AP exam. The Petrerson’s book isn’t as detailed as some other review books might be, but it provides a clear, thorough, easy-to-read-quickly summary of the course that helps a lot with main ideas and stuff. After using both of them, I feel pretty confident that I got a 5 in AP Bio.</p>

<p>I’m going to start off by saying that the 09/10 year test was totally stupid. EVERYTHING you thought possibly could have been on the test wasn’t. I agree with the guy who said don’t read Campbell’s. It’s way too much info. I bought a book called 5 steps to a 5 by McGraw Hill which really helped me. Cliff’s helped as well. In retrospect, bio wasn’t half as hard as I thought it’d be.</p>

<p>@bethechange</p>

<p>It’s a really good book, I ended up using the 6th Edition along with Cliffnotes. Since I was studying for the ap test on my own, I felt that Cliffnotes totally helped me on the AP test because it provided summaries of the various labs that were supposed to be done in ap biology.</p>

<p>It’s really not that hard. I thought the test was a let-down; I was expecting at least a small challenge for my first AP test sophomore year. The AP exam honestly felt like some standard or honors biology final.</p>

<p>And it’s not memorization in the way that, say, APUSH is.
Most of the biology concepts flow together and make intuitive sense. </p>

<p>Anyway, what I did:
I read Campbell/Reece 6th edition through chapter 20ish. Then, my teacher let me have her extra sample copy of the 8th edition, from which I read the rest of the chapters. For prep before the test I skimmed the accompanying Campbell/Reece guide that basically summarized the textbook in key points.</p>

<p>My teacher just gave us this big packet of notes that we didn’t get to cover in class. A total of 12 chapters. I personally did not bother reading the packet (which is a BIG mistake), but I’m hoping for a 3 at least. </p>

<p>Now for the subject itself, I found it really interesting! So it wasn’t really hard (the class) although a lot of people hated the Plants Unit, but that actually ended up being my favorite unit. </p>

<p>Just get Cliffs, and really work with it and you should be fine!</p>

<p>walk in the park compared to college bio</p>

<p>What? Maybe it depends on what teacher you have.
All of my friends who took AP Bio at my same HS then Bio 101 said that AP Bio was much harder and they didn’t even learn anything in Bio 101.</p>

<p>In my thought, do not take AP bio. I’d highly recommend for you to take AP chem or AP physics. And if you’re not good at math, the take APES as your AP science class. Let AP bio be your last option; however, if you’re good at remembering things and if you took honors bio or even regular bio and thought you passesd it with ease then go for it. But if you’re not good at remembering stuff or didn’t get an A in bio, then don’t.</p>

<p>^ “If you’re not good at remembering stuff then don’t take the class”</p>

<p>That can be said about any class, so it really isn’t a reason not to take AP Bio.</p>

<p>While it may be true that all classes require a decent memory, if one wants to succeed, AP Biology requires much more memorization that any other AP science class. So if you find yourself struggling with memorization in school, this may not be the class for you (unless, that is, you view this as an opportunity to improve your memory).</p>

<p>The AP Biology exam covers a huge amount of information, but you don’t have to go as in depth as you would in, say, AP US history. :)</p>

<p>[AP</a> Biology Notes](<a href=“http://etestnotes.com/apreviewguides/courseselect.html]AP”>http://etestnotes.com/apreviewguides/courseselect.html) | [AP</a> US History Notes](<a href=“http://etestnotes.com/apreviewguides/courseselect.html]AP”>http://etestnotes.com/apreviewguides/courseselect.html)</p>

<p>I am a sophomore and I’m taking both AP Bio and AP Physics. I have both of them ON THE SAME DAY (May 9,2011). I have an A i both classes. I have been studying for AP Physics more though. I have Barron’s AP Bio. I was wondering…for a person like me (more math guy than science) what is a projected score?</p>

<p>CaLLM3KoB3–as for a projected score, take practice AP exams. 61-100 points is a 5, 47-60 a 4, 39-46 a 3, 30-38 a 2, and 0-29 a 1. To calculate points, you add the total number you got right on the 100 multiple choice questions and then add the points from the essays. When I took my first practice test I got 55/100, which is a middle 4 without essays.</p>

<p>My teacher freaked us out about the AP exam, and his tests were super hard. Once I started going over Cliffs, though, I was SO relieved because it was SO much easier than I had expected! Cliffs was actually a bit more difficult than the AP exam I just took a few hours ago, because it was more specific.</p>

<p>AP Bio isn’t hard at all, and the memorization isn’t so bad. Just normal kind of stuff. The exam was way easier than I expected–I’m confident I got at least a 4.</p>

<p>This whole year I was stressing about the exam and the class, but my teacher had us fooled the whole time. But that’s okay, because it prepared me very well! I thought this was going to be my downfall, but it wasn’t. Trust me.</p>

<p>So no, AP Bio is not hard, you just have to apply yourself. The Cliffs AP Biology review book (3rd edition) saved my life, seriously. My teacher only taught us about 50% of the curriculum, so it was up to me to know the rest (even though the exam wasn’t as specific, like the AP World History exam is). Don’t waste your time reading the whole Campbell & Reece textbook, especially if you really don’t want to. Cliffs was AMAZING. Love that book to death.</p>

<p>I am so scared. Like my confidence is at-2846844684683683847 thousand right now. I’m like a curvy-straight a student. I get mostly a’s but when I don’t, I just fail. My GPA is 4.0 right now, but this is just scaring me so much. Im taking it on may 14 and I envy you so much because you probably already took it and I’m just so scared because I KNOW I’m going to to bad because my teacher doesn’t even speak English and…I’m just so scared. Oh, I’m a freshman, too. And I go to a private school, so I payed 500$ for this course. I’m such a screw up.i have no idea why I signed up for my own doom. Haha, I PAID FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS TO SEND MYSELF TO HELL. Jeez. You can’t get dumber than that, can you? I’m going to go hang myself. After I finish studying.</p>

<p>AP Bio is hard if you have a bad teacher because it’s really a lot of memorization. If you’re blessed with a good teacher or have a good book, then you’re set.</p>

<p>While taking Bio AP, did anyone of you take calculus the same year too? If so how was it?</p>

<p>took bio, calc ab, psych, and phys b. Helluva year, but got 5’s on all! Honestly bio and psych are rote memorization, and I’m good at that so it helped. calc is pretty easy tbh. Bio and calc should be manageable. Don’t overestimate AP’s (don’t underestimate them either, though)</p>