In my school, there is a prerequisite of a year of Chemistry I before a student is able to take AP Biology. This year, my freshman year, I did very well in Living Environment (which is somewhat like a pre-AP Biology). My teacher this year was impressed and recommended that I take AP Bio next year, saying that she could complete the paperwork to get me in next year…but she mentioned that there would be some chemistry knowledge required, which I guess is why the prerequisite exists.
Now, I’m incredibly willing to devote my summer to study the chem necessary to do well in AP Bio, and I’m extremely passionate about all things biology. I’d really love to take the course concurrent with Chemistry I next year.
My question is: if I have no previous chemistry background, would it be possible for me to do well in AP Bio? (And get a 5 on the AP test?)
And exactly how much chemistry is involved in the course?
I had the exact same concerns as you (feel free to look at my old threads) last year at this exact time of the year. The answer is that it isn’t necessary; you don’t have to take it concurrently. Some of the things that you will need to know (but very sparsely) are the four macromolecules, bonds, pH, and I couple of other minor things. If you’'re willing to, grab a Barron’s AP Bio book and look at the first chapter dedicated to Biochem; it has everything you need to know about Chem for AP Bio.
Thanks, joeweller. I have the Barron’s AP Bio prep book and a few SAT II Bio prep books. I’ve gone over the Barron’s chapter on biochem, and it seems manageable enough. The chapters on photosynthesis and respiration also seem doable.
I’m also a little worried because I haven’t taken any AP classes as a freshman; I’m not very familiar with the courseload. From what I’ve read on CC, AP Bio seems to have a lot of memorization involved as well.
Lol, you’re my younger twin. I took no AP classes freshman year and I took 6 sophomore year (Bio, USH, Macro, Gov, Stats, and Spanish). The difficulty of AP Bio really depends on your teacher; mine was a first-year one that cared to teach, but didn’t do all that well. Therefore, I took it upon myself to study because it was an easy A for me. If you don’t know your teacher personally, try to email him/her if you know his/her name and ask what book you’ll be using in that class. The biggest thing I could tell you is that if you’re using a textbook like Campbell, you might need the incredibly detailed information in there for your class tests, but NOT for the exam. Truly, the textbook is not necessary for the exam at all. I intensely and delicately studied all of the human body systems from Barron’s and reviewed with Bozeman. However, just reading the textbook as background does definitely help you to comprehend Barron’s. Bozeman is brilliant for it all; I watched all his videos at least twice. I feel I was completely prepared for the exam, but misreading a couple of questions (the exam asked me to write one thing about each bullet point, but I didn’t see each and wrote about only one of the bullet points) due to lack of time may have lost me my coveted 5. Another thing I would suggest is reading Barron’s over the summer, and then going along with it as your progress through each topic. HIGHLIGHT stuff as well, if you’re a visual learner, it really helps. Last but not least, print out the AP Biology framework. This stuff is gold because it tells you exactly what will be tested. Review it near to the exam, and I’m sure you’ll do great.
Hey, my district used to have that same requirement. Only in my school, where the best AP Biology teacher in our district(both number-wise and student review-wise) advocated for a change, which we did get.
I took AP Biology without any chemistry background, and managed to get a 4. Only a small portion of the course actually requires minimal understanding of chemistry. Things like equilibrium is equal rate in both forward and reverse directions, ions, basic idea of atoms, hydrogen bonds (we treated it more as an actual bond, but realistically, it’s a force), structure of carbon, ect.
Try asking the teacher who’s in charge of the class and get a list of what you may need to self study.