<p>With the recent change in difficulty of the AP Biology exam, I decided to take a class outside of school (I am a freshman) in order to help with getting a 5 on the exam. I had a huge conflict with the director of this tutoring center and resulted in my removal from Biology and Psychology classes. Although there is no way back without humiliation, I am determined to get a 5 on the test for both Bio and Psych without help from any classes. </p>
<p>Is there a way I can self study that can guarantee a 5? I will not accept anything lower than this grade when I take the test. Previously with my tutoring class, I spent almost 10 hours a week simply preparing for the exams that the class gave me, and I am willing to dedicate this same time, if not more, to self studying. </p>
<p>Preferably someone who took the 2013 and 2014 Biology (after they changed the test) or Psychology exams and scored a 5 could help me with my situation. Which books should I purchase to self study? (I already own a 6th edition textbook) How should I prepare to answer the free response questions? Which specific areas should I focus on?</p>
<p>Any possible suggestions or advice is helpful, and thank you for taking time to read my long post.</p>
You may have to; only 6.5% of the test takers received a 5 on biology this year, the second lowest percentage behind World History. Being a freshman with presumably no intro course in bio will put you at a huge disadvantage. While I personally see few valid reasons to self study for an AP exam, the following may assist you:</p>
<p>For free response questions, look at past exams on the College Board website, although only 2014 will be meaningful for bio.</p>
<p>Assuming you already have a good textbook, supplement with a good review book. I’d suggest Barron’s for Psych and Cliffs for Bio.</p>
<p>I understand that the numbers are extremely low, and the tutoring place where I used to take it emphasized this point (half of last year’s class got 5s at that place). But I am willing to dedicate the same 10 hours a week I was using before in order to reach this goal. </p>
<p>I will look into Barron’s and Cliffnotes for supplement materials.</p>
<p>For psychology, should I just study out of Barron’s supplement text or should I purchase a textbook? I’m thinking about just purchasing Barron’s guide and flashcards to review for psychology.</p>
<p>There is no guaranteed method to get a 5 on the AP Bio exam…</p>
<p>It’s important to note that the revised AP exam and population of ‘unprepared’ students may have drastically decreased the passing rate. So these statistics are not a real-world representation of your percentage of receiving a 5.</p>
<p>I understand that the revised exam was probably a huge factor in the large decrease in 5 rates. However, I want to be on the safe side of scoring well on this exam. I will probably purchase Crash Course for AP Bio practice.</p>
<p>I ordered Crash Course Bio 2nd Edition and Cliff Bio 4th, and Crash Course Psych 2nd Edition Barron’s 6th Edition Psych. Found a teacher willing to help me as well. Hopefully my effort will pay off in the end.</p>