<p>I'm a sophomore who has taken Freshman Biology and Chemistry Honors. I am currently taking Physics Honors, but that is a freshman class.</p>
<p>I want to take the AP Bio exam, even though school started about 2 months ago.</p>
<p>Do you think that it's possible for me to get a 5 on the AP Bio exam with this late start and without a regular curriculum and without doing the labs?</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend me some textbooks/workbooks/free online websites I can study from?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend it for you at this time. Not with the new frameworks / CollegeBoard curriculum. Take the class a few years from now, when teachers and prep books get a better grasp of the new test. Understanding the labs is pretty important, and you can’t replace lab experience/practicing the scientific method by simply reading about it. Did you look at the score distributions for the exam last year? </p>
<p>For a 5 in Bio, I would wait. Maybe self-study APES instead?</p>
<p>I have seen the score distribution, and I know that only 5.4 % of students received 5s. However, since there have been new AP prep books published with the new AP exam in mind, I was thinking that I should give it a shot.</p>
<p>I heard that college board has some labs that can be done virtually and that Cliffnotes describes the labs in detail. And that the AP Bio exam is now more about analyzing data instead of memorizing it.</p>
<p>Should I still try it? Or try APES?</p>
<p>By all means, if you really love Biology, who am I to stop you from doing what you want? For a 5 though, I would self-study for it some other year. I actually wrote that post about comparing the new prep books for Bio and, from what I’ve researched, CliffsNotes and Barron’s are still far from perfect. CliffNotes, in particular, still does not align its practice questions with the new test. The 5.4% should tell you that analyzing data requires more effort than simply memorizing it.</p>
<p>It’s not impossible for you to take AP Bio this year. It would just be a ton better for you to take it later (honestly!) IF you want a 5. More people will have posted on CC with their insight by then, the prep books will be better, the teachers more prepared, and more people will have had experience with the new test.</p>
<p>Of the 5.4%, how many kids would you guess self-studied? For an entirely new AP exam?</p>
<p>Try APES or do a safer self-study like Psych (esp. if this is your first AP self-study) for a 5.</p>
<p>I disagree with everyone else. Learning shouldn’t be for the 5, it should be for all the cool new stuff you learn. So what if you don’t get a 5? 3 and 4 are both good scores. Don’t take an AP for the easy 5 because that’s never going to matter in life. Learning a bunch of cool stuff about a subject you enjoy will matter in life. Self study the AP that you want to learn about, not the easy 5. </p>
<p>You won’t have the lab experience, which is integral, but there are ways around that. Like you said, there are virtual labs. Not the best substitute, but it’ll suffice. If you have a good bio teacher in your school, see if he’d be willing to help you set up a few labs during an open class period or after school. Teachers love to see initiative like that and would likely help you out.</p>