<p>I'm thinking about it, not 100% sure though but do I need a textbook (my school uses Campbell Biology) or this "Barron's Book" that I always hear about? What is the Barron's Book anyways? Is it just a review book like the Princeton Review or is it an actual textbook?</p>
<p>How much should I spend studying? I'm going to be very busy during the school year with cross country, track, and AP Spanish and AP Psych along with other annoying classes.</p>
<p>Cliffsnotes is enough to get a 5 on AP bio. You could supplement it with a textbook to gain further understanding on a subject, but it’s not necessary to do well on the exam.
Barron’s is also a review book; haven’t used it but I think the general consensus is that Cliff’s is the best.</p>
<p>As someone who self-studied and just got back my score today (a 5), Cliffsnotes is enough to get a 5. I’d recommend also borrowing the Campbell book from your school (it’s pretty much standard for an AP Bio class and quite interesting, although long). I’d suggest using the textbook when you want further clarification. There’s also a site, PHSchool - The Biology Place, which has a LabBench activities section (you can google it), which is really helpful for understanding the lab experiments. Every year has an experiment FRQ, which I left partially blank because I didn’t spend the time to learn them.</p>
<p>I’ve also seen great things written about Khan Academy and Bozeman’s (sp?) Biology for youtube videos. I did not use them.</p>
<p>So, if you care at all, I’ll go through what I did (which worked for me as a self-studier, and may give you an idea on study-planning). I was taking a Honors Bio class and my teacher (also the AP teacher) recommended that I self-study for the AP Bio test. I did not start until maybe a month and a half before the exam, which was very stressful, but is what I did. I wish I had started in the summer when I could get a head-start (for you, this would be now). I made flashcards of the bolded terms in Cliffs. I crammed the weekend before, with few breaks (not fun), and then took a PR practice test before going to sleep. I felt pretty good walking out of the test, although I knew I did poorly on 2 FRQs and really well on the other two.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rambling, but I’d say to devote an hour three days a week to studying, and reading. Or maybe an hour and a half for two days a week, whatever floats your boat. Nearer to AP time, maybe add another hour on a weekend. Try to get through Cliffs, at least, and use resources like flashcards (500 packs are about $3.50, as I learned very well through the experience). Do at least 2 practice tests before the actual exam, and I would HIGHLY suggest using PR JUST for that (the review section misses some key material). Some of the questions were extremely similar. If you pick up anything from this poorly written post (I’m tired), it should be that you should go with Cliffs for review material and PR for practice tests.</p>