<p>Next year I will be taking a Biology Honors course at my high school and I am considering concurrently self-studying AP Biology. The course I would use to self-study would be the Campbell / Reece AP Biology book as well as the Mastering Biology website. Also, I have already had some exposure to Biology, as I have self-studied a beginning high school biology course as an 8th grader. If I self-study the course I would plan on completing it over a school year’s time and taking the AP Biology test in the spring. One might suggest waiting to take AP Biology in my Junior year (my school doesnt permit students to take it before that year), but in order to stay on my preferred accelerated track, (Physics and AP Calculus concurrently Junior year) I will not have enough time to take AP Biology*.</p>
<p>*Please note that I wish to apply for science internships during high school and major in a science related field during college, and therefore must keep a science/math centered course load throughout high school.</p>
<p>My questions are: </p>
<li><p>Is it realistic to take on such a big course load?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you think I would find success in self-studying such a challenging course as a freshman? </p></li>
<li><p>Do you think that it will help that I will be concurrently taking a required honors Biology course while self-studying? </p></li>
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<p>The only AP class my school will allow sophomores to take it AP Human Geography. But my goal is to prepare myself to take as many AP exams as I can before I apply to college.</p>
<p>I appreciate any insight anyone might be able to share. Thanks.</p>
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<li> It’s totally doable, as long as you make sure that you have a strong work ethic and are willing to do the work required.</li>
<li> The first AP I took was in 10th grade, and my teacher literally stepped us through everything. I think it will be tough, but if you’re really dedicated I’m sure you can do it. I still feel that you should have someone who helps you maybe plan out some type of study plan, such as a person who already taken AP classes, or a tutor.</li>
<li> I think it will help somewhat, but freshman bio is nothing compared to AP bio. Freshman bio (honors) is very basic, while AP bio puts a great deal of emphasis on detail. So freshman bio will give you some knowledge, but you will still have to learn a great deal outside of class.</li>
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<p>-As long as AP biology is the only AP class that you are taking, and are dedicated to learning all that is needed to do well on the exam, i’m pretty sure you can pull a 5. Also, I would highly suggest buying the Cliffnotes for AP Bio, as it highlights all that you need to know for the exam. Campbell’s book goes way too in-depth. So its a good thing to read throughout the year if you have time, but you should supplement it with cliffnotes so that you make sure that you know all that’s in cliff’s for the exam.</p>
<p>From a Junior who just took the AP bio exam…and hoping for a 5.</p>
<p>What? Why don’t people volunteer or get a job instead? Go volunteer in a hospital instead to see if you actually like bio in the real world first instead of wasting 100 hours + $85 + money spent on preparing and then you find out you don’t actually want to go into the bio field. </p>
<p>Freshman should really be a time of exploring the different fields, not like specializing in one subject already. You might be half-way through college realizing that you like something else more and regret that you didn’t try different stuff out in freshman. </p>
<p>“to take as many AP exams as I can before I apply to college”
What?? you’re gonna look back when you’re 50 and be like “that’s the most useless, not to mention money-consuming, thing I ever did” Unless you have a passion for learning (You probably do, though) and you’re gonna read up on that stuff even if there was no additional incentment, yeah…</p>
<p>Edit: To try to answer your questions, assuming you’re taking Honours Gr. 9 bio… well… you’ve got a lot of self-studying to do. Although Gr. 9 bio is quite a jump from Gr. 8 “bio” umm… AP Bio is quite a different story from Gr. 9 bio. If you’re fine with reading 2-3 hours of Bio every night on top of your homework (which probably means you can’t do anything “extra” like hanging out or hobbies unrelated to bio) then go for it. </p>
<p>Realistic? Sure. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but unrecommended.</p>
<p>Taking freshman bio… depends on your style. If school is more of a waste of time and you could learn a lot more by self-studying instead of going to class, then obviously it doesn’t help. Otherwise, it helps… only a bit though because it’s freshman.</p>
<p>It’s doable, just realize that self studying AP Bio won’t get you into Harvard. Generally, the only use AP scores have is to let you use the credits in college and not pay for a class.</p>
<p>Dude, you haven’t even been answering people’s responses.</p>
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<p>This. Don’t waste your time with it. Does your school offer AP Bio? If so, then it would look better if you take it as an actual class. You’d also save yourself a lot of free time, allowing you to do more social things.</p>
<p>Its funny how everyone thinks that AP’s are purely to get into college. </p>
<p>What’s wrong with taking an AP as a freshman?</p>
<p>I believe if you are truely motivated and passionate about something then pursue it and see how it turns out. Even though it will be extremely rigorous, its still good to test your own limits and see what you can accomplish. </p>
<p>I wanted to try something like this with AP Psychology but everyone said that its possible but not recommended. I don’t see why its not recommended. If you can seriously handle the workload, why not try it?</p>
<p>The problem is, you almost certainly CAN’T handle the workload. I know you don’t like to hear that; I didn’t either when I was a freshman. But you simply are not going to be prepared for the amount of work an AP class takes.</p>
<p>Honors Biology is somewhat like AP BIO, but there are a lot of things left out. They don’t go deep into the Ecology as well as other things simply b/c the course is not AP BIO. There are 12 labs you do in AP BIO, and though you could get a 5 without them by studying CliffsAP, you are going to be up for hours at times just trying to figure out what is going on. When students in our school plan to take AP BIO, we take Biology I, Biology II, and then AP BIO.</p>
<p>Wow you guys must have had reeeeally bad Honors bio teachers (no offense ). I assume by Honors Bio, you mean Pre-Ap? Are those synonymous? because at my school we only have Pre, and AP.</p>
<p>In any case, my Freshman biology class was not that rigorous. In fact homework came once every two weeks and tests once a month. Its been 2 years since I took PreAP biology, and out of curiosity I took an old official AP biology exam from a few years ago. I didn’t bother with the Free Response because I had nobody to grade them, but I got more than 50% of the multiple choice right… And you only need about 65% for a 5. I’m now self studying for the bio exam next year, and after making it through the first 2/16 chapters in Cliff’s, its amazing to me how much of the information I actually remember from 9th Grade Bio.</p>
<p>To be honest, kid, I’d say that if you make an A in the class, and study the book for about 2 hours a week starting now, you can make at LEAST a 4, probably a 5 on the exam. You got 10 months to study anyway, haha. In fact I’d advise you to go for it if you really like biology. The inherent flaw with AP’s is that you don’t get your results till July, so Junior year is the last year that you can take them and still have the scores in time to put on your college application. Might as well be a little ahead of the game.</p>
<p>PS. I didn’t come here to give life advice like everyone else, but I do recommend you not stress yourself out. Not sure how rigorous your high school is, but if you get a lot of homework, make sure you save time for exercise and volunteering…</p>
<p>I’d recommend that, if you want sciency unis and internship places to think better of you, you’d take AP bio junior or senior year. Sure you could get a 5 on the test freshman year with honors, but a 5 is pretty easy given the curve. Presumably, if you are considering this option, you are a good student and will apply to top colleges. These colleges would rather see you take AP and get a 5 than self-study off honors and get a 5, imo (at least I would). The AP score is the same, but you presumably learned much more in AP. If you want to go above and beyond and you want colleges to see this, do science olympiad (or some equivalent) and do like cell bio or ecology or health science and do well in those.</p>
). I assume by Honors Bio, you mean Pre-Ap? Are those synonymous? because at my school we only have Pre, and AP.</p>