<p>I'm only on chapter 19 in the campbell's ap bio book (7th ed i think) and I have no idea how I'm going to actually learn all the concepts and study from it. The graphs and visuals are really helpful but there are just so much to learn. My teacher is really good but he just lectures in class and he never actually covers everything from the reading. I lag behind in class sometimes too because he never checks on homework and we have to read almost a chapter a night and that usually takes me almost three hours. Does anyone have any good studying habits or helpful tactics? I just don't want to have to crunch down and try to learn everything last minute in April. Thanks!</p>
<p>Find your edition's chapter lecture notes. They're online and a good resource for studying because they cover the major points in detail.</p>
<p>They shouldn't be used as a replacement for reading though.</p>
<p>There are some internal inconsistencies with your experience.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you read almost a chapter a night, you can't only be on chapter 19. I suspect what you mean is when he assigns a chapter, you are expected to finish it in one night. It looks like you are actually covering about 1.5 chapters a week. If your next chapter is 20, start working on it two days before the assignment, so you can spend an hour a night on the chapter, completing it in three nights.</p></li>
<li><p>Your teacher not checking homework should not cause you to lag behind. If the homework is the end of chapter questions, check them yourself. Campbell provides the answers at the back of the book.</p></li>
<li><p>Your teacher won't cover everything from the reading -- that's why there is reading. You should write down questions you have on the reading (If you've done #1, you should be reading most of the chapter before the lecture), and then during class you can ask "Mr. _______, the textbook discusses the process of photophosphorylation. Could you explain the the electron's energy from the chloroplast becomes energy in an ATP molecule?" By asking specific questions he will be more likely to stop lecturing and answer your questions. If asked "Can you explain chapter 20? I don't understand it!" Most teachers will just move on.</p></li>
<li><p>If your teacher is really good, he won't mind spending some extra time with your, usually before or after school. That would be a good time to go over any questions you wrote down from #3 that were not answered in class.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at your relationship to the teacher as a partnership, where you can define some of the parameters (when you read the text, asking questions in class, etc.) rather than considering the teacher to be "in charge" and not willing to do anything to help you.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@ BigIs - Thanks for the pointers. I didn't think of writing questions down, that would make class more effective. My teacher didn't assign one chapter a night before so the work was manageable but now he does assign a chapter a night and there is just a lot of reading and notetaking involved. Maybe I should do some work beforehand during the weekends, since I would have more time?</p>
<p>i legit wish i was in your class. my class has the same book and we're only on ch. 16. we have a new AP bio teacher and we far behind as hell.. im probably gonna have to self teach myself 10-15 chapters by the time the AP test rolls around</p>