I’m a rising sophomore and will take AP Bio next year. I’ve started going through Campbell (spend about 8 hrs a day) and take about 3 days per chapter (reading chapter, taking notes, then doing a set of around 80 questions over the chapter) to prepare for next year’s USABO, because i only got a 16 on this years open exam. I wanted to know if a chapter every 2 days was too slow as someone told me i should read Campbell’s 4-5 times (2 chapters a day) and take no notes, as it was too time consuming and notes wont help me remember for more than a few months whereas reading it multiple times will help me remember. Is it better to read Campbell VERY thoroughly once w/ notes or multiple times very fast?
I definitely think 24 hours for one chapter is overkill… I did USABO this year, but this was the first year my school did it so we were super late with everything and I only had like a week to prepare. Read Campbells through once (did not get like any sleep that week), got a 30 something on the open and did average on semis. Didn’t do more studying for semis because I thought I bombed the open.
Going to try again this year. I think optimally, you read everything through once to get a general idea, take notes on chapters that are more difficult for you, then read multiple times and do the past exams.
Hello,
I had the same problem last year that you have right now. I was OBSESSED with takings notes for history and biology. It consumed vast amounts of my day and I was exhausted by the time the test came around. After observing one of my classmates, (who like me, takes the most advanced classes possible and get A’s in every single one and seemingly still has time to be one of the top swimmers and have FREE TIME) I realized that this was not an effective strategy. I was surprised to find out all he did to do so well in those classes was reading each chapter once or twice and listening in class. So, I started to do the same. Unlike I originally thought, simply reading and rereading the chapter made me memorize the facts better than taking notes! I also found out that highlighting important sentences in the textbook and then reviewing those after reading the chapter is VERY useful. As long as the highlighter is erasable. You don’t want to end up paying a fine.
My advice to you is to stop taking all those notes. It is inefficient in many ways. I am also studying to make Bio nationals right now. I get through 1 chapter a day. (spend 4 hours on each chapter) Once i finish the book cover to cover, I will read again the chapters I am unsure about. After doing that, I will reread the entire book once again. Then, read the 10th edition cover to cover (I have 7th rn) Once or twice. After that, buy a Raven’s biology for plants and read it once and then review highllighted sections
Cheers, and good luck! Perhaps we will see each other at nationals
Hey guys,
If any of you still have access to or a copy of February 2016 USABO open exam discussion doc, please do email or share it with me: kkomigh@gmail.com
I know its been a while since the test but I would still like to review. Thanks.
Hi guys,
If any of you have any questions from the 2014-2016 open or semifinal exams, could you please pm me? Also if there are any discussion docs and cutoffs from previous years it would be great. Should I study the 10th edition of Campbell or the 8th, since the 8th is the official book. Thanks
I think they mean the regular book. But does anybody know if the AP edition would be also okay to study from, or should I stick to the regular Campbell?
Here’s the best way to study for USABO in my opinion. First of all, 40% of the questions on the test come from the animal and plant physiology sections (16 chapters combined). You have to study these sections at least 2 times for open exam. Cellular biology (~10 Chapters) makes up 20 % of the test. Evolution and Genetics together make up another 20% (they are about one half the book combined), so these are not nearly as important as the other ones. You need to find another source for ecology, ethology, and biosystematics because Campbell doesn’t really cover them.
Here’s how I read the book:
I watch a crash course/ Bozeman video about the chapter I’m about to read
I read each section summary from the end of the chapter before reading that section
I read the chapter and ONLY take notes on the thing I know I will forget for sure
I take the end of the chapter quiz and answer the concept questions
IMORTANT do not take notes about the core concepts because you will remember them. Do not take notes on the stories and experiments. Do not draw the diagrams. You will always have a perfect version of them in the book, so just write down the page number if you want. Memorize the amino acids, the structures of polysaccharides, the end groups, and the structure of the nucleic bases. If you really want to become the top 20 in the country you need to know these stuff.
I agree with comments above. Do not take notes as this is so time consuming. Instead, read as much as you can from book and highlight key sentences in the book. Next, focus on other books like Raven’s Plant biology or Life. Also check out biolympiads.com since they publish handouts, worksheets, study material, so you do not need to do anything yourself. Lastly, watch Khan Academy videos as they are really good.
Does anyone happen to have questions from 2014-2016 (open exams)? I know that there was a discussion board or something of that nature last year after the open exam. Does anyone still have questions from that? Thank you so much
USABO chats in past years seemed to have a lot more going on, its odd how minimal the posting is this year… Anyways I was wonder how you guys would prioritize the animal anatomy chapters? I think I need to go over that area but considering I only have less than a week to the test I will only be able to cover some of them.
Did anyone’s tests get delayed? On the Facebook group chat, people seem to be saying that the scantrons won’t arrive until Feb. 14. And why is this thread so quiet?
