I am a junior. I skipped regular biology to take AP Bio this year. I did well in the class so far. However, I found out that the free response questions require the knowledge from regular biology. Plus our teacher did not cover a lot of the knowledge. (She assumed that the rest of the class have learned that last year.) I attended middle school in China, so I know part of the regular biology knowledge but in Chinese.
Do I need to be totally au fait with the regular bio to get a good grades in the multiple-choice part of the AP exam? If so, what should I do to prepare for it? (e.g. What parts of the regular Bio curriculum should I review and what parts can I omit?)
Thank you guys for helping me.
Get yourself a test review book (e.g. Barron’s, 5 steps to a 5, many other publishers…) and you will surely find the gaps between your Biology knowledge base and the test content.
Thx. I have a Barron one.
Hello! I took the exam last year, got a 5.
I thought the multiple choice was easy, very similar to the ACT science section (which is like reading passages + answering questions about the passage). I recommend you start with the grid in questions, that way if you do run out of time, you can just guess on the other MC. Perhaps due to the wordy questions/passages, many people didn’t finish the MC. Just go as quickly as you can, read the questions first and then the passages. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t know some questions, just move on quickly because many people had issues with time.
The new exam is very conceptual, not focused on definitions as much as pre-2013 exams. Be able to apply concepts across laboratory experiments. Last year’s test was very heavy on heredity, body systems, and ecology (be sure to study these!). There wasn’t anything taxonomy or animal cell development/embryology.
You mentioned the Barron’s book, I typically don’t recommend it because with the new exam (post-2013) there’s too much information and it’s distracting from the important points that the AP exam looks for in essays. For the FRQ’s, I’d recommend that you make sure to not only explain the basic concept of what they’re asking for, but also to give the names of the key parts involved. I think that Barron’s book doesn’t do good enough of a job separating necessary and extra info, and students spend too much time writing in detail about one part when they should spend more time talking about something else.
I highly recommend watching the Crash Course Biology series on YouTube. I pretty much spent the weekend before the exam watching every video on 2x speech and taking notes over things I didn’t remember very much. Also, I used 5 Steps to a 5. I never read the assigned textbook, just Crash Course and 5 Steps got me a 5.
Let me know if you have other questions please! 加油！
Thank you guys, I got a 5.
@yuloucn May I ask what you did? My teacher is starting off with Ecology and is going to skip most of organismal biology and is doing what @BunnyMonster said. I already took the SAT II before coming to the class and it seems pretty easy to understand. The labs are hectic but it’s all good.
Sorry for the late reply. I basically just crammed using the Barron’s book. The MC somewhat resembles ACT Science, so ACT prep also helped.