<p>I've decided to take AP Biology next year, and other few other AP classes, but this is the class I'm sure I'm taking next year. Right now I have a 97% in Honors Biology and I love it. I have heard many stories about it's all memorization, but is it really ALL memorization? My Biology class isn't all memorization we have to apply the knowledge to different situations, and use previous knowledge and apply it to new units. If you guys have taken it or heard about it, what's it like?</p>
<p>It differs by school, just like all AP classes. You’re better off asking people from your school. </p>
<p>BUT, I will say this. AP Bio is like the science version of AP US. Some people find one significantly harder than the other. I’m more of a bio person, and thought it was easy, and when I recommended it to other kids, they found it very challenging (whereas I found history to be more challenging)</p>
<p>If I had to characterize AP Biology into one word, it’d be memorization. It’s definitely the most memory-intensive Science AP. It is not, however, entirely memorization; nothing is. Rote memorization plays a big enough role in AP Bio that people complain it’s all memorization, though. What you describe your Honors Biology class is what basically every single high-school class is: Learn facts; Learn relevant examples; Apply knowledge to situations; Combine new knowledge with past knowledge; Apply combined knowledge to more complicated situations; repeat. </p>
<p>AP classes are information-dense, fast-paced, and on the whole more ‘difficult’ than other classes. The subject itself is memory-intensive and, if the teacher isn’t constantly bombarding you with new facts, it’s unlikely you’ll make it through the year and learn everything you need to know for the AP test. The amount of labs, relevant examples, and other “concept times” varies from school to school. As CrazyPluto said, you just have to ask other students have have taking/are taking AP Biology or the teacher himself.</p>
<p>Edit: This is from seeing multiple threads like this on CC before, talking to my school’s AP Bio teacher, talking to AP Bio students at my school, and self-studying the exam (5).</p>
<p>Only a few things for me were rote memorization (some things, like the different phyla ARE a PITA to memorize and there’s really no way to get around it). I could answer most questions not because I memorized the answer, but because I could reason it out.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’ve heard that they’re changing the curriculum starting 2012-2013, resulting in students having to memorize less.</p>
<p>my school doesnt offer AP courses, but all the courses are naturally very very intensive as well as extensive. and i have bio as well(i love it). all i can say, that to be a bio student you must be ready to gobble down a hell lot of info, not that they arent worth taking in. yeah and the genetics part( i dont know whether it is offered in AP or not) is all about concept. i say if you have an inclination towards bio, just take it. its worth the effort.</p>
<p>there are some applications and understanding to it, but it’s much more memorization-based than the other sciences</p>
<p>@aldfig0 I didn’t know they were changing the curriculum O.O Thanks. I’ll try to talk to our AP Biology teacher. Last time I try to talk to her about the class she was like: “You’ll find out next year.”</p>
<p>I guess it’s memorization in the sense that you don’t solve many problems (other than in genetics) like you do in AP chemistry and physics, but conceptual understanding is pretty important. </p>
<p>It’s not that hard, and it’s interesting. But as a warning, AP bio teachers in general like to give out a ridiculous amount of homework because they assume that you can’t learn anything on your own. Ask your friends who’ve taken it at your school what the teachers are like.</p>
<p>@CORVIDS Thank you. I will try. I heard about the tons of homework rumor. I think I’ll definitely take AP Bio.</p>
<p>It’s been a while but I thought AP Biology was alright. It’s a lot of reading, and I always had to read the book twice to make sure I remembered stuff, but it’s not conceptually difficult or anything. It will probably take a lot of time though so don’t take everything else and AP Bio at the same time.</p>
<p>Definitely ask those who have already taken it from the teacher that you’re going to take. A teacher can make a class as engaging or as tedious as they’d like it to be. I HATE my AP biology class. All we do is memorize the book, look at lame case studies and dry power points, and have old AP tests as our class tests (50% of grade, talk about difficult). My teacher never truly teaches or explains assignments. I will be dropping it next semester. :)</p>