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I'm supposedly taking the AP Bio exam on Monday... but I know nothing about plants or animals or biochemistry... (I never had first year bio... just AP course that assumed we knew all the basics)... For some puzzling reason, my teacher is quite convinced I have a good shot at a 5... any thoughts?

By Poutingminotaur (Poutingminotaur) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 09:11 pm: Edit

i took the bio ap last year.. and i thought it was one of the hardest thing i have ever seen. i didnt know anything about respiration or photosynthesis or plant physiology or ecology (cos my teacher spent forever on like i guessed on about 70% of the multiple choice, and i ran out of time for the free response, so i wrote like a 1 line answer. but i got a 4... so i think im just incredibly lucky or that basically everyone else did badly too.
but it is true indeed that i heard the curve for bio ap is kinda huge.

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 09:14 pm: Edit

1999 curve 83-150 for a "5". Very big curve.

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 09:14 pm: Edit

1999 curve 83-150 for a "5". Very big curve.

By Ceesie (Ceesie) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 09:29 pm: Edit

ugh ap bio is gonna suck ass. my teacher this year spent more time talking about his pet snakes and how eating beans makes you fart than actually teaching. i really really really really hope i can do ok on the mc because i know i wont be able to do the free responses at ALL. those are ridiculously hard!! im using the princeton review book to study but i've heard it isnt good. ::sigh::

By Poutingminotaur (Poutingminotaur) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 10:42 pm: Edit

a really really really good book is cliffs notes.

By Heythere (Heythere) on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 - 11:15 pm: Edit

I wouldn't worry about it. I hardly know any of the stuff either, but the multiple choice is VERY easy.

You can get 70% on the mc and 2.5/4 on the essays and get a 4.

Also Nocal...

it was 86+ for a 5 and that year one of the multiple choice q's was not scored, so the maximum score was cut off. It really wasn't that different than any other years.


here's some stats

80-120 on multiple choice -83% of people got 5's.
you can get like 75 multiple choice and get a5

By Ceesie (Ceesie) on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 03:38 pm: Edit

i knoooowww cliffs is a great book but is it really worth the 20 bucks to buy it now that the test is on monday? hmmm...

By Tweaks (Tweaks) on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 11:40 pm: Edit

Princeton Review tends to overgeneralize and try to write little info, as to appease lazy people.

Get the Cliffs book; 20 bucks could potentially make the difference between a number grade, and the AP test is 80 bucks as it is. Take practice questions from real tests, and where you're weak, look the section up in the book and read. Take notes, and review them extensively.

That's about all the advice I can give. I'm pretty strong at Bio -- our teacher has about a 95% pass rate -- and I honestly won't prep much at all.

The AP test overall seems to stress the UNDERSTANDING of underlying concepts, but these pretty much in depth. Even so, general knowledge about the problem subject (respiration, etc) can eliminate dummy choices.

By Studiousvegetar (Studiousvegetar) on Friday, May 09, 2003 - 07:32 pm: Edit

Ceesie, go to the library and borrow it for free.

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Friday, May 09, 2003 - 08:17 pm: Edit

Heythere a 70 pct and 2.5/4 is a strong 5 genius. U only need 58 percent for a 5.

By Ceesie (Ceesie) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 02:06 pm: Edit

my library doesn't carry anything remotely useful. but anyway i went to the bookstore and bought the cliffs ap book. from what i can tell its pretty good and hey i can always return it later, eh?

By Heythere (Heythere) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:00 pm: Edit

Dino--that's what my teacher told me. I just worked it out using the formula in cliff's book

With 70%, 2.5/4 you would get a 4 on the Cliff's practice exam (93 points, just on the borderline) and a 5 on the 1994 test (just made it--you needed a 91 on that)

So yeah, I wouldn't exactly call it a strong 5 if it's on the borderline.


58%? Hmm...

0.58 x 120 = 70 multiple choice right

= 70 - (50/4) = 57.5 x 0.7563=43.48

58% on essays = 23 pts /40 x 1.5 = 34.5

43.5 + 34.5 = 78

78 = weak 4 on the 1994 exam

Yeah, that's definitely not a 5.