Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Hey Im taking the AP BIo exam this Mon. Use this thread to discuss any questions, tips, predictions etc for the AP Bio exam this Monday.

Thanks

By Callmecollege (Callmecollege) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 06:50 pm: Edit

there was a brain multiple choice question last yr. thats all i remember

By Heythere (Heythere) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 06:53 pm: Edit

Yay for AP Biology exams. I just read the entire endocrine system chapter. I'm using the CD I bought to teach me things and do activities. I will get a 5.

My goal is A/5/800 for Biology (A in AP, 5 on AP exam, 800 on SAT II)

By Sosodef (Sosodef) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:04 pm: Edit

I am not worried about the ap bio exam my teacher has been teaching it 16 years and last 3 years she has had a 95% passsing with a 4 and above. A lot of people say her exams are harder than the real ap exams.

If any wants to know she recommends the cliffnotes prep for ap bio

By Heythere (Heythere) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:06 pm: Edit

Yeah that's similar with my teacher (90% 3+...yours sounds slightly stronger)

AP bio exam multiple choice is extremely easy, the only reason why anyone would get any wrong is careless mistakes, or they just haven't covered it yet. I took the 1994 and got 108/120 right. 10 of them were in animal structure and function chapters we haven't done.

By Boo (Boo) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:09 pm: Edit

I think one or two (at the most) passed last year at my school...haha

The mc is very easy some years, and extremely hard and in depth others...it fluctuates a lot. I took one exam and couldn't get any wrong, and took another which caused me some trouble. Its wierd.

By Cm323 (Cm323) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:47 pm: Edit

not many passed from my school last year, that is why im so worried. I took a mc test from a recent ap exam and got 63/120 (i ommited many) Will this be at least a 3 if im a good essay writer?

By Pisces (Pisces) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 07:47 pm: Edit

do you guys think there will be alot on phyla this year? i know there was an essay on it last year and that's my weakest point...i'm really hoping no.

By Studiousvegetar (Studiousvegetar) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 10:14 pm: Edit

Cm323, that should be around a low three, but you'll need solid essays.

By Smiley (Smiley) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 10:20 pm: Edit

My teacher said 90% 5s since he's been teaching the class... part of that may be that only a few kids per year take the exam. Everyone says his tests are harder than the exam.. I got an A in the class, but I doubt that I'll do very well on the AP, but I don't really care...

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 12:42 am: Edit

Do you have a link for the '94 test, Heythere?

By Heythere (Heythere) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:10 am: Edit

Sorry it's not online.

By Cm323 (Cm323) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 01:47 pm: Edit

Is everyone studing super hard on Sunday?

By Haan (Haan) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 03:09 pm: Edit

yep i am studying super hard

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 04:41 pm: Edit

is the time restraint on the MC part of the AP Bio test very difficult? 1 hr 30 minutes seems very long for 120 questions.

By Cm323 (Cm323) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 04:49 pm: Edit

well i heard the mc are okay, the essay is the hard part.

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 04:52 pm: Edit

how many MC can you get wrong on the exam (while doing average on the essays) and still get a 5?

By Miscanon (Miscanon) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 05:36 pm: Edit

last I heard the curve is about 83 / 150 for a 5. doing average on the essays will supply about 30 points...so you need about 53 from the MC. But the MC raw score is multiplied by 0.75...so you need about 53/.75 = 71 questions on the MC if you get none wrong. if you get some right...then you should subtract (1/4) for each and adjust the totals accordingly. If I wrongly assumed 83 / 150 you can correct accordingly. Hope this helps.

By Miscanon (Miscanon) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 05:37 pm: Edit

***that should read "...if you get some WRONG...then you should subtract..." not "if you get some right"

By Ceesie (Ceesie) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 05:39 pm: Edit

im wondering how well we need to know the different divisions, classes, kingdoms of organisms. we never learned about zygomycota, ascomycota, etc. in class.

By Studiousvegetar (Studiousvegetar) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 05:53 pm: Edit

Can you use eraseable pen for the essays?

By Clipse (Clipse) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 06:33 pm: Edit

"Can you use eraseable pen for the essays? "

just bring a REAL pen to be safe. No offense but its a stupid question, you have bigger things to worry about.

By Cm323 (Cm323) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:27 pm: Edit

I all I want is a stupid 3. is that too much to ask? What do I need to get on the mc's and essays to get a 3?

By Studiousvegetar (Studiousvegetar) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:30 pm: Edit

To get a three you need 60-79 points out of 160 (including the essays). For a five, 102-150. For a four, 80-101. I got the scale from a book from my teacher.

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 10:09 pm: Edit

thanks, but i am still a little confused, how many points exactly are the essays worth?
if i get about 90/120 (raw score ~78) on the MC, i need 24 points from my essays? that means 6/10 per essay right? thanks!

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 10:27 pm: Edit

FREAKIN' A! I'm usually a really good test-taker, and this one is just biting me in the ass. I've taken two of Barron's practice exams and gotten 63/120 on one of them and 61/120 on the other. Constant suckiness? WTF! I was hoping the MC would be a nice buffer for my crappy free-response questions. I'm screwed. *kills cat*

By Heythere (Heythere) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:14 pm: Edit

I have the official scale. In 1999 it was a cutoff of 86 points for a 5 and in 1994 around 90 points.

Lateralus...
78 mc score x 0.75 + (1.5 x 24 pts on essay) = a DEFINITE5

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:35 pm: Edit

wow i guess 5's fluctuate a lot, studiousvegestar said a 5 you need 102-150; and in 1999 it was only 86?

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 11:44 am: Edit

THAT WAS VERY HARD

By Hipstertapioca (Hipstertapioca) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:38 pm: Edit

BUMP -- eww. i am a disgrace...i had been getting 5's on all practice test, and now most likely a 3/4. i have chemistry tomorrow. yippee

By Virgo007 (Virgo007) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 02:25 pm: Edit

I definitely got a 2 the AP Bio exam.. I am so depressed..

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 02:46 pm: Edit

omg those essays were screwed up

By Haan (Haan) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:02 pm: Edit

Virgo ur not gonna get a 2 - why do u think that


The essay that was messed up was the Chi-Square one = but getting that wrong is only 4-5 points out of 15 so its not a big deal. The other essays were doable.

Here's the scaling for the bio AP:

MC raw x .75 = MC raw score

Essay 1 + 2 + 3 +4 = essay raw score(out of 60)

Add those two to get the scaled score

101-150 = 5
82-100 = 4
62-81 = 3
40-61 = 2
0-39 = 1

Virgo: getting a 2 is like getting 50 MC wrong and not even doing the essays - u def didn't get a 2 probably more closer to a 4 or 5 than u think

By Pisces (Pisces) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Has anyone seriously ever heard of chi-squared or used it in bio? I mean, my class didnt get through the whole text (Campbells) but we did heredity and i dont remember that at all. the only kids who knew anything about it were ap stats students. I just looked at it and turned the page- eventually i went back and did parts a and c, but it totally freaked me out for the rest of the test.

By Misterbobbit (Misterbobbit) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:19 pm: Edit

I've used Chi-Square. It's a test to see if your results are valid or not. Try looking up how to do the procedure on google or whatnot.

By Hipstertapioca (Hipstertapioca) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:32 pm: Edit

degrees of freedom was 3? the null hypothesis could not be rejected. sex linked eye color. chi - 2? umm, dont remeber the cross though.

for the death essay. i wrote that enzymes are reused...is this at all valid? some people wrote about ATP & loss of brain cells due to drug use.

factors which may have caused fluctuations in population size: seasonal changes, predator or competition introudced into enviornment, lack of food/water.

if nothing seems right, please just humor me...thanks hope to hear more thoughts on the exam

By Testtaker (Testtaker) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:38 pm: Edit

Do you guys think that it is ok to say plasma membrane is reused- like first you have a particle going into a cell by endocytosis and then the vescicle it travels in gets reused and then a particle can leave the cell in a vescicle when it fuses with the plasma membrane.

For cell death can you say that leaves fall of trees- does this have to do with the hormote absisic acid by the way?

Also for cell death I talked about xylem cells- is that valid??

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:38 pm: Edit

Our class never did chi-square. Hipstertapioca--enzymes aren't degraded and reused, they are just reused.

But my example was even worse lol.

By Boo (Boo) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:05 pm: Edit

Yeah, dof was 3...Chi square is used to prove data is of random probability, and not under influence of outside effects. I used red blood cells for cell death (they are broken down and their iron is sent to make more and they are used to make bile), but my bio teacher said I should have used the tails of tadpoles or webbed feet (Don't ask me how...).

Also, what was with the amount of stupid population crap...what the heck? I thought it would have been a smaller percentage of the test than that.

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:08 pm: Edit

I used tails of tadpoles and notochord during embryonic development. (autophagy and lysosomes)

By Pisces (Pisces) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:16 pm: Edit

i talked about the nitrogen cycle- how it's broken down and reused. i didnt think it could only be cells, it just had to be reused by cells. who knows. I also talked about how during embryonic development, the cells between human fingers die by apoptosis... could have been totally off..

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:45 pm: Edit

my friend wrote about apoptosis

By Andrew (Andrew) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 05:26 pm: Edit

I'm not sure but I think the dgrees of freedom was one because it is possible genotypes minus one. There were only two possible genotypes you don't count male/female as different. I might have remembered wrong from the question or the rule so don't take my word. I didn't like the Chi-square what were your answers for that like 6/5, and stuff like that?? I don't know that was the one I wasn't really sure about, we did the lab in sept. so yeah. I'm sure everyone did well anyway, I mean the free-response don't count that much and the curve is wicked good.

By Tbone (Tbone) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 05:29 pm: Edit

I also wrote about apoptosis and C. Elegans in mine

By Boo (Boo) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 05:50 pm: Edit

I got 2 for the chi square number (50/25), and I do not think that sex is taken into account, because in things like production of goods it is based solely on the number of expected outcomes.

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:32 pm: Edit

the Chi-square question was ridiculous, but I think I definitely got a 5. There were only about 5-6 multiple choice that I guessed on. The essays I nailed except for the chi square calculation. the question with the reusing -- was it reusing dead cells only? from what you guys posted I guess it could have been reusing anything. Anyway, did anyone write about the spleen reusing dead red blood cells

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:41 pm: Edit

Lol-when I had time left I went back to all of my questions and kept adding crap to get more points about random things.

The chi-square question was supposedly easy for people who did that...but considering I didn't, ... but I got the 2 other parts of that question (so maybe like a 5-7 pts on that essay? who knows how they grade it) I did my best on the populations one.. kinda.

The multiple choice were definitely easy i think I got between 105-115 correct, maybe more. I finished with 30 minutes to spare.

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:44 pm: Edit

Chi-square: Gave it a shot, but never learned it.

Death: Polypeptides broken down into amino acids. Any points here?

Lots of people thought they did bad on the lab question... I think I did fairly well. As far as the multiple choice goes — glad it's on a curve.

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:49 pm: Edit

Polysaccharides are carbohydrates. Amino acids make up proteins. Polysaccharides can be broken down into monosaccharides though.

By Smiley (Smiley) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:50 pm: Edit

I have a question... Where was the lab design free response question??

By Boo (Boo) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:50 pm: Edit

polypeptides...hehehe

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:51 pm: Edit

I would like to know that also becaues I didn't see one on my test

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:53 pm: Edit

You (edited so I don't get banned or whatever) caught me before I could change it :-)

By Nocalguy (Nocalguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:56 pm: Edit

I couldn't do the Chi-thing either, but thought the rest of the free response was ok. I had a bit of difficulty with the MC portion. I never took regular biology and though I learned most of the important concepts this year in Biology AP, I still have trouble learning all of the scientific names of organisms and hormones/enzymes.

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:03 pm: Edit

Smiley: The lab-based question was the one about drosphilia. I think a lot of schools skipped the lab.

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:05 pm: Edit

i am also glad there was nothing on taxonomy

By Haan (Haan) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:06 pm: Edit

Since the essays are out of 10, getting the whole Chi-Square think is about 3.5 pts off. so 6.5/10

By Haan (Haan) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:09 pm: Edit

Assess my score:

Raw Score = 67.5/90 MC
Essays(to be on the safe side) = 30/40

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:12 pm: Edit

composite score of 112.5, easily 5 congrats

By Virgo007 (Virgo007) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 07:24 pm: Edit

•••• the Chi-Square! I just did the first part and the last part and skipped the rest of the ••••. •••• it. The Rest of the essays were ok, especially the last 2. The MC were ok. But our teacher didn't prepare us at all! I took all the previous AP Bio Exams and I got in the 4-5 Range. When I went through this test, it's gonna suck ass. I bs'd everything. I don't know what an organism is.

By Studiousvegetar (Studiousvegetar) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 09:36 pm: Edit

When do they mail scores (for free)?

By Tbone (Tbone) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 09:37 pm: Edit

around mid july i think

By Cm323 (Cm323) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 09:54 pm: Edit

i think the test wasnt hard or easy, but right in the middle. what do u guys think?

By Virgo007 (Virgo007) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:07 pm: Edit

It was ok...the lab essay •••••• me up...some MC •••••• me up too. But some questions were just dumb, like "what is an explanation for the process of the Golgi Apparatus?"

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:13 pm: Edit

If you write BS in your bio essays do they give you 0-1 out of 9 or 2-3 out of 9?

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:15 pm: Edit

Do you guys do really good on the essays? I heard from friends that the essay average tends to be 20 percent lower than the mc average.

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:16 pm: Edit

For the mutation one if u defined mutation and gave two examples is that a 3 right there?

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:19 pm: Edit

For the third question what do you think I'll get if I:

defined logistic and exponential
said the first part of curve was exponential
mentioned carrying capacity
gave factors for carrying capacity: diseases, famine and predator-prey
define K and R
said difference between K and R
gave examples human (K) and bacteria (R)

Do you think that will earn full points?

By Haan (Haan) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:34 pm: Edit

Diconoclastx - do u mean 3/3 pts? If so, then u definitely should get 3/3. We could talk about any mutation rite? I talked about point mutation and deletion.

By Heythere (Heythere) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:37 pm: Edit

i talked about mutagens like radiation, frameshift, translocation, inversions all this stuff just to get random points

By Lateralus (Lateralus) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 06:16 pm: Edit

deletion is a Type of point mutation

By Rhsguy (Rhsguy) on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 06:53 pm: Edit

I don't think a frameshift mutation would be likely in this scenario.

By Elgreco (Elgreco) on Friday, May 16, 2003 - 10:27 am: Edit

Hey, hipstertapioca, for the recycling of materials essay, I wrote about the dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis processes of water.