Agree/disagree: a significant fraction of AP Bio material can be found in a 7th grade

Pre-College Topics High School Cafe
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<p>Agree/disagree: a significant fraction of AP Bio material can be found in a 7th grade biology textbook/a good 7th grade biology class.</p>

<p>7th grade biology, anyways, often goes over basic definitions of things like mitosis, cellular organelles, and ecology. There are a few topics from AP Biology that are left uncovered. But AP Biology is not very deep (most of the questions are still memorization-based questions). </p>

<p>I noticed this when I took the AP Biology exam after only one night of self-studying and got a 5 (even though I never took a biology class after 7th grade).</p>

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<p>Very much disagree. On the AP Exam, different areas are weighted more. The areas that are specific to AP Bio are weighted the most. The sort of 7th grade bio generally only comes up in the first two multiple choice questions.</p>

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<p>So you took biology in 7th grade, and simply studied the night before the test and got a 5? You didn’t take the AP Bio course at your school? Pretty beastly…</p>

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<p>Uhg… I took anatomy just to fill schedule space and well… That was boring enough. I couldn’t imagine taking AP Bio.</p>

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<p>We never had biology in 7th grade. But we did have life science in 6th grade and I don’t really think it helps much(Prentice Hall Explorer) for anything.</p>

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<p>Although, I actually really had a blast with seventh grade life science. It was a lot of fun and I had a blast learning all the different things. High school bio/anatomy… not my interest any longer.</p>

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<p>That’s why they’re changing the exam.</p>

<p>Collegeboard realized just how shallow the understanding but large the breadth was, so they’re switching it. I’m the AP Bio Teacher’s Assistant at my school so I’ve seen the new guidelines and our proposed curriculum. It’s a lot more in depth, but much fewer subjects are being covered.</p>

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<p>^I heard about that. I suppose it’s a good move. Biology is a very, very broad field and can’t really be studied extensively in one course. I wonder if they might try to split up the AP into different parts like molecular, ecology, etc. Similar to how AP Physics is broken up</p>

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<p>Well, AP Physics isn’t exactly broken up…at least, I’m not seeing how it’s broken up. Can you explain?</p>

<p>I agree that maybe they might split AP Bio into something more similar to the subject tests (Bio E/M). Except maybe even more fragmented. </p>

<p>Does anybody know when the new Bio test is going to be administered? I know that these changes are being made in May 2012 and May 2013 ([AP®</a> Courses Revisions and Changes - Advances in AP | The College Board](<a href=“About AP – AP Central | College Board”>http://advancesinap.collegeboard.org/)) but I’m not seeing anything about AP Bio (or the rest of the sciences, for that matter).</p>

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<p>I think he means how there are the 2 AP Physics C tests.</p>

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<p>^Yes, that’s what I meant.</p>

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<p>Idk but it’s probably the easiest science AP in my opinion.</p>

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<p>AP Bio is an easy science AP.</p>

<p>Its all memorization.</p>

<p>Get a 5 now, so that you don’t have to take it in college. seriously.</p>

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<p>Oh, that makes sense. I wish there were an AP Physics C: Nuclear Physics or an AP Physics C: Fluids and Thermodynamics. :(</p>

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<p>In our school, it’s like this:
6th grade-Astronomy, Scientific Method, Life science, Meteorology
7th grade-Earth science, physics, anatomy, health, more astronomy
8th grade-Chemistry, Genetics, more Earth science, electricity and magnetism</p>

<p>But it’s super watered down Prentice Hall Explorer books…</p>

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<p>Hahahaha Prentice Hall. In 7th grade I got into an “Accelerated” physics class, and every quarter received the highest grade in the class, a 98. But we used Prentice Hall textbooks.</p>

<p>Then in 8th grade I moved. At that school, the 8th grade science was physics. They said if I passed the 8th grade physics final, I could take science at the high school. Hahahaha Prentice Hall had effing taught me that there were only THREE forms of matter. From there on it was horrible. I think I failed the test pretty badly, they were kind enough to not tell me my grade, just that I would need to take physics at the middle school. </p>

<p>Effing Prentice Hall.</p>

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<p>Their Motion, Forces, and Energy book took like 12 weeks and there were only 5 formulas. </p>

<p>Now I started reading an actual physics book and realized how little it covered.</p>