AP Bio..

[johny1]

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@daretorun

I think sandwichgirl was joking, OP. In the 80s is perfectly feasible.

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<p>I can’t seem to get in the 80s that’s my problem. This last test I got a 66, and the highest grade was a 90 then 88 etc… I studied very hard for the test. I seem to do very poorly in classes with a lot of material. </p>

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@hobbithill

How are you taking notes? Is your problem that you simply don’t know the stuff that’s on the tests? Or more of a test-taking problem?</p>

<p>My teacher uses AP MC along with stuff she makes up and I think some of the test bank stuff, and I take notes using the question-cluster method here: Study Hacks Blog Archive How to Study for Non-Technical Science Courses
It is seriously so helpful to do. I take forEVER doing my notetaking too, but it’s well worth it when test time comes around.

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<p>Before I take a test I could tell you about every term and I have an understanding of how it works but when taking the test it seems that the questions aren’t memorization tests anymore. They have a lot of conceptual application questions and graphs and figures that you need to interpret. Or the questions commonly explain a process and then tell you to make an inference of what happens if something in the process was altered. I have trouble with these. My note taking might be the problem. Since I read very slowly, the note taking process even further slows down my work speed so instead of taking good notes I spend more time understanding what I am reading. The site you provided seems very similar to what I already do. </p>

<p>And to the second part of your question I think i have test taking problems as well since I am not able to finish some of the 100 MC tests. I already spend ridiculous amounts of time preparing for a test so I don’t know if time is my issue, but maybe the technique I am using to prepare. I spend 12-13 hours studying for each test which has 4-5 chapters of material. I also spend roughly 6 hours doing notes per chapter. So before test I end up with a total of 6(5) = 30 hours + 13 hours = 43 hours of preparation for the test. I know that the other kids who are getting 90s aren’t putting even close to that many hours. </p>

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@wanton

Seconding what hobbithill said, I’m hardly the brightest person, but I just took really good notes and I don’t think I ever got below a 100 on those multiple choice quizzes…
Notes are extremely helpful once you get to the AP test too. Annnd if you have good notes you can sell them after the class is done. My notes funded my road trip, ahaha.
AP Bio is really all memorization. So this is just about you not going over the material as effectively as you should be. You might just have to take longer going over this stuff than you’re used to. Or try some new memorization tactics.

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<p>My teacher occasionally gives out knowledge comprehension quizes which are from the same test bank but the questions are primarily involved with memorization. For these questions I get a 100%, but in our tests none of the questions are knowledge comprehension all of them are application, synthesis etc… I don’t think memorizing the material may be my problem. I just don’t know where I can get practice for those conceptual questions.</p>

<p>So it seems as if the general consensus is to take very meticulous notes. Do people have other ideas? Or is that what you recommend. If I took heavier notes the time to finish each chapter (avg 25 pages) would increase from my current 6 hours per chapter to maybe 10. And that is too freaking long, especially when I have other homework. </p>

<p>Also I am curious. How much time do you guys spend preparing for Bio Campbell tests? and what do you guys get on them? Like how many MCs do u have and how much time?</p>