<p>I’ll cut right to the chase. </p>
<p>In the past, the AP was more about testing how much KNOWLEDGE you acquired, how much of it you retained up until the AP, and how well you are able to apply it. Now, the AP sciences are less about how much you KNOW, and more about how well you can THINK. If you go into the AP unwilling to apply your mental capacities, to think your way through problems, you will not succeed most likely, because the fact is that THINKING is the whole point of the AP now. They’re looking to see if you’ve acquired a solid conceptual foundation, an understanding of the concepts that underlie the biology, or chemistry, or physics, and don’t care so much if you can recall random facts that you might have encountered in your course. Those are important too, but NOT SO MUCH. What matters most is your willingness to THINK, and your UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS. That’s the big picture. That’s the big picture people. If you see the big picture, you’re good, but if you get bogged down in the details… that’s not good! See the big picture and you get a 5. Focus in on the details too much (details ARE important, but not nearly as much as the foundational concepts, like Atomic Theory and Newton’s Laws, and Conservation of Mass and Energy), and you get a 4. Simple as that. </p>