There are lots of resources for you to practice for the AP Biology test. (Look at these sites for other practice tests for other AP tests too.)
The official practice tests will be the most useful, as they will be most like the real test. So if you have limited time, use those first. The other practice tests will be helpful too; however, sometimes they can be way harder or easier.
OFFICIAL
Practice free response questions
Practice questions(from the curriculum guide, scroll down to find them)
1999 Exam
2002 Released Exam & Answers
2008 Practice Exam & Answers
NON OFFICIAL
Both of these websites list a bunch of links to AP Practice tests, questions, study notes, and free response questions.
AP Practice exams
Test Frenzy
Friday, April 6, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
What should you be doing in study groups?
Tips For Successful Meetings:
Set a regular meeting date - either weekly or twice a month. You may want to start out meeting twice a month and then work up to meeting more often as the test date becomes closer.
Have one person in charge - That person should make sure the meetings happen (send reminders if needed). At the meeting, the person in charge makes sure you stay on track. Or, the person in charge could assign study group members each a time to be the one in charge.
Don't treat the study group like social hour - do that on the weekends! If you really don't want to be at the study group, then don't go and ruin it for everyone else.
Ideal number of studiers - You should have 3-6 members in your group.
Meet for at least 1 hour - As you meet more, you'll get a better feel for how long it takes before people start getting off-task. 3 hours would probably be way too long.
Meet in a quiet area - where you have room to write and spread out your books and papers. Try to find a place free distractions.
Name your group - Don't spend more than 5-10 minutes coming up with a name, or else it becomes a distraction. However, there is great power in having a positive name for your group - like "The Masterminds" or something. As you encourage each other to study, you create synergy!
Ideas For What To Do in a Study Group:
Plan Ahead. At your study group, plan to review certain chapters. For example, plan to review chapters 3 & 4 at the next study group, so everyone should have studied for those chapters. That helps you stay accountable to each other and makes your study group more effective. Focus only on those chapters during your review session.
Understand Concepts. Begin your study session by asking if there are any concepts anyone doesn't understand. Someone else should explain the concept. If no one understands the concept, then read about it and try to figure it out together. This site might help. If you still can't figure it out, email your teacher.
Review Free Response. Choose a free response question that everyone should answer before the next meeting. Do the free response question at home between meetings (with the time limit). Then bring it next time. Swap papers and grade them (make sure you assign a question with grading guidelines.) Then discuss your answers - why they were or weren't correct. Find AP free response questions here.
Practice vocabulary using flashcards. Or you can use your vocabulary lists. Pair up and do 20 flashcards to each other. The person who gets the most correct wins.
Play Jeopardy. Everyone makes up questions from their study notes (with answers.) One person is the game-show host. He says the answer and everyone tries to give the question first. You may want to have people slap the table or raise their hand rather than yelling the answer. Take turns being the host.
Play Dictionary. Set a timer for 10 minutes. During this time, everyone chooses 10 definitions or descriptions of concepts from their study notes. Write it down on a blank sheet of paper and then give three multiple choice options (either 3 terms or 3 definitions, but only one is correct.) For example, you could write "What is mitosis?" and then your three definitions might be for osmosis, mitosis and some random definition. Then swap papers and see how well you do.
Eat food! Have someone bring snacks or treats each time. You can even use them as rewards http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif(as soon as you get ten points, you get to eat; or if the food is small like pretzels or m&m's, you get to eat one when you get the question right.)
Explain the Concept - Take turns explaining difficult concepts to each other. Pretend the other person is 6 years old and see how well you do.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Play Pictionary - try to draw a concept or a vocabulary word and see if the other people can guess what it is.
Create Mind maps - come up with them together to figure out how parts relate to the whole in difficult concepts. See HERE for an example on mindmapping cell respiration.
Create analogies or metaphors - relate difficult concepts to things you already know. For example, you can relate a cell to a city. See HERE for an example.
Create memory mnemonics - If you have a list of things to remember, create a mnemonic. For example, everyone knows the notes on the lines in music as Every Good Boy Does Fine - or E,G,B,D,F. This is a great list of AP Biology mnemonics.
Set a regular meeting date - either weekly or twice a month. You may want to start out meeting twice a month and then work up to meeting more often as the test date becomes closer.
Have one person in charge - That person should make sure the meetings happen (send reminders if needed). At the meeting, the person in charge makes sure you stay on track. Or, the person in charge could assign study group members each a time to be the one in charge.
Don't treat the study group like social hour - do that on the weekends! If you really don't want to be at the study group, then don't go and ruin it for everyone else.
Ideal number of studiers - You should have 3-6 members in your group.
Meet for at least 1 hour - As you meet more, you'll get a better feel for how long it takes before people start getting off-task. 3 hours would probably be way too long.
Meet in a quiet area - where you have room to write and spread out your books and papers. Try to find a place free distractions.
Name your group - Don't spend more than 5-10 minutes coming up with a name, or else it becomes a distraction. However, there is great power in having a positive name for your group - like "The Masterminds" or something. As you encourage each other to study, you create synergy!
Ideas For What To Do in a Study Group:
Plan Ahead. At your study group, plan to review certain chapters. For example, plan to review chapters 3 & 4 at the next study group, so everyone should have studied for those chapters. That helps you stay accountable to each other and makes your study group more effective. Focus only on those chapters during your review session.
Understand Concepts. Begin your study session by asking if there are any concepts anyone doesn't understand. Someone else should explain the concept. If no one understands the concept, then read about it and try to figure it out together. This site might help. If you still can't figure it out, email your teacher.
Review Free Response. Choose a free response question that everyone should answer before the next meeting. Do the free response question at home between meetings (with the time limit). Then bring it next time. Swap papers and grade them (make sure you assign a question with grading guidelines.) Then discuss your answers - why they were or weren't correct. Find AP free response questions here.
Practice vocabulary using flashcards. Or you can use your vocabulary lists. Pair up and do 20 flashcards to each other. The person who gets the most correct wins.
Play Jeopardy. Everyone makes up questions from their study notes (with answers.) One person is the game-show host. He says the answer and everyone tries to give the question first. You may want to have people slap the table or raise their hand rather than yelling the answer. Take turns being the host.
Play Dictionary. Set a timer for 10 minutes. During this time, everyone chooses 10 definitions or descriptions of concepts from their study notes. Write it down on a blank sheet of paper and then give three multiple choice options (either 3 terms or 3 definitions, but only one is correct.) For example, you could write "What is mitosis?" and then your three definitions might be for osmosis, mitosis and some random definition. Then swap papers and see how well you do.
Eat food! Have someone bring snacks or treats each time. You can even use them as rewards http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif(as soon as you get ten points, you get to eat; or if the food is small like pretzels or m&m's, you get to eat one when you get the question right.)
Explain the Concept - Take turns explaining difficult concepts to each other. Pretend the other person is 6 years old and see how well you do.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Play Pictionary - try to draw a concept or a vocabulary word and see if the other people can guess what it is.
Create Mind maps - come up with them together to figure out how parts relate to the whole in difficult concepts. See HERE for an example on mindmapping cell respiration.
Create analogies or metaphors - relate difficult concepts to things you already know. For example, you can relate a cell to a city. See HERE for an example.
Create memory mnemonics - If you have a list of things to remember, create a mnemonic. For example, everyone knows the notes on the lines in music as Every Good Boy Does Fine - or E,G,B,D,F. This is a great list of AP Biology mnemonics.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Flashcard maker
If you don't prefer to hand write flashcards, this is a handy tool:
Free Printable Flash Card Maker
You can type in the question and answer for the cards. Then click on PDF. From there modify the settings if you want to make the cards print so that the answer is on one side and question on the other side (select Duplex printing.)
The nice thing about this program is that you can save a pdf copy of your cards in case you lose them. And typing the questions and answers will give you a better review than using someone else's cards.
There are also free online review cards:
AP Vocabulary at Quizlet
These flashcards would be great too, but you do learn more when you write your own cards. And sometimes you just need tangible cards to hold.
Free Printable Flash Card Maker
You can type in the question and answer for the cards. Then click on PDF. From there modify the settings if you want to make the cards print so that the answer is on one side and question on the other side (select Duplex printing.)
The nice thing about this program is that you can save a pdf copy of your cards in case you lose them. And typing the questions and answers will give you a better review than using someone else's cards.
There are also free online review cards:
AP Vocabulary at Quizlet
These flashcards would be great too, but you do learn more when you write your own cards. And sometimes you just need tangible cards to hold.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Self Studying
The Scholar Program is a very unique program, in that you only have classes one day a week. That means that you have much less accountability than most students do to get your homework done. One great thing about homeschooling is that you can learn to self-study. The Scholar Program helps you with this by giving you plenty of time at home to be studying.
Self-study is a great skill to master, as it helps you become a life-long learner long after formal school is done. It takes self-discipline to self-study.
Good students are motivated for many different reasons. Some want to get good grades. Others want to please their parents, or don't want to let them down. Some may just want to get into college. And others just study because it's what is expected. However, the best students are those who learn to study because they love to learn and they've learned to study the things they know they need to in order to become the best they can become. They do it because they know they are the only ones that can give themselves an education.
What type of student are you? If you study for reasons other than for yourself, examine your motives. Believe in yourself and that you are meant to be the best that you can be. And remember, the more you study, the better you get at it. Soon you won't hate some of the subjects you used to think were boring.
It is certainly easier to have teachers telling you exactly what to do and when to turn it in. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that many people stop learning once they don't have anyone to tell them what to do anymore. That is why it's important to learn the skill of self-study.
It very helpful to have a parent (or other mentor) to help guide you and hold you accountable for doing the work you committed to do, but you're the one that has to put in the work. It's your education, make it worth it!
Self-study is a great skill to master, as it helps you become a life-long learner long after formal school is done. It takes self-discipline to self-study.
Good students are motivated for many different reasons. Some want to get good grades. Others want to please their parents, or don't want to let them down. Some may just want to get into college. And others just study because it's what is expected. However, the best students are those who learn to study because they love to learn and they've learned to study the things they know they need to in order to become the best they can become. They do it because they know they are the only ones that can give themselves an education.
What type of student are you? If you study for reasons other than for yourself, examine your motives. Believe in yourself and that you are meant to be the best that you can be. And remember, the more you study, the better you get at it. Soon you won't hate some of the subjects you used to think were boring.
It is certainly easier to have teachers telling you exactly what to do and when to turn it in. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that many people stop learning once they don't have anyone to tell them what to do anymore. That is why it's important to learn the skill of self-study.
It very helpful to have a parent (or other mentor) to help guide you and hold you accountable for doing the work you committed to do, but you're the one that has to put in the work. It's your education, make it worth it!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
HANDWRITING
How important is handwriting on tests? If you are asking the question, then it's probably more important than you'd like it to be.
You do have to hand write the free response questions, so it is helpful to be able to write quickly (allowing you to concentrate more on your answer rather than your handwriting.)
It is also important to have legible handwriting, so the test scorers can read your awesome answers rather than spend their time deciphering it.
This may or may not be true, but I read once that there was an experiment done on test essays. The experimenter got a bunch of essays and had the test scorers stand back so that they couldn't read the essays, but could still see the general handwriting and length of the essay. Then the test scorers gave the essays a grade just by looking at it from a distance. Next, the same essays were read and scored. It was found that both methods gave very similar grades! (Meaning the same essay may have gotten a 5 when just looked at and a 5 when it was read.)
Whether or not the story is actually true, neatness and speed in handwriting really do help on essay questions!
How can you improve your handwriting? Practice! Copywork is the time-tested way of improving. A simple way to improve your handwriting that also helps you study at the same time, is to copy your vocabulary words and definitions neatly onto flashcards. Use a marker or cool pen to make it less boring.
Tip: Do you write with your fingers?
Simple Tip For Improving Handwriting:
You do have to hand write the free response questions, so it is helpful to be able to write quickly (allowing you to concentrate more on your answer rather than your handwriting.)
It is also important to have legible handwriting, so the test scorers can read your awesome answers rather than spend their time deciphering it.
This may or may not be true, but I read once that there was an experiment done on test essays. The experimenter got a bunch of essays and had the test scorers stand back so that they couldn't read the essays, but could still see the general handwriting and length of the essay. Then the test scorers gave the essays a grade just by looking at it from a distance. Next, the same essays were read and scored. It was found that both methods gave very similar grades! (Meaning the same essay may have gotten a 5 when just looked at and a 5 when it was read.)
Whether or not the story is actually true, neatness and speed in handwriting really do help on essay questions!
How can you improve your handwriting? Practice! Copywork is the time-tested way of improving. A simple way to improve your handwriting that also helps you study at the same time, is to copy your vocabulary words and definitions neatly onto flashcards. Use a marker or cool pen to make it less boring.
Tip: Do you write with your fingers?
Simple Tip For Improving Handwriting:
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
AP Biology - test prep Chart
Here is the chart which coordinates the AP Biology class units with the Kaplan and Princeton Review test prep chapters.
Also is a monthly schedule on what you should be doing to prep for the test.
Also is a monthly schedule on what you should be doing to prep for the test.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
How to write GREAT study notes
How to write study notes!
Why should you make study notes?
*Best way to retain info. When you write it down, it sticks to your brain. You will remember much more than you do just by reading. You can also make connections when writing things down. Then when you review your notes, your retention increases even more. Definitely need to review your notes to remember things for a test.
TIP 1: Write it in your OWN words.
If you just copy it, you won’t remember it very well. Writing it in your own words shows that you understand it. Write it as though you are explaining it to someone else.
Needed to remember for tests.
TIP 2: Write in an organized manner
Connect ideas, or use an outline method with headings & subheadings.
Study notes work best when they’re written in an organised manner.
TIP 3: Make your notes visual
Use colors, diagrams, pictures, bold, underlines, etc to remember important points.
TIP 4: Keep all your notes for 1 subject in 1 place.
Use one notebook or binder per subject. Scraps of paper are not effective.
TIP 5: Don’t worry about complete sentences
You can use complete sentences, but you don’t have to. You can use abbreviations. Your notes just need to make sense to you and have your own style.
TIP 6: Condense it
Re-write the concepts you find difficult, and important concepts that are sure to appear in an exam. Try writing everything you need to know on just one page of study notes.
TIP 7: Make Connections
Make connections using metaphors, visualization, etc in your notes first time you write them down if you can, but if you can’t add them when you re-write.
TIP 8: Re-read Your Study Notes
If you’ve made good study notes throughout the year, a great way to study for the test is to review your study notes.
Why should you make study notes?
*Best way to retain info. When you write it down, it sticks to your brain. You will remember much more than you do just by reading. You can also make connections when writing things down. Then when you review your notes, your retention increases even more. Definitely need to review your notes to remember things for a test.
TIP 1: Write it in your OWN words.
If you just copy it, you won’t remember it very well. Writing it in your own words shows that you understand it. Write it as though you are explaining it to someone else.
Needed to remember for tests.
TIP 2: Write in an organized manner
Connect ideas, or use an outline method with headings & subheadings.
Study notes work best when they’re written in an organised manner.
TIP 3: Make your notes visual
Use colors, diagrams, pictures, bold, underlines, etc to remember important points.
TIP 4: Keep all your notes for 1 subject in 1 place.
Use one notebook or binder per subject. Scraps of paper are not effective.
TIP 5: Don’t worry about complete sentences
You can use complete sentences, but you don’t have to. You can use abbreviations. Your notes just need to make sense to you and have your own style.
TIP 6: Condense it
Re-write the concepts you find difficult, and important concepts that are sure to appear in an exam. Try writing everything you need to know on just one page of study notes.
TIP 7: Make Connections
Make connections using metaphors, visualization, etc in your notes first time you write them down if you can, but if you can’t add them when you re-write.
TIP 8: Re-read Your Study Notes
If you’ve made good study notes throughout the year, a great way to study for the test is to review your study notes.
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