In the United States, Advanced Placement Biology (commonly abbreviated to AP Biology or AP Bio), is a course and examination offered by the College Board to high school students as an opportunity to earn placement credit for a college-level biology course. For the 2012-2013 school year, the College Board unveiled a new curriculum with a greater focus on "scientific practices."
Video AP Biology
The course
This course is offered to highly motivated students who wish to pursue an interest in the life sciences. The College Board recommends successful completion of high school biology and high school chemistry before commencing AP Biology, although the actual prerequisites vary from school to school and from state to state. Many schools, for example, require no background in biology to take the course.
Maps AP Biology
Topics covered
Topics covered by this course include:
- Biochemistry
- Botany
- Cell biology
- Developmental biology
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Genetics
- Microbiology
- Molecular biology
- Physiology
- Population biology
- Zoology
In addition to the standard biology topics above, students are required to be familiar with a set of 12 specific biology labs, as well as general lab procedure.
Topic makeup
The makeup of the AP Biology exam is based on the following percentages of three topics:
- Molecules and Cells, 25%
- Heredity and Evolution, 25%
- Organisms and Populations, 50%
The exam
The AP test for this course consists of two sections. Section I, administered over a period of 90 minutes, consists of 63 multiple-choice questions and 6 mathematics-related fill in questions. Students are allowed to use a four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator. Calculators are generally needed for this mathematics portion, and are allowed on the test day. Section II, which also lasts 90 minutes, consists of 2 essay prompts to be answered comprehensively by the student, as well as 6 shorter essays that require concise answers.
Grade distribution
In the 2007 administration, 144,796 students took the exam from 8,486 schools. In the 2008 administration, the exam grades were recalibrated, resulting in a substantial decrease in the top scores and increase in the bottom scores. In the 2009 and 2010 administrations, 159,580 and 172,512 students took the test, respectively. The 2013 revised test showed a marked decrease in the number of 5s and 1s received.
Most colleges award credit in an introductory biology course for a score of 3 or higher. Higher tier schools generally only accept a score of 4 or 5. The grade distributions since 2008 are shown below:
Commonly used textbooks
- Mader, Biology, AP Edition by Sylvia Mader (2012, Hardcover ISBN 0076620042)
- Life: The Science Of Biology (Sadava, Heller, Orians, Purves, and Hillis, ISBN 978-0-7167-7671-0)
- Campbell Biology AP Ninth Edition (Reece, Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, and Andrew Jackson ISBN 978-0131375048)
See also
- Biology
- Glossary of biology
References
External links
- AP Biology at CollegeBoard.com
- AP Biology Teacher Community at CollegeBoard.org
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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