In this video, we're going to dig into 15 AP Biology tips that you
can use today to start scoring those fours or fives on your AP exam.
We'll start with some at-home tips, then move into multiple choice tips before
wrapping up with some free response tips.
So let's get into it
Starting with some at-home tips, the first tip for you is to make
sure that you're staying consistent in your studying schedule.
It's important that you devote time every single day or regularly throughout the
week towards your AP Biology studies.
If you don't do this, you're going to end up cramming the night before the exam,
and that's going to lead to extra stress for you that's potentially going to impact
the way that you take your actual exam.
The second thing that can be helpful is using an app like
Quizlet for reviewing key terms.
It's really important for you to understand key concepts that are
commonly tested in AP Biology.
So to do so, we recommend using an app like Quizlet, in which you
can load up a ton of flashcards and review some key concepts that
you learned in class on the go.
This sort of in-between time could be when you are traveling towards
something, when you're preparing for bed or some other time slot in which
you just have a few extra minutes to be studying for AP Biology.
Tip number three for at-home study tips is to remove all distractions.
The easiest way to improve your focus is to limit the number of things
that can potentially distract you.
For example, study in a different room than where you leave your phone
or set a timer aside for 25 minutes of uninterrupted focus followed by
five minutes of uninterrupted breaks.
This method known as the Pomodoro technique is a great way for you to
get some focus time in for studying while also leaving enough time for
your brain to recharge a little bit before resuming your study.
Before we jump into tip number four, if you're finding this video helpful, do us
a favor and hit that like button below.
By doing so, you'll help other AP Biology students like yourself find this video.
Tip four is to study with a buddy or with a group.
One of the best ways to make sure that you're studying effectively
for your AP Bio exam is to see whether or not you can explain a
difficult concept to another person.
When you're able to do so, it means that there's a higher probability
that you've truly mastered that concept that you're being tested on.
So it can be helpful to pair up with a friend of yours and work through
concepts that each of you guys feel is difficult to one another.
Through this collaboration, you can have a ton of productive AP Biology
study sessions and improve both of you your abilities to get a four or a five.
Our fifth general tip is to make sure that you feel comfortable
with how to use your calculator when it comes to the AP Bio exam.
You'll be able to use a four function scientific or graphing calculator.
So it's really important that you are familiar and comfortable
with how to use the calculator that you choose on test day.
Now that we've covered five general AP Biology tips, let's jump into
specifically what sort of tips we keep in mind when we are approaching the
multiple choice section for AP Biology.
The first tip when it comes to crashing the multiple choice section
is to make sure that you are pacing yourself well throughout the section.
You're going to have about 90 minutes to answer 60 multiple choice questions.
This translates to about 90 seconds or a minute and a half for each question.
So it's important for you to make sure that you are not spending way too much
time on one question and not leaving enough time at the very end to answer
every single question in the section.
Build the habit of budgeting enough time to read the question twice, to truly
understand what's being asked of you and then to work your way through a response.
In the case where you're struggling to figure out which answer choice
is best, circle that question, and then come back to it later.
It's far more beneficial for you to make sure that you're pacing well
throughout the course of the multiple choice section than it is for you to
get stuck up on one particular question.
The second thing that can be helpful for you as you're preparing for
the multiple choice section is to imagine the correct response.
Once you've read the question once or twice, and you understand what
the question's trying to ask you, try to think about what the correct
answer might look like before you actually read the answer choices.
By doing so you'll be able to prime your brain to look for the sorts of
things that you thought was correct, so that you can quickly identify
the best possible answer choice.
If you don't already use us, Albert can be a helpful resource for you when it comes
to the AP Biology multiple choice section.
The reason why is because we provide breakdowns of the correct and incorrect
answer choices to help you better understand specifically why you got
a particular answer right or wrong.
Tip three is to carefully examine any visual materials that are provided to you.
This means reviewing things like the labels, the axes, the titles,
or anything that's been given to you in the graphical representation.
On the AP Biology exam, you're going to be frequently asked
to demonstrate your ability to interpret data in different formats.
So it's really important for you to actually understand what is being
presented to you and to not just guess, because you only understand,
for example, the axes, but not actually the data trends or representations that
are being shown to you in the graph.
Tip four when it comes to the multiple choice section is to be
prepared to handle questions in sets.
Sometimes you're going to have questions that are bundled together
in sets of two to four questions.
So you want to get into the habit of not necessarily getting too hung up on the
fact that you might not have gotten the first question right in a set of four,
because you don't want that to impact your ability to get questions two through
four correct in that set of questions.
Typically speaking, each question will be able to be answered
independently of one another even if they are within a set of questions.
And our last AP Bio multiple choice tip is to check your work.
You want to leave at least 10 to 15 minutes at the end of your multiple
choice section so you can review any questions that were giving
you difficulties the first time that you were checking them out.
This is an ideal time for you to take a look at the questions you may
have starred or circled so that you can give them an honest second look.
Remember, when it comes to the multiple choice section, you don't get
penalized for getting questions wrong.
So, every time you're trying your best at answering a multiple choice question
correctly, you're increasing your odds of doing well on your AP Biology exam.
Now let's jump into some FRQ tips for AP Biology.
Again, if you're finding this video helpful, you do us a great
favor by hitting that like button below so that more students like
yourself can find this video.
Our first tip when it comes to tackling your free response
section is to keep track of time.
Ultimately, you're going to have 90 minutes to answer six free response
questions when it comes to AP Biology.
Two of these are going to be way longer than the other four questions.
So it's important for you to block enough time to answer the two longer FRQs.
We recommend that you block at least 20 minutes to answer each of the
longer fr queues because each of these longer FRQs are worth 10 points each.
And then from there, block about 10 minutes for each of
the remaining four questions.
The reason why we do this is because these questions are
typically only worth four points.
By taking this sort of approach, you'll be able to have another 10
minutes at the very end that you can use towards a particular question
that may have given you difficulty earlier in the free response section.
Tip number two, when it comes to the free response section is to make sure
that you understand the scoring rubrics.
The nice thing about the AP Biology exam is that the College Board actually
gives you the roadmap as to how you can score a perfect score on the FRQs.
All you need to do is refer to the course and exam description guides, as well
as the Chief Reader Reports to better understand what sort of things students
often do well in and where they struggle.
By taking a look through Chief Reader Reports or past released free response
questions, you'll get a better understanding as to what the graders
were looking for in order to score full points on that particular question.
Then over time, you'll get to build a second sense as to what you need to make
sure to include in your own responses in order to score those points as well.
It's for this reason that we recommend you go through at least three years
worth of previously released exams so that you can better understand
what the graders are looking for.
Tip number three is to focus on the verbs when it comes to
your free response questions.
Regardless of what AP subject you're taking, the College Board uses a few
course focus verbs that you're going to want to make sure you truly understand.
To help you do that, we recommend that you circle or underline those focus
verbs when you are reading them for the first time, then make sure that you are
actually crafting response to answer what the verb is asking you to do.
To give you a headstart, here are a few of the commonly used focus verbs
that the College Board likes to us.
Calculate, construct, describe, determine, evaluate, support a
claim, identify and represent.
If you're looking for a full list of the commonly used task verbs, check
out the link to the accompanying blog post in the video description below.
Tip four is to make sure that you are writing in complete
sentences and paragraphs.
In the instructions for the AP Biology free response section, it explicitly tells
you that anything that is just bulleted is not going to be scored by the graders.
In the FRQ instructions, it explicitly states that outlines, bulleted
lists and diagrams alone are not enough to be graded for the FRQs.
This means that it's super important that you are always answering in complete
sentences for both the longer questions, as well as these short answer questions.
Our fifth free response tip is to make sure that you are always doing
these must do's when it comes to tackling the free response questions.
The first one is to make sure that you are answering the thing
that is being asked of you.
You do not need to restate the question, which is a mistake
that students often make.
The second thing you need to make sure you do is that you're answering
every single part of the question.
So aside from making sure you're answering the question, you also want to
make sure that you're addressing every single point that is being asked of you.
The third thing to make sure you do is if the question is asking you to
do a calculation, you need to make sure you actually show your work.
You can't just box a final answer and expect to get full points.
The fourth thing you need to do is in the case where you have a table
or a graph, you need to make sure you include everything that's necessary
for the reader to understand what you are demonstrating to them.
This means that your table or graph has a label, axes, points, as well as
lines or curves that are relevant to the question that's being asked of you.
A good way to think about this is if a person were to just read
your graph without looking at the question or having any context behind
it, does your graph make sense?
If not, then you could probably work on that a little bit to make it more clear.
The fifth thing you need to make sure you're doing is being succinct in your
answers and always closing the loop.
This is a common complaint from Chief Readers as to why they knocked points off
from student responses, and the reason why is because students often focus so
much on giving quantity of information.
They're not focused on giving quality information in their responses.
You want to make sure that you're not just brain dumping, everything
that you learned about a particular concept, but that you're applying it
to the actual AP Biology free response question that's being asked of you.
And the last thing you need to make sure you're always doing is using the structure
of claim, evidence and reasoning.
Whenever you make a claim, you want to make sure you have evidence to support
it, and then explain your reasoning.
There you have it.
15 tips to help you tackle your AP Biology exam.
If you found this video helpful, do us a favor and hit that like button below.
And if you're looking for more AP biology or general AP review content,
subscribe and hit that notification bell to get more content like this.
If you haven't already created your free account on Albert to start practicing for
your AP Biology exam, you can do so using the link in the video description below.
With it, you're going to be able to try us out for a few topic areas
and get immediate feedback to help you score that four or that five.
And in the case where you're an educator watching this video, if
you want to try Albert out with your school, apply to pilot using the
link in the video description below.
With the pilot, you'll have access for a month to see how Albert
works with you and your students.
That's all for this time though.
While you guys wait for the next video, check out these videos that
YouTube thinks you might like.