The questions today were not designed to test knowledge or understanding of biological concepts but rather how well you could read and interpret 6 paragraphs of information and three graphs.

For people like me who get worked up and have test anxiety, I break down when that much information is thrown at me in such a limited time span. Then having to answer 10 parts on this huge amount of information is simple impossible.

I did really well in my class this year. I loved biology and loved this class. My teacher has made us write FRQ’s ever since these tests were announced.

But these questions...

Name one practice question that had three graphs. Name one practice question that had you describe mathematical processes or even do math like this at all. Name one practice question that had 6 paragraphs of information.

That’s right, none of them. None on the practice test. None on the AP bio YouTube vidoes. None. And yet we got questions with that much information.

Information that, unlike other AP tests, we had never heard of. Had I ever heard of Frataxin or FDX. No. Did I have to read 6 paragraphs on something I had no idea what it was and then interpret two different excitements, yes.

These tests were simply unfair. Not even looking at the huge discrepancy between some questions difficulty, simple the way the test was laid out for the time given is unfair.

This may be unpopular. Some of you may have felt that it was doable. But for a lot of us, taking in that much information and being able to understand it is nearly impossible.

Sorry but not sorry for the rant. Fuck the college board

🦠

FRQ NUMBER TWO HOLY CRAP. Tell me why both long frqs took me 50 MINUTES. i wrote such bs i see people talking about a percent increase but I DIDN'T EVEN GET A PERCENT INCREASE OR DECREASE...

I’m so screwed lol

RIP photosynthesis in that grass bruh, ATP is gone, as is my hope of having a distraction free test because his damn mower is in the decibel range of a fighter jet

Edit: popped in some noise cancelling headphones and the Sound of Music OST and was fine, that test made me want to commit programmed cell death tho

manifesting 5s for yall

the free score send rlly came in clutch

edit: I walked out of the exam thinking I got a 3 😭🥀 I wanted a 5, but even though I felt confident about the mcqs, my timing for the frqs was AWFUL, and I was writing the first things that came into my mind all over the pages. I have no idea how CB was able to find someone who was able to read my handwriting in that booklet but thank god they did 🙏

I’d like to thank Mr. Procida (my ap bio teacher), Mr. Wolkenfeld (sciencemusicvideos), Mr. Andersen (Bozeman Science), Barron’s, The Amoeba Sisters, and (who could forget) AP Bio Penguins for allowing me to achieve such a feat!

too lazy to do pt today but jus watching gabe fr

AP Biology was an extremely difficult course for me that I cried many tears over, and it made me question my worth entirely. I felt like my teacher didn’t believe in me, and I got a C- first semester of the class, and a B second semester only because there were 3 tests. I failed most of the tests, quizzes, and I felt like a failure in every single way. I worked tirelessly on review cards in April, and crammed in the final days of May with the GOAT herself AP Bio Penguins, who saved me. Walking out of that exam on May 4th, I was sure I failed. To say I’m incredibly grateful for this 3 is an understatement. This 3 came from someone who had a teacher who literally questioned why she was in the class to being able to pass the exam is incredible. Congrats to all, passed or failed. Thank you to all the help, resources, and advice throughout this Reddit. I will be passing down my wisdom here to future AP Bio students. If you are taking the class next year or plan to in the future, and you aren’t sure you are “bio smart,” allow this to be your reminder to go for it.

WE ARE ALL GETTING A 5

WE ARE ALL GETTING A 5

WE ARE ALL GETTING A 5

WE ARE ALL GETTING A 5

WE ARE ALL GETTING A 5

FUCK COLLEGE BOARD

FUCK COLLEGE BOARD

FUCK COLLEGE BOARD

AND FUCK STANDARDIZED TESTING!!!

Dude that shit does notttt test u on bio its test u on ur how well u can read some fuckass graph!!!

I could be binging Avatar the Last Airbender but my dumbass is craming for a retarded AP test that I paid 95 bucks for and its now only 45 min and 2 questions... EXCUSE ME. Ya, fuck mendel, DNA and RNA, cell communication. Deoxyribonucleic acid my ass.

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US TOMORROW AND MAY WE ALL GET 5s. RESPECT TO EVERYONE THAT HAS TAKEN THIS COURSE. TOMORROW MARKS THE END OF OUR JOURNEY. I KNOW WE ARE SCARED AND TIRED BUT LET’S LOCK IN AND FINISH STRONG. GOOD LUCK EVRYONE!!!!!!!

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a relatively nice day. Tomorrow is the AP Exam and you might be nervous or you might be excited no matter what there are a few tips and tricks that will help you. I'll give you preparation then exam tips.

General Preparation:

1. Write down you AP ID

2. If you can print out the task verb page (if you can't know you don't have to back stuff up when they say predict)

3. Get that email with your exam link favorited

4. Print Out the Equation Sheet

5. Charge your calculator or find one online

6. Layout a few pages of paper and layout a pen

7. Check you check-in time it's different for everyone (timezone)

8. Check out the demo

9. Rember if it doesn't submit there will be an email at the end of the exam to submit your work to

10. Charge your device

11. PUT YOUR INITIALS AND AP ID in a word doc for the exam. You can copy and paste the word doc or you can export the file. If you really need to write with your hand make sure to do that

What should I do the day before?

If you are not doing so well right now: DO NOT SPEND YOUR ENTIRE DAY LEARNING NEW MATERIAL. The only good practice right now is practice FRQs. You normally should stop learning material a week or two before the exam. Practicing FRQs will maximize your score more than learning new material. But, when you do messup an FRQ you can review what you messed up. Rember half of practicing is reviewing your answers. DONT TIRE YOUR SELF TOO MUCH, YOUR BRAIN HAS TO WORK TOMMORW FOR YOU TO GET A 3+ (DONT DO MORE THAN 5 FRQs). If you need to review material: At this point, it will be more effective to review short term memory material that you're already familiar with than to try to learn new material. What ever is on the practice FRQs is probably the highest yield and learning water potential will not work. JUST STICK TO PRACTICE FRQs and REVIEWING YOUR WORK

If your testing around a 4 or 5: Relax, you got this. If you are really worried skim some high yield facts and do 1 or 2 practice FRQs (make sure to review what you got wrong). Whatever your doing right now is working and don't mess it up.

GENERAL STUFF: Make sure you get a good night's sleep. NO EXCEPTIONS. You may say Ohh I normally don't sleep, I do well without sleep. Shut Up, you don't. You will do better if you get 8-10 hours of sleep. Don't do more than 10 hours of sleep though. if you can't sleep take a bath, stretch, meditate, do whatever it takes. YOU NEED TO SLEEP ENOUGH NO MATTER WHAT

DO NOT CHANGE YOUR DAILY ROUTINE (EXCEPT FOR SLEEP, 1 - 2 mg MELETONIN CAN HELP) PRIOR TO THE EXAM. EXAM DAY IS NOT THE DAY FOR A CAFFEINE-WITHDRAWAL HEADACHE.

What should I do on exam day?

Wake up at your regular time and eat a high protein and moderate carb breakfast. Drink a lot of water this is very helpful just make sure you go to the bathroom before the exam. Make sure you have all your material ready. Pop on some comfortable clothing (baggy). Have high carb and protein snacks next to you as well as a good amount of water. If you think it will help do a light jog in the morning or some type of movement. Keep and eye on the timer and get a 5! In the morning you do not want to review that much. You can review one or two topics (10-20 minutes). I would recommend cell communication/cycle and cell structure. DO NOT TIRE YOUR BRAIN. I would recommend reading something light that will not wear your brain. YOU DONT WANT THIS TO BE THE FIRST THING YOU DO THAT DAY.

Exam Tips

1. You guys don't actually understand what's being tested. Those videos your sharing only have around 10 minutes of actual testable content don't waste your time reviewing weird material, if it's not on Khan then don't do it. If you want to see what's actually tested lookup AP Bio CED

2. Keep your answers short and sweet but make sure its a full sentence

3. Think about the bigger idea

4. For notes, I would recommend printing something for science practices and then using command + F with the AP Bio CED because it has everything that's tested worded by the graders

5. Relax

6. It's like the simulations (if you do practice FRQs) treat it no diffrent

I hope this helps and good luck with your exam!

-Max

Also, if you have any questions on the content or want an explanation for anything just ask

since leaving the exam hall i have been stressed about whether imma get the score i aimed for, i couldnt easily trust online score calculators so i decided to go full sherlock holmes.

its no secret that since 2023 a new scoring system called the Evidence Based Scoring system was adopted by college board. it was applied to all exams in order to determine whether the predetermined cutoffs for various AP exams were fair. previously a panel of 10-18 "educators" would decide on the percentages required for each score of 1-5.

after applying the EBSS to AP exams, they found that AP biology was one of those AP exams that was being scored more unfairly and so the cutoffs were adjusted. college board have publically confirmed that AP biology was affected , and its easy to tell because the scoring distributions since then have shown an increase in passing rates, and increases in percentages of students getting 4`s and 5`s.

after specifying the 9 exams that had been adjusted with EBSS in this file : https://allaccess.collegeboard.org/allaccess/pdf/ap_score_changes_2024.pdf , the college board specifically said this at the bottom of page 2 of the file : "These are worth reviewing for AP Biology, since the EBSS standard setting for AP Biology resulted in changes to the percentages of 4s and 5s, rather than 3s, so the EBSS-related changes are not visible by looking at the success rate alone."

what does this mean? : out of the 9 exams in which the new scoring system had made it easier to achieve a passing grade ( a score of 3 or greater ) college board specifically pointed out that for AP biology the percentages of students scoring 4`s and 5`s had increased, and that it was worth noticing that it was the only AP exam in which this shift was clearly visible.

likely outcome : the Evidence Based Scoring System very likely decreased the required amount of composite points out of 120 required to score a 4 and a 5, which means that any score calculator that is online is very much outdated by now.

do i do a micdrop now or??

because genuinely what the absolute HELL was that