Holly IN Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Hello My freshman is wanting to go into med field but not sure whether to go into vet med or reg med (he is considering vet now due to new healthcare laws enacting in Jan '13). We will be starting Biology in January. Campell's biology texts: Very confused by this and conflicting information in threads within this forum. Here is what I got so far: Campell's Biology AP text Biology: Concepts and Connections NON AP text but in a different thread somebody said this is AP text Biology:Exploring Life text AP or NOt...... Ok help!!! I have no idea what the difference these three texts are or how to select which ones to get. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Exploring Life is a nice high school level text. Concepts and Connections is a lot meatier and used both in high school and in college for non-majors. Biology is a text for college biology majors. I have seen both Biology and Concepts&Connections recommended for AP. If your student will go into the medical field, I would recommend against testing out of college biology. Please search for threads by creekland who has investigated the issues related to med school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I have a science degree and worked on the editorial for Campbell 3e and 4e and was also on the team for Concepts and Connections in the early days. I also used Campbell in university. Concepts and Connections (one concept per 2-page spread, at least back then) is intended for the high school AP or the community college audience. Biology is intended for college level intro biology but it could be used for high school for someone who is interested enough and wants to get ahead. Using and understanding it in high school will definitely make college easier in terms of workload and the level of density of information. I agree with not testing out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Concepts and Connections (one concept per 2-page spread, at least back then) is intended for the high school AP or the community college audience. Biology is intended for college level intro biology but it could be used for high school for someone who is interested enough and wants to get ahead. Using and understanding it in high school will definitely make college easier in terms of workload and the level of density of information. This is interesting, because this is not how they are used or recommended by the publisher now. Exploring LIfe is an intro high school or honors middle school text. We used BJU LIfe in 7th and it covered topics with the same depth, so if you've done a solid LIfe Science, you'll want to skip this one. Concepts and Connections, I just checked and Pearson has changed their website, but last year this was listed as both on level and honors. It is not listed as AP. Biology is the foremost AP text out there. There are others, but without a doubt, it has captured the market. It is on level for college intro to BIology. The college board has good reviews of all three here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 If you are interested in med school at all, I would not be starting a freshman with AP Bio. I'd have them take an Honors Level Bio first, then do Bio at an AP level their junior and/or senior year. This is the way it is done at our high school and at many high schools. Bio is an incredibly foundational course toward med school (or vet school) with a lot of memorization and those foundations need to be solid. It is not good to push on quickly, nor is it good to have taken it just freshman year, then jump into it in college 4 years later. My kids had Apologia and Glencoe for their first Bio courses (9th grade). Each one of them liked Apologia better because it went into more detail than Glencoe. They are probably other secular books out there that do better than Glencoe, but Glencoe is what our school uses for basic Bio, so it's what we used too. My med school potential then also did Campbell's Bio and Apologia's 2nd Bio book (Anatomy and Physiology - a nice course in his opinion - in depth sufficient for him to be doing well in college now) his junior and senior years. I had him do half each year just to keep it all new in his mind. We opted not to do the AP test because you shouldn't use AP credits to skip Bio in college (if heading to med school) anyway, but you can do the AP if you think it will help them with admissions to where they want to go - just don't accept the credits in college. Most colleges will not let you accept Bio or Chem AP credits if you are pre-med, but some lower level or state schools require the student to opt out. In my guy's case, a 5 on the AP would have allowed him to take an Honors Intro Bio so it could have served a different purpose, but... since we skipped the test, he didn't qualify for the class. It doesn't matter for med school. It only matters that they take Bio in their undergrad. The Bio class my guy is now taking at his research U (U Rochester) is far more in depth than ANY AP text will ever go. His prof actually doesn't use a book because he feels they are all outdated and at a high school level... but that may be just his college. They have a book (NOT Campbells, but I'm not at home to see what I ordered), but it's only for reference if the student feels they need it. My youngest son is using Campbell's Bio now for his cc class in Bio and also sat in on middle son's class right after Thanksgiving when we were visiting. He told us the classes aren't comparable at all. I started a thread detailing more about this recently. The research U is far more in depth. BUT, having a solid foundation is critical. Definitely do an AP level class later in high school. A top 4 year school will expect all students to be at that level and you'll be at a definite disadvantage if you are not. Med schools do not want to see students taking cc courses, AP credits, or summer courses for their specific pre-reqs. These include Bio, Chem, O Chem, and sometimes Calc. We've been told, in person, by two different med school admissions folks that they see these options as "easier" than tackling the 4 year school's "weeder" classes - and "easy" is not a character trait they are looking for in a potential med student. If a student can not handle the weeder classes at the 4 year, they are not likely to be able to handle the med school material. Vet school may differ, I don't know. (PS MY vet discourages anyone from going to vet school right now - he says the field is uber crowded - but that may just be our area.) Take your time doing Bio, Chem, and Calc. Be certain your student is well-prepared - then send them off and hope for the best when they re-do these at the 4 year. My guy did 2 years of each (just 1 year for Calc - equivalent of BC, but without the test) and is doing very well right now in his freshman year. That's incredibly important for med school. Their GPA and Science GPA really, really counts. Only the top of the top generally apply to med school and right now the acceptance rate is around 45%. You want every advantage you can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Yes, things may have changed since I worked on the books...they've been through a few editions and Neil Campbell passed on. I took AP bio, AP chem, AP physics, and AP calc in high school. They were good classes but I had a bit or senior-itis. I then went to university and took intro bio, chem and ochem, physics and quantum mechanics, and calculus plus differential equations. I could have tested out based on AP scores but I decided not to. This was my dad's advice and he was a medical school professor and on the admissions committee for that school. I was admitted to medical schools but decided to pursue computer work instead. The college courses I took covered everything we learned in high school at a much greater depth, especially at the micro level. What we learned in high school was completely covered at the university level. The high school classes inspired me, gave me a good overview of the subject matter, and gave me confidence to tackle university level material. They also gave me breathing room to focus on my other classes when the science classes happened to cover material I was already well versed in. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.