AFwife Claire Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 I taught this class unofficially this past year, and my 4 students (all boys) took the exam on Monday. I just got my syllabus approved a few days before the exam, so (now that I have some extra time, LOL) I have been reading the teachers forum for AP biology over on the College Board website. I also have kept up with the big thread for this year over on College Confidential. I thought I would jot down a few notes from those places, as well as from my students, in case people were wondering about the new exam. The College Board redesigned the exam this year, based on a new curriculum framework that came out last year. The idea was that instead of focusing on knowing a ton of random esoteric facts about biology (the old-style exam), the students would be more able to think and reason like scientists, within a framework of biological knowledge. No one really had any idea what exactly the exam would be like. I am still praising the Lord for allowing me to get AP approved so quickly, so that I could access the practice exam! My son was glad to have done the practice problems, but he wasn't sure they were all that helpful, other than helping with pacing. The College Board sent out a second set of a little more than 30 practice problems, which I also sent out to the boys, and Nathan thought those were more helpful. What was universally agreed that was NOT helpful were any of the test prep books. We used Barrons, which came out in February, but they were just guessing on the questions like the rest of us, and their questions were still geared more to the old format. People who used other books felt the same way though, based on comments from both teachers and students. Hopefully the test prep companies will learn as well and offer better, more helpful books next year. (So don't buy used AP biology test prep books next year!) There were 63 multiple choice questions, and most of them had big, long sections of reading accompanying them, along with graphs or tables. They would literally take up an entire page. One big complaint from students on the collegeconfidential website, as well as from AP teachers on the biology discussion board (passing along their students' comments), was that they couldn't finish the multiple choice questions because of all the reading. One of my students had trouble finishing the questions, but the other 3 had no troubles whatsoever. Apparently a lot of students felt like the multiple choice part was "the ACT science section on steroids". Nathan hasn't taken the ACT yet, so I don't know, but it sounded like a lot of logic/reasoning/problem solving, more than just knowledge of tricky biological concepts. A lot of students were upset by this, feeling like they could have just taken any honors biology course and done just as well. Some teachers felt that students who slacked off in the course could potentially have done just as well as students who really studied, as long as the slackers were good test-takers. Since the boys aren't supposed to discuss the specific questions, I don't know really, but from the sample problems, you did have to know the concepts to be able to make sense of the reading, and to do it in a timely manner. I don't think someone could have just taken it cold and done well. None of my boys thought the questions were as hard as they could have been. Some kids on collegeconfidential thought they were really easy; some thought they were extremely hard. I am glad that just in general we focus a lot on logic and problem solving around here. Who knew it would be so helpful in so many different areas? : ) As some teachers pointed out, we live in an age where we can easily look up random facts. But being able to analyze data and draw conclusions is a more important skill for scientists. I personally expect the questions will get harder in the coming years. In the first section, which was 90 minutes long, there were also 6 "grid-in" questions. These are questions where you have to solve some sort of math problem, so the answer is a number, and you bubble in the correct number on your answer sheet. Nathan again felt prepared for these. There aren't tons of different math problem possibilities out there for biology, so it was pretty obvious to me that for example, one problem would be a Hardy-Weinburg problem. And it was! I was glad we hammered that! The main problem experienced by some kids was that at the end of the multiple choice section, there was a message that said "END OF PART A. DO NOT STOP. CONTINUE TO PART B." Somehow, maybe just due to the stress of the test, kids saw that message, and thought the proctor would tell them when to move on to the grid-in problems. So time ran out, and they didn't do them! The good news is that the grid-ins were weighted exactly the same as the multiple choice questions, but still . . . the teachers said a lot of their best students didn't do the questions, which may cut their chances for a 5. I had told the boys to do the grid-in questions first, since if they were running short on time, then it is at least possible to randomly guess and fill in a bubble on multiple choice questions, unlike on grid-ins! There is now a thread on the teachers forum about how to make the directions more clear (take out "STOP" completely?). It sounds like this is partly a problem due to all the high-stakes standardized testing all these students take all the time--where they are conditioned to stop after each section. Another advantage of homeschooling! The last section were the essays or "free response questions". In the new format, there are 2 long FRQs (which are supposed to take about 20 minutes to write the answers for), as well as 6 shorter one paragraph FRQs that are only supposed to take about 6 minutes each. The College Board has released all the FRQs for the "Form O" test that most students took. You can look at them here and ascertain for yourself whether or not you could answer these questions without a college-level biology course! Nathan thought these questions were easier than he expected, and he wrote something down for each one. Who knows yet what the scoring rubric will be, though, and if he put in his answers everything the readers were wanting to see! The general consensus on collegeconfidential also was that the questions were not too difficult. There has been a lively thread on the AP teachers' forum discussing potential answers to these questions! So my students felt like they were pretty well-prepared, but we shall see how accurate their impressions were once scores come out in July! It was a hard year for me, anyway, and this course consumed a TON of my time, but it was really rewarding. Next year we're doing chemistry--and we are NOT AP-ing it! I can't do another new course right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Claire -- did any of the common AP biology texts come out with a new edition based on the new AP? Sounds like your ds and the other students were well-prepared! I hope they do great! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nissi Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Thanks for sharing. Ds.1 took this exam and is curious about what scores he'll get in July. I wonder if this is how it will be for AP Chemistry next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted May 19, 2013 Author Share Posted May 19, 2013 Claire -- did any of the common AP biology texts come out with a new edition based on the new AP? Sounds like your ds and the other students were well-prepared! I hope they do great! Lisa I have heard that Campbell has a new book, revised for the new exam, and that it is 1/4th the size of the old book. But I haven't gone searching for it! There is definitely a lot that is not necessary anymore, like most of the chapters on the different phyla, body systems other than nervous, endocrine, and immune, and a lot of the plant chapters. Like I said though, I just heard about this and haven't actually seen such a thing myself, so I'm not 100% sure about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 Dd used the new Campbell this year. If that book was 1/4 the size of the previous version, the previous one would have needed attached wheels to be moved around! I wish it was still here so I could check it, but dd already turned it in (school rental). I'll ask her for her impressions of the exam...after her other finals finish on Wednesday :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Dd used the new Campbell this year. If that book was 1/4 the size of the previous version, the previous one would have needed attached wheels to be moved around! I wish it was still here so I could check it, but dd already turned it in (school rental). I'll ask her for her impressions of the exam...after her other finals finish on Wednesday :) I have a 7th edition on my shelves right now...the font is teeny tiny. It would not be hard to keep the HUGE book, and reduce the content while increasing the font (I think it's about an 8pt. font...and not many (if any) pictures that are bigger than 2x4.). Although, I'm also thinking an AP Biology course losing 3/4 of the content wouldn't be very difficult (or interesting). We'll be paying attention to this test information for 2014...he thinks he wants to try to take the AP test :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
at the beach Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 There was a document online that correlated the new Ap Campbell Biology book with the new AP exam. Hundreds of pages of material was listed as not being on the AP exam. It seemed like well over 500 pages to me but I don't recall exactly. ETA: And thanks, Claire, for sharing so many details about the new exam! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Although, I'm also thinking an AP Biology course losing 3/4 of the content wouldn't be very difficult (or interesting). Have any colleges changed their policies about credit for AP Bio as a result of the new test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RanchGirl Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 There was a document online that correlated the new Ap Campbell Biology book with the new AP exam. Hundreds of pages of material was listed as not being on the AP exam. It seemed like well over 500 pages to me but I don't recall exactly. ETA: And thanks, Claire, for sharing so many details about the new exam! are you referring to this? http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/AP-Biology_Txtbk-Correlations_Feb2012.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Ok, I feel dumb now. I've taken (and done well in) a lot of college level science in the past 5 years, and got a 4 on the AP Bio exam when I took it in high school... a year after I actually took the class (long story short - sucky teacher). I don't think I could give intelligent answers to most of that. In other words - no, I don't think you could go into it without adequate preparation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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