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Unless you also plan on doing all of the labs at home as well, it would be a waste.
AP classes not only teach to the test (which has a very broad amount of material that it could potentially cover) but also teaches how to take the test. I never took an AP science, but all of my other AP classes involved significant essay portions. Almost all of my exams in my AP classes were in a 5 paragraph essay format to match what is expected of the AP exam. If you haven't had experience, it would be difficult to complete more open ended questions in the amount of time allotted.
I agree. I can not imagine a HS teacher recommending that he take the test without taking the AP course.
To my knowledge even the best of the top students (such as the valedictorian) in my area did not take any AP exams without taking the courses.
OP. are you sure that the teacher was not just recommending that your son take AP biology in the future and not just take the AP exam next May?
Yes, I'm sure. She gave him the form to fill out. On the form he has to get signatures from the department head, his Bio teacher and his advisor. I'm wondering if an eyebrow would have been raised by the department head b/c she is the one who teaches the AP class.
If the College Board is reading this they would accuse you negative posters of attempting to deny the student an opportunity to excel and are acting as gatekeepers to achievement.
If your student was not able to do Honors, unless he had a really bad day that kept him out, it would be a waste of time and $89 for him to take the exam without the course.
The AP Bio exam is incredibly detail oriented and incorporates knowledge gained from the 22 recommended (meaning required) labs done during the course.
I would imagine, agreeing with others, that the teacher told him to take the class and he may have misheard it, especially of the teacher was also talking about the exam.
Just make sure he doesn't have that AP Bio teacher who gets pissed off at the kids in October and has them do nothing but take notes from Powerpoint the rest of the year. Yes, that happened. He's now held up as a Master Teacher and is getting National Certification. He only had one kid who got higher than a 1 on the exam and that was a kid who is so smart he's scary. He also stopped going to the class and read the book since he wasn't learning anything in the class.
That's what we found out 2 sample questions in. Very detailed & I don't believe he has done more than two labs.
He'll only be able to take AP Bio if he maintains an A average over the next 3 quarters. If he had taken the Honors class he would have to maintain a B+ average. Should have pushed for the Honors class because now I'm wondering how much he won't have learned when he (hopefully) takes the AP class his senior year.
I took AP Bio seven or eight years ago. Since then the curriculum has changed quite a bit but the premise of AP exams stays the same: to get college credit by working hard in high school.
AP exams (especially bio) are supposed to be highly focused on detail and therefore AP classes will be taught at the same pace as a first- or second-year college-level curriculum.
Consequently these exams will cover WAY more material than a high school course on the same subject.
Therefore, I suggest that you let your son wait till next year to actually take the full-year AP Bio course (labs and all) instead of trying to cram all of the material during the next four months. Schedule permitting, of course.
High Schools often push students to take the AP test just so they can show that a large percentage of kids taking them. In our HS, senior students often do not take AP tests in something they will major in because it will be a waste of time and effort. That is, if you are going to be a biology major, your college will often want you to take THEIR bio 101 class and not pass out of it with a High School AP class. I know engineering students that didn't take the AP calc test because they wanted to make sure they had a firm foundation in calculus in college and wanted to start off freshman year with a good GPA, so they took Calc 101 even though they had done well in calc in HS. By late winter of senior year any college bound student will know where they've been accepted and will also know what AP classes their college will take. Besides the reasons stated above, many colleges will only take so many AP classes so again, no point in taking (and paying for) a test that won't be accepted.
So, maybe it's common in your son's HS, Sawdustmaker, to ask all students that are doing well in a bio class to take the AP test, especially if they are underclassman, although it doesn't really make sense because the scores would end up being low. I'm still scratching my head over this situation.
I wouldn't advise taking the AP test without first taking the AP bio class.
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