AP Biology explained

Advanced Placement (AP) Biology (also known as AP Bio) is an Advanced Placement biology course and exam offered by the College Board in the United States. For the 2012–2013 school year, the College Board unveiled a new curriculum with a greater focus on "scientific practices".[1]

This course is designed for students who wish to pursue an interest in the life sciences. The College Board recommends successful completion of high school biology and high school chemistry[2] before commencing AP Biology, although the actual prerequisites vary from school to school and from state to state.

Topic outline

The exam covers the following 8 units. The percentage indicates the portion of the multiple-choice section of the exam focused on each content area:[3]

TopicPercent
Chemistry of Life8-11%
Cell Structure and Function10-13%
Cellular Energetics12-16%
Cell Communication and Cell Cycle10-15%
Heredity8-11%
Gene Expression and Regulation12-16%
Natural Selection13-20%
Ecology10-15%
The course is based on and tests six skills, called scientific practices which include:
TopicPercent
Concept Explanation8-11%
Visual Representations10-13%
Question and Method12-16%
Representing and Describing Data10-15%
Statistical Tests and Data Analysis8-11%
Argumentation12-16%
In addition to the topics above, students are required to be familiar with general lab procedure. Students should know how to collect data, analyze data to form conclusions, and apply those conclusions.

Exam

Students are allowed to use a four-function, scientific, or graphing calculator.[4]

The exam has two sections: a 90 minute multiple choice section and a 90 minute free response section. There are 60 multiple choice questions and six free responses, two long and four short. Both sections are worth 50% of the score.

Score distribution

Score2013[5] 2014[6] 2015[7] 2016[8] 2017[9] 2018[10] 2019[11] 2020[12] 2021[13] 2022[14] 2023[15] 2024[16]
55.5%6.6%6.4%6.6%6.4%7.1%7.2%9.5%7.4%15.0%14.3%16%
421.6%22.4%22.1%21.0%21.0%21.5%22.2%22.7%19.4%23.1%23.0%23%
336.2%35.2%35.9%33.6%36.7%32.9%35.3%36.9%32.4%29.7%27.2%29%
229.3%27.1%27.5%28.8%27.5%28.5%26.6%24.1%30.0%21.6%23.6%22%
17.4%8.7%8.2%10.1%8.4%10%8.8%6.9%10.8%10.5%12.0%10%
% of scores 3 or higher63.3%64.2%64.3%61.1%64.1%61.5%64.7%69.1%59.2%67.9%64.4%68%
Mean2.882.912.912.852.902.872.933.042.833.113.043.13
Standard deviation1.011.051.031.071.031.081.061.061.091.211.231.21
Number of students203,189213,294223,479238,080254,270259,663260,816233,444230,527237,338239,470

Commonly used textbooks

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/10b_2727_AP_Biology_CF_WEB_110128.pdf AP Biology Curriculum Framework
  2. Web site: AP Biology. 5 October 2015.
  3. Web site: AP Biology – AP Students College Board . 2023-09-02 . apstudents.collegeboard.org . en.
  4. Web site: AP Biology. 27 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20130401075327/http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/biology/exam.html?biology. 1 April 2013. dead.
  5. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  6. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  7. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  8. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  9. Web site: 2017 AP Exam Score Distributions. Total Registration. www.totalregistration.net. en. 2017-06-22.
  10. Web site: Student Score Distributions, AP Exams - May 2018 . The College Board . December 24, 2022.
  11. Web site: STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS. July 9, 2020.
  12. Web site: STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS. June 9, 2021.
  13. Web site: STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS. https://web.archive.org/web/20220811053816/https://reports.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/2021-ap-student-score-distributions_1.pdf. 11 August 2022. Aug 26, 2023.
  14. Web site: STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS. https://web.archive.org/web/20230803053230/https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-score-distributions-by-subject-2022.pdf. 3 August 2023. Aug 26, 2023.
  15. "STUDENT SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  16. Web site: Total Registration . 2024-06-27 . AP Exam Score Distributions . 2024-06-27 . Total Registration.