AP self-study not going so well

[xnfs93hy]

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I honestly feel like an idiot running through my AP Biology review book a bought a few months ago. I'm finally starting my AP exam review. I'm taking a couple AP's at school and my review for those is going well. I'm self teaching myself AP Chem but my old chem teacher is giving me free worksheets and she let me borrow a fantastic textbook.

For Bio, all I have is a review book and I am honestly lost. It's not that I'm not intelligent enough to learn everything, I just feel overwhelmed. Will I have enough time to go out, buy a campbell's bio text, AND adequately prepare?

 

[skierbum]

I took Ap chem last year and the people taking both were swamped. I got a 4 on the test, but I was taking it in school, not trying to self study. You are best off focusing on one of them, not both. It is better to recieve a good score on one than 2 bad scores. There is plenty of material to study for with 1 test.

 

[xnfs93hy]

I took Ap chem last year and the people taking both were swamped. I got a 4 on the test, but I was taking it in school, not trying to self study. You are best off focusing on one of them, not both. It is better to recieve a good score on one than 2 bad scores. There is plenty of material to study for with 1 test.

Agreed. Today I received more material in the mail and there is no realistic way (even if I started in the FALL) that I would be able to get a 5 on both AP Exams. Biology isn't as nasty as Chemistry, so I think I'll go with that.

👍

 

[bryantvo]

pass chem, it'll save your more time management in college than Bio. althought both subjects have lab(s) I beleive. Chem basically has mandatory lab and Bio does not (at my school at least). But for Bio lab in college thier are tests for lab.

 

[ButImLETired]

pass chem, it'll save your more time management in college than Bio. althought both subjects have lab(s) I beleive. Chem basically has mandatory lab and Bio does not (at my school at least). But for Bio lab in college thier are tests for lab.

This is totally dependent on the college and it's irrelevant for med school apps anyway.

Med schools want you to have: 1 year of bio with lab, 1 year of chem with lab, 1 year orgo with lab, 1 year physics with lab, plus the miscellaneous stuff like calculus and/or stats and/or biochem, etc. So, even if you do get a 5 on an AP and get to skip the intro class in college, you'll have to take a more advanced lab class (and probably harder) within the same department that your premed advisor assures you is accepted by med schools.

At my school, a 5 in bio (I'm not sure what the process was for chem cause I didn't take AP chem, but I did get a 5 on bio) allowed you to skip one semester of the year-long general bio class with lab. I chose not to take that route because I wanted to re-learn it at a college level and wasn't sure what I wanted to major in/ if I'd have the time to fit a different advanced bio class with lab. I know people who chose to skip the semester and they took stuff like cell bio with lab or molecular, and it was more difficult and they didn't get as good a general background as I did. Remember that the MCAT doesn't go into excruciating detail, but it does have EVERYTHING on it. The AP says it's college-level, but it's not. You'll be missing out on some stuff that your peers will get if they take the class.

 

[xnfs93hy]

This is totally dependent on the college and it's irrelevant for med school apps anyway.

Med schools want you to have: 1 year of bio with lab, 1 year of chem with lab, 1 year orgo with lab, 1 year physics with lab, plus the miscellaneous stuff like calculus and/or stats and/or biochem, etc. So, even if you do get a 5 on an AP and get to skip the intro class in college, you'll have to take a more advanced lab class (and probably harder) within the same department that your premed advisor assures you is accepted by med schools.

At my school, a 5 in bio (I'm not sure what the process was for chem cause I didn't take AP chem, but I did get a 5 on bio) allowed you to skip one semester of the year-long general bio class with lab. I chose not to take that route because I wanted to re-learn it at a college level and wasn't sure what I wanted to major in/ if I'd have the time to fit a different advanced bio class with lab. I know people who chose to skip the semester and they took stuff like cell bio with lab or molecular, and it was more difficult and they didn't get as good a general background as I did. Remember that the MCAT doesn't go into excruciating detail, but it does have EVERYTHING on it. The AP says it's college-level, but it's not. You'll be missing out on some stuff that your peers will get if they take the class.

This is another concern I have. I definitely want to take upper level science courses but I don't want to miss out on any information, especially if it is material that's on the MCAT.