AP Biology Hero

[apbiologyhero]

hello! i’m about to enter high school and i recently got a letter in the mail inviting me to take ap biology but i had been warned by other people about the coursework so i kinda shrugged it off. then my parents got a phone call from the ap biology teacher at the hs i’m going to and after speaking to him i’m actually considering taking it. how difficult is ap bio exactly? i want to know what i’m getting myself into.

Not that difficult if you’re committed to studying. It’s really just an intro into concepts that keep coming up in biology so it’s great to master it early. I would check with other students in your high school and see if maybe it’s the teacher that you’ve heard warnings about, sometimes a teacher can make something unbearable.

[apbiologyhero]

As far as strategies go for answering the written questions what last minute tips do you have?

Think before you write. Got down all the points you want to make. Make it a list. This is how teachers grade, they have a set number of things they want you to mention and grade you on those specifically. Once you feel good that you have everything (usually if a question is worth 10 points, they want five things listed but go through your exams and see what the ratio is) put it into paragraph form.I like making a list because it reminds me of everything, when I get straight to writing I'll forget about a side point that I actually know about just because it didn't flow with the paragraph I quickly constructed.

[apbiologyhero]

Hello! (: I was wondering if you had any helpful studying tips that'll help me score a 5 on the AP Biology exam. I'm not really sure how I should go about studying and what I should focus on, so I could use some advice.

It’s been some time since I’ve had any exams but I still remember the most effective way I studied. 

1. Take a practice exam 

2. Check your answers

3. Be brutal in  grading! Whatever you kind of knew but weren’t positive about gets marked as wrong

4. Group questions into the topics they cover( I usually printed out the exam and cut up the questions into flashcards)

5. Study each topic individually starting with the one with the most cards. Once you finish a topic check every question in the pile and make sure you can easily answer it in detail.

6. Repeat with another practice test until you aren’t able to make any piles since everything you answer is correct.

This really was the most effective way for me to study. I would take good notes in class, read, and review but when it came to the first practice test I always would never do too well. (I’m talking 60% right) I usually keep going with different practice tests (or even the same ones if I didn’t have any others but then you  have to make sure you are actually understanding material and not just memorizing answers) until I was at 90% or higher. 

Hope this helps! Good luck and let me know if you need anything!

[apbiologyhero]

How to improve at multiple choice for ap bio?

Makes sure you don’t get tripped up and select a choice that is the exact opposite of the right answer because it looked right at first glance. Stop and make sure you read all the choices!Basically narrow down your choices by trying to contradict each of the possible choices. If you can find a way to prove it is not true then write down that reason and move on to the next choice. Once you’ve eliminated a few choices (seriously, I can’t stress it enough but actually jot down why that choice is wrong in the margins) see what you have left. Now think about the question and the topic it is covering. Go over the topic in your head and figure out what part of it the question is asking about. Look back at your remaining options (if you’ve studied well it’ll only be one or two options) and choose the one that makes more sense. 

As for studying for MCQs, study as you would for any other type of exam (see my post on study tips.) Don’t just do sample questions and look no further than the write answer. Make sure you understand the whole topic the question is asking about. 

I just answered a multiple choice question so take a look and see what my thought process is like.

[apbiologyhero]

After absorption, structure ___ would have the highest concentration of undigestible matter: A- lumen of small intestine; B- lacteal; C- blood capillaries; D- Epithelial Cells; E- muscle layers

I got a question earlier about how to solve MCQs, and since physiology is my least understood topic, I can show how I answer MCQs when I do not immediately know the answer to a question. 

A. Possible answer so let’s keep it

B. Wrong because this is a lymphatic vessel that absorbs digested fats

C. Wrong because glucose and amino acids are absorbed by blood capillaries

D. Wrong because indigestible matter wouldn’t be left on epithelial cells (the lining layer that is specialized for absorption)

E. Wrong because muscle layers are on the outside and are responsible for wave like contractions, peristalsis, which moves waste towards excretion.

By eliminating wrong choices (and just by thinking about how absorption takes place in the small intestine I can narrow down my answer to A.

[apbiologyhero]

How do I become better at ap bio? I'm not good at memorizing the facts and my teacher doesn't teach us that well in depth and I am scared of the exam. Rip me and thanks :)

For vocabulary (which makes understanding concepts so much easier make flashcards before your class starts a topic. This makes following what your teacher says a lot easier. Then practice them like crazy, mix them up and be super critical about judging if you got it right. 

Then for concepts, after the teacher introduces a topic make a rough outline with room to edit. Then do the reading about the topic and fill in your outline some more. This is huge, write out as much as you are certain about without looking at the book (this gives you an idea of how much you know and how much you need to learn.) Then read it again and go back to your outline and fill in missing information as you learn it. 

Another thing I liked to do is explain it to someone else, this bothered my parents and siblings but it was the perfect method because I knew exactly where I tripped up and what didn’t make sense outside my head which would let me know what I needed to study. 

It might seem like hard work but usually it only took me a couple hours on each concept before I was done and then when test time came all I had to do was revise.

Good luck and let me know if you need help understanding anything!

[apbiologyhero]

Double check me? Last one i swear! Options: replication, transcription, translation, rep/transcr, rep/ transcr/ transl 1) coverting DNA code to RNA- transc 2) ribosomes involved - rep/transcr 3) hydrogen bonds between Thymine and Adenine break- rep 4) involved complimentary base pairing- rep 5) DNA molecule first "unzips"- rep 6) occurs in nucleus- rep/transcr

2. Ribosomes are not found in the nucleus where both transcription and replication occur, they are found in the cytoplasm where they play a part in translation.

3. Since Thymine and Adenine are breaking apart, this means the strand being used as a template is DNA and both replication and transcription use DNA as a template strand.

4. Complementary base pairing is used in both replication and transcription

5. DNA unzips the DNA molecule in replication and RNA polymerase unzips the molecule in transcription 

[apbiologyhero]

Do you have a good lab ideas and how I would go about setting them up (supplies)? I have to make my own lab (propose my own question, list supplies that would be used, etc) that could be done in a high school or college biology lab setting. I wrote one lab already but I'm seriously struggling with coming up with a second. Thanks

Hmm, does it have to be about a specific topic or have any guidelines to follow? There are literally thousands of experiments you can set up. A really simple lab that I did in college was looking at the bacterial contamination of different door handles to your cell phone and seeing how they compare. 

Let me know if you need more help designing the experiment. 

[im-a-fangirl-too]

Okay so apbiologyhero (let’s hope you see this if not i’ll be sliding into your ask) would you mind elaborating a little more on this because I’m liking the idea just trying to think of the process plus what’s the question you guys asked? Something like: Do doorhandles have different bacteria than your cell phone? Or is it more complex than that and I’m just missing it (sorry I just came back from practice I’m a little all over rn)?

The variables would clearly be the doorhandles while the control is the cellphone. But what would represent the independent variable and dependent?

Materials: petri dishes, agar, swabs, 2 or more door handles, cell phone, microscope (not sure that’s necessary but), anything else?

Thank you so much and I’m sorry for being annoying it’s just I’m so out of ideas since I used my one on the first design your own lab.

[apbiologyhero]

Your independent variables are the types of surfaces tested (the door knobs and the cell phone) and the dependent variable is the amount of bacteria. There are a few ways to measure the amount of bacteria but the simplest would be to just count colonies. A control would be a petri dish that has not been swabbed to make sure the contamination is the fault of the swab from the handles/cell phone. 

You wouldn’t need a microscope, just let the samples incubate in a fridge for a week then the number of colonies should be visible.  

[apbiologyhero]

Do you have a good lab ideas and how I would go about setting them up (supplies)? I have to make my own lab (propose my own question, list supplies that would be used, etc) that could be done in a high school or college biology lab setting. I wrote one lab already but I'm seriously struggling with coming up with a second. Thanks

Hmm, does it have to be about a specific topic or have any guidelines to follow? There are literally thousands of experiments you can set up. A really simple lab that I did in college was looking at the bacterial contamination of different door handles to your cell phone and seeing how they compare. 

Let me know if you need more help designing the experiment. 

[apbiologyhero]

Can you just double check me? Options: DNA, mRNA, tRNA, mRNA & tRNA, DNA & mRNA, DNA & tRNA & mRNA. 1. travels from nucleus directly to ribosomes- mRNA 2. contains bases- DNA/mRNA 3. involved in transcription- DNA/mRNA 4. involved in translation- all 5. combines with amino acids- mRNA 6. contains uracil- mRNA/ tRNA 7. contains codons complementary to anticodons- mRNA 8. contains anticodons- tRNA 9. is a nucleic acid- all

For involved in translation, I do not think you would consider DNA as involved in translation, mRNA is translated into a string of amino acids with the help of tRNA.

[sophrosille-deactivated20170422]

do you know of any bio studyblrs ? thank you so much !

Yes, it’s ME, you’re welcome! lol

Yeah, anyway, here’s everyone I managed to find:

molecularbiologistproblems -  molecular biology Ph.D. student.

frontal-cortex -  cell biologist.

ivrileague - biotechnology bachelor and molecular biologymasters’ student.

sarawr-monster - zoo biology’s bachelor.

23pairsofchromosomes -  a blog of biological science and pharmacy university students.  

studygene - genetics and microbiology double major.

eatsleepsciencerepeat -  biochemistry and nutrition double major.

nucleicacids -  genetics and bioinformatics double major.

cherish-marie - biology-evolution and teaching double major.

theproperchemicals - a sixth year biology major.

sapiens-sapiens - a forth year biology major.

chronically-tired-premed - biology major.

ibiologicalsciences - biology student.

georgialharper - biology student.

studious-warlock - biochemistry major

studying-wolf - biophysics student.

koryos -  animal behavior and evolution student.

the-science-life - molecular life science student.  

gramnegativemind - biology undergrad student.

biologys - starting biology undergrad studies in 2015 autumn.

rosy-lea - A2 level biology student.

planetstudy - A2 level biology student.

alohacharlotte - A2 level biology student.

(If you know or are a biology studyblr, please, message me and I’ll add you to the list)

ALL BIOLOGY STUDYBLRS, LETS START USING A BIOBLR TAG, so we can find each other more easily! <3 

[apbiologyhero]

I'm a biology bachelor

[apbiologyhero]

Hey Everyone!

I've had a lot of you follow recently and I'm glad that you are finding my answers interesting. If there is anything you'd like me to answer please submit.

[apbiologyhero]

Please Tell me everything you know and websites that will help me to better understand viruses, bacteria, etc. thank youuuu

Hi, I'd be happy to help. 

I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for so just to be very general I can tell you that bacteria can reproduce on its own asexually and has the cellular machinery to do so.Viruses work a little differently. They need to infect a host cell and once inside the cell they use the cell's machinery to reproduce themselves and create more viruses. 

This link will give you some more information, link and this one will give you more information. If you have any more questions or would like me to explain something on those sites please don't hesitate to ask. 

[apbiologyhero]

Just wanted to welcome anyone who recently followed and to let you all know that although I do not update much, I am still on tumblr as a reader. So if you send questions I'll see them and will be sure to get to them.

[zerostatereflex]

What is DNA?

This BBC explainer video does a wonderful job telling us.

We, and every other living thing on Earth, are connected.

[cultofthepigeon]

would any one be so kind enough to give me equations on how to find

-osmolarity

-moles per gram

-grams per mole

i go online but it’s just a bunch of pictureless paragraphs explaining how to and no actual equations can someone help

[apbiologyhero]

Whenever I am looking for practice problems I search the concept with pdf at end (ex: moles per gram pdf.) Usually I come across a professor's lessons or their answer sheets for exams with lots of sample questions for practice. Sometimes I have been lucky enough to see questions that are word for word what is on my exam. Here is a few of my results to help you get started:

http://misterguch.brinkster.net/freeworksheet.pdf

http://fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us/~john_r_snyder/FOV1-00261F3B/FOV1-002AF6FE/Chem%20Review%20(Modules%208-10).pdf?Plugin=Loft

[iputthisstuffhereforareason-dea]

I was so excited to finally meet a scientist when I started college. Science was something I dreamed about being involved in. I had major disadvantages though: I was from a poor family, I had a terrible education, and I knew nothing about science.

It started out fine. Sure, the science classes...

[apbiologyhero]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with such a terrible professor. Please don't let him affect what you do in life because he was once just as "stupid" as he claims you all are. Biology isn't breathing, it doesn't come natural to anyone, and certainly not to him. Talk to an advisor and if it gets to be too much consider transferring to a different school.

In undergrad I never had someone as bad as what you are describing but I did have the occasional entitled jerk who thought teaching was a means to an end, his research. The best thing you can do is to raise your hand one day and remind him your tuition is paying for his job and for his vacations so unless he spend less time criticizing you for his shortcomings as a teacher you will make a complaint to the office. (ok not really. you don't want him to form a grudge against you, but definitely write that on his student reviews at the end of the year.)

What you should do is focus and keep up your good grades, finish this class and avoid any of his others. Look through the ratemyprofessor reviews and find an awesome professor, there are many out there! They love to teach and are proud of what they do, this prof seems like the type that hates himself and thinks he is stupid because he is teaching biology instead of getting into the med school he intended. But there are a lot out there who want to teach (like me, but I'm still only a first year grad student) and didn't settle for it, its their passion and they will make biology the subject you love all over again and make you realize that you can be an amazing biologist yourself instead of a person in the shadows. 

Sorry this response was so long, but I hate bad professors who try to destroy gifted minds like I'm sure you are!