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AP Biology* (Junior/Senior Year)
The Course
The AP Biology course is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester college introductory biology course usually taken by biology majors during their first year. After showing themselves to be qualified on the AP Exam, some students, in their freshman year, are permitted to undertake upper-level courses in biology or to register for courses for which biology is a prerequisite. Other students may have fulfilled a basic requirement for a laboratory-science course and will be able to undertake other courses to pursue their majors.

AP Biology should include those topics regularly covered in a college biology course for majors. The college course in biology differs significantly from the usual first high school course in biology (Living Environment) with respect to the kind of textbook used, the range and depth of topics covered, the type of laboratory work done by students, and the time and effort required of students. The textbooks used for AP Biology are those used by college biology majors. The kinds of labs done by AP students must are the equivalent of those done by college students.


Prerequisites
The AP Biology course is designed to be taken by students after the successful completion of a first course in high school biology and one in high school chemistry. It aims to provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology.


Goals of the Course
The AP Biology Exam seeks to be representative of the topics covered by the survey group. Accordingly, goals have been set for percentage coverage of three general areas:
  1. Molecules and Cells, 25%
  2. Heredity arid Evolution, 25%
  3. Organisms and Populations, 50%
These three areas have been subdivided into major categories with percentage goals specified for each. The exam is constructed using the percentage goals as guidelines for question distribution.

The two main goals of AP Biology are to help students develop a conceptual framework for modern biology and an appreciation of science as a process. The ongoing knowledge explosion in biology makes these goals even more challenging. Primary emphasis in an AP Biology course is on developing an understanding of concepts rather than on memorizing terms and technical details. Essential to this conceptual understanding are a grasp of science as a process rather than as an accumulation of facts; personal experience in scientific inquiry; recognition of uniting themes that integrate the major topics of biology; and application of biological knowledge and critical thinking to environmental and social concerns.


Themes, Topics, and Concepts
Themes, topics, and concepts all give structure to an AP Biology course. Themes are overarching features of biology that apply throughout the curriculum, and are often the subject of constructed response questions on the AP exam. Topics are the subject areas in biology, and concepts are the most important ideas that form our current understanding of a particular topic.

The major themes of the AP Biology course are as follows:

I.Science as a Process

II.
Evolution
III.Energy Transfer
IV. Continuity and Change  
V.Relationship of Structure to Function
VI.Regulation
VII.Interdependence in Nature
VIII. Science, Technology, and
Society


* Students who take this course will receive 4 college credits (per term / 8 credits total) via the St. John’s College Extension program.
About AP Science Humanities Math College Now Download the full AP Course Catalog and Criteria (.doc)


* Denotes college credit granted via the St. John's College Extension Program.