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. This course, nevertheless, is considered very challenging and one of the most difficult AP classes, as shown with AP Finals grade distributions.
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]
| Topic | Percent |
|---|---|
| Chemistry of Life | 8-11% |
| Cell Structure and Function | 10-13% |
| Cellular Energetics | 12-16% |
| Cell Communication and Cell Cycle | 10-15% |
| Heredity | 8-11% |
| Gene Expression and Regulation | 12-16% |
| Natural Selection | 13-20% |
| Ecology | 10-15% |
The course is based on and tests six skills, called scientific practices which include:
| Topic | Percent |
|---|---|
| Concept Explanation | 8-11% |
| Visual Representations | 10-13% |
| Question and Method | 12-16% |
| Representing and Describing Data | 10-15% |
| Statistical Tests and Data Analysis | 8-11% |
| Argumentation | 12-16% |
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.
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 | 2013[5] | 2014[6] | 2015[7] | 2016[8] | 2017[9] | 2018[10] | 2019[11] | 2020[12] | 2021[13] | 2022[14] | 2023[15] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5.5% | 6.6% | 6.4% | 6.6% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 7.2% | 9.5% | 7.4% | 15.0% | 14.3% |
| 4 | 21.6% | 22.4% | 22.1% | 21.0% | 21.0% | 21.5% | 22.2% | 22.7% | 19.4% | 23.1% | 23.0% |
| 3 | 36.2% | 35.2% | 35.9% | 33.6% | 36.7% | 32.9% | 35.3% | 36.9% | 32.4% | 29.7% | 27.2% |
| 2 | 29.3% | 27.1% | 27.5% | 28.8% | 27.5% | 28.5% | 26.6% | 24.1% | 30.0% | 21.6% | 23.6% |
| 1 | 7.4% | 8.7% | 8.2% | 10.1% | 8.4% | 10% | 8.8% | 6.9% | 10.8% | 10.5% | 12.0% |
| % of scores 3 or higher | 63.3% | 64.2% | 64.3% | 61.1% | 64.1% | 61.5% | 64.7% | 69.1% | 59.2% | 67.9% | 64.4% |
| Mean | 2.88 | 2.91 | 2.91 | 2.85 | 2.90 | 2.87 | 2.93 | 3.04 | 2.83 | 3.11 | 3.04 |
| Standard deviation | 1.01 | 1.05 | 1.03 | 1.07 | 1.03 | 1.08 | 1.06 | 1.06 | 1.09 | 1.21 | 1.23 |
| Number of students | 203,189 | 213,294 | 223,479 | 238,080 | 254,270 | 259,663 | 260,816 | 233,444 | 230,527 | 237,338 | 239,470 |