Score Higher on AP Biology 2024: MCQ Tips from Students

Multiple Choice Questions

This guide organizes advice from past students who got 4s and 5s on their exams. We hope it gives you some new ideas and tools for your study sessions. But remember, everyone's different—what works for one student might not work for you. If you've got a study method that's doing the trick, stick with it. Think of this as extra help, not a must-do overhaul.

📌 Overview

• Students are given a variety of individual and grouped (4-5) multiple choice questions
• 50% of Exam Score:
• 90 minutes for 60 questions
  • 1.5 minutes per question

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💭 General Advice

Tips on mindset, strategy, structure, time management, and any other high level things to know

• Practice, 👏 practice, 👏 PRACTICE! Take old exam MCQ sections and time yourself. Do previous FRQs from AP exams on Collegeboard.org, it’s free! You can even google “AP ____ MCQ section pdf” and it will give you a few with the whole MCQ section of a prior exam that was released. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t do well the first time. You’d rather do a horrible job on a practice and work your way to a good score than only try on the AP exam and fail it. It might be a bruise to your academic ego or sense of intelligence, but I promise it will help you in the long run. Remember, you’ve got this! 💙
• It is vital to not only understand each unit individually, but how every unit connects. The order of this course is not random—it was crafted very carefully so that each unit flows into the next in a way that makes sense. If you haven't already, start looking back through each unit’s notes and circling or highlighting ideas/concepts that are rooted in concepts from a past unit.
• It’s very important to be able to apply the conceptions you have learned into a fashion that makes sense in the real-world. Simply knowing the content isn’t enough! You have to be able to put yourself into the shoes of the scientist/organism and work things out through processes.
• There’s no penalty for guessing wrong. Process of elimination will be your best friend! Struggling between two choices instead of three or four will save you some time and help you choose an answer so much faster. Sometimes, the answer can be hiding in plain sight, but the other answer choices with fancy wording can make you overthink.
  • On the same note, if a question takes too long to understand, pick an answer and move on. It hurts your potential score more to have five unanswered questions than it does to have one missed question because you guessed at random.
• Pay less attention to details and more so to the general picture. Really focus in on your weakest topics as there is a good chance they will come up on the test.
• When studying, explain concepts in as much detail as possible. It will help you remember if you teach someone else.
• If you do not know how to solve a math problem or you are getting an incorrect answer multiple times, take an educated guess. Compared to the rest of the multiple choice, there aren’t many math questions (maybe five or seven at most), so it's not worth stressing over during the test. You should try to gain as many points as possible with the conceptual questions instead.
• Do what works for you! If you have a tried and true method or testing strategy that you know works for you, use it! If you don’t, try asking around or looking up strategies that may help you out.

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🫧 Before You Bubble

What should a student do in the first few minutes, before they start answering?

• Either in your head or on a piece of paper, identify the main ideas from each unit. When you get to a question, you should be able to tell which unit(s) that question is calling on. AP tests are overwhelming, and it's easy to draw a blank when you see a question. Being able to immediately connect that question to a unit gives you a starting point.
• Take a brief overview/flip through of the questions, get a feel for the length of the questions and from there select questions you are most comfortable answering. This will save you lots of time in the long run!
• It always helps to go through the questions and answer the ones you know right away at first glance to get them out of the way. You’ll have more time to answer the questions that you think/know will take a long time. Doing it this way will give you the opportunity to maximize the amount of points you can possibly get on this section!
• Make sure to review your options for trick words! The difference between an answer choice can be as simple as a word.
• As you read the questions, underline the most important pieces of information.
• For questions dealing with a diagram (usually accompanied by a longer paragraph explaining the questions), ALWAYS read the question before you read the paragraph or diagram explaining the question. There will be 5-7 questions related to the stimulus, so some might relate to something you already studied and remember without having to refer to the diagram at all. This can save you some time.
• Come up with a marking system for your bubble sheet. If you don’t understand a question or it’s overwhelming, skip it and come back to it later. You can track which ones you need to go back to with a marking system.
  • Here’s an example system:
    • Stars for questions that have information you may be able to use on other questions such as formulas.
    • Dots beside the number which I need to check.
    • Circling numbers you haven’t answered.

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❓Question Styles

Explaining Concepts

• Break everything down into digestible steps. Think of the concepts as puzzle pieces, each one must fit together to make the puzzle complete. It’ll be your job to get rid of any answers that are missing an essential piece in the concept as a whole.
• Know your processes well. It helps when you are able to explain processes you learn in class in your own words or apply it to something you come across often.

Interpreting Visual Representations

• Make sure to read the captions to any graphs or data representations, especially if you are not sure about the data, They can really help you piece together what the data means and how you can use it in the question
• Don’t be afraid to circle or underline anything in a diagram to bring your focus to certain things! If it helps you to circle things so you have an easier time finding it when referring to the question, please do so.
• For data tables, the process of elimination is so helpful to maximize point potential. There is usually at least one answer choice per data table questions that clearly misconstrues the data.
• For models of signaling pathways, if you have time to spare, take your time. Break down each step. Trace with your pencil what everything leads to and what every arrow means. This usually clarifies what is happening and allows you to manipulate it based on what the question is asking.

Explaining Experimental Questions and Methods

• Note down on the side what the independent, dependent, and control variables are! If you struggle with identifying these concepts, look over them before the test, they are important to understand.
• Underline, circle, or box words in the question which correspond to the different variables. This way you can easily check them against your answer without needing to search all of the text again. This should help save you some time on your exam, giving you more time for harder problems or questions.

Representing and Describing Data

• Understanding general concepts of data distribution/measures (mean, median, standard deviation, etc.) is going to be your best friend. Knowing these are the key to be able to describe how data is being valued and possibly skewed.
• Have a good grasp of what each of the features of the type of data represented mean and what it does. Be able to know how to describe that said feature when prompted to.

Statistical Tests and Data Analysis

• Practicing the mathematics and problem solving data strategies that are on the formula packet BEFORE the test is crucial! While the formula packet is there to help you, to help with confidence and timing it is best that you practice chi-square, Punnett squares, etc. in order to feel most confident.
• Focus on the values of the x and y axis on the graphs! Look at the numbers and keep an eye out for things like standard deviation.
• Familiarize yourself with using such statistical tests in the first place. Understand how you should use tests on what question and understand how questions requiring usage of said test is structured typically.

Argumentation/Justifying a Point

• Don’t choose your answer just because it has fancy vocabulary. Stick to the core concept of the question and the evidence that clearly supports it. Science is all about evidence-based explanations - use logical reasoning and eliminate answers that illogically jump to conclusions or are contradictory.
• Think of how some change or prompt fits within a broader context. Try to relate processes and concepts that you know might relate to the question based on the vocabulary of the question. Then try to place that change within the process to understand steps leading up to it and following it. By contextualizing the question you are able to better understand what might result based on what you already know. Definitely break it down into smaller bits to better understand it.
• Think about whether or not the answer option is true and relative towards what’s being asked. Aim to remember concepts that have information that help explain a point as it may come up as the question itself.