Advanced Placement Biology
2012 Summer Assignment
Ms. Compeau
AP Biology is an exciting, fun, and rigorous course that will prepare you for the Advanced
Placement BIOLOGY Examination in May of 2013. This course requires a special commitment from
you. Part of this commitment is a summer assignment. This gives you the chance to demonstrate that
you have the best intentions of giving this course your dedication, study time, intelligence, and humor.
The summer assignment will consist of an AP Portfolio (#1), a Personal Reflection Essay
(#2) (the essay goes in the portfolio), flash cards of organic molecules (#3), and “notes” (#4) for inclass writing experiences of two typical AP Biology exam topic essays.
I would like your Personal Reflection Essay to be about your interest in biology and your
assessment of your own study skills for the class. It should be placed into your AP Portfolio in the
‘personal essay’ category. Your AP Portfolio and your personal essay are due at the end of the first
week of school. The notes for the two in-class essays are due by the second week of school. The flash
cards will be used for the first three weeks and then you will have a quiz on their content. You really
need to make them in the summer and bring them to class every day for about three weeks. We use
them a lot. Your flashcards are of important organic molecules and you need to memorize them for a
quiz and for a test.
The summer work will count toward your grade as:
One project grade for your AP Portfolio
One lab grade for the flashcards, which will be used several times during the year
Two homework/activity grades for your content notes and the in-class essay writing
One quiz grade on your ability to memorize the molecule flash cards and take a quiz
If you have questions about my summer assignment during the summer, you may:
Call me on my cell phone (818) 731-0874.
Email me at my home: biology315@gmail.com
Use the school email: pcompeau@lcusd.net
Talk to other students and do the cards and notes together
Talk to past students for motivation.
See detailed direction on the AP Portfolio, and on the personal reflection essay
See handout diagrams on flash card information and organic molecules.
(They all come from Chapter 3 of our ancient AP Biology textbook.)
See details on the topics you need to get “notes” on, so you can write in-class essays.
Part One:
1. Write a personal reflection essay that will include:
a. past biology and chemistry grades, teachers, interest in those classes, impressions of content
b. why you want to take AP Biology, what motivated you to sign up, what you expect to get from
the class, how the information in the class might benefit you
c. an honest assessment of your current learning skills, your strengths, your approach to
homework, your attitude about exams, your attendance pattern, your own integrity and how
you feel about honesty of other students
d. your current lab skills with equipment, how you handle lab reports, and your ability to analyze
lab data (be as specific as possible, use examples)
e. describe your academic expectations, and your family’s expectations for you in this AP class
f. how many AP’s you are planning to take for the 2012-2013 school year? what are your career
or college dreams? is success in AP Bio a part of those plans?
g. Limit your remarks to 3 pages and put this in your portfolio (in personal essay section)
Part Two:
Gather information on two typical AP Bio topics. Yes, you can go to internet, books and
other students for information about these two topics. Bring your ideas and notes to class for a
simulated AP essay question. You will be asked to look over your notes one last time, and then write a
sample essay answer in class. This is a simulation. I will give you 20 minutes for writing your essay.
This is not a research paper. Your essay will be used as a sample so you can grade yourself and
others with an AP Biology style rubric. You will staple your notes or outline information to the essay
when done. You will not get to use your information during the actual writing of the two essays.
These are the two essay topics:
1. Describe the following five major groups of compounds that compose the human body. Include
their functions in your essay, but focus on how their chemical structure promotes a human cell and a
human body to function.
a. carbohydrates b. lipids c. proteins d. nucleotides
e. steroids/hormones
2. The unique properties (characteristics) of water make life possible on Earth. Select three properties
of water and:
a. for each property, identify and define the property and explain it in terms of the
physical/chemical nature of water.
b. for each property, describe one example of how the property affects the functioning of living
organisms.
Part Three:
Make flashcards concerning organic chemicals (see separate pages with diagrams). As you
make these cards, think about each of their relationships to biology. For example: what are organic
chemicals? How do the molecules interact to create life processes? What are the five most important
elements for biological life? (You may wish to relate the flashcard list to your first essay.)
Make sure that the name of the chemical, descriptions, and facts, are written on the lined side
of the flashcard; and the chemical structure and name is drawn on the blank side of the card. You will
be quizzed randomly on these flashcards, so you need to know all of them, or else be very lucky. You
will add some information to your cards in class, so bring them to school.
There are approximately 50 molecules you need to make into flash cards
Methyl
Primary protein structure
Hydroxyl
Secondary protein structure
Carboxyl
Tertiary protein structure
Amino
functional
Quaternary protein structure
Aldehyde
groups
Hemoglobin
Ketone
that
Deoxyribose
Phosphate
influence
Nucleotide
Methane
molecules
Adenine
Ethane
Guanine
Butane
Thymine
Nitrogen bases
Glyceraldehyde
Cytosine
Ribose
Uracil
Alpha Glucose
Polypeptide
Beta Glucose
Ribulose
Alpha Fructose
Beta Fructose
Maltose
Sucrose
Amylose
Amylopectin
Cellulose
Chitin
Glycerol
Fatty Acid
Fat Molecule
Cholesterol
Testosterone
General Formula for any amino acid.
4 specific amino acids (from list of 20 amino acids) of your choice.
A final thought: Even though you might feel that it would be a great idea to cut up the given pictures of
these chemical structures and paste them to a card, there is a need for your brain to have you DRAW
them, noting where each bond is, so that you really learn each one. So don’t cut corners here. Don’t
buy them from past students. Please make them yourself. Thank you.
Pick up the separate AP portfolio directions, a sample scoring rubric, and put together
Part Four:
your portfolio that inclues all the requirements. You will add to this portfolio during the year, and
after you take the real AP Bio exam, you will turn it in again as an “evaluation portfolio”for another
project grade in the class. In your “evaluation portfolio”, you will include examples of your lab work,
your test essay answers, your research presentation and your evaluation of the class.
Phillip E. Pack used to teach at this school. He has written three great AP Biology
Part Five:
supplementary textbooks. One is called Cliffs AP Biology ISBN 0-7645-8682-3. It is really good for
review of each topic and for study prior to the real exam. The second one was published five years
ago. It has 5 sample AP Exams plus explanations. The third one will come out this summe and related
to the new format of the AP Biology Exam for 2013. I suggest you purchase all 3 of these.