AP Biology
Ms. Mary Wuerth
Email: mwuerth@tamdistrict.org
Course Websites:
● AP Biology wiki- http://wuerthapbiology.wikispaces.com Where digital copies of most course
materials are kept along with a course calendar. If you want to know what the homework is, call a
friend, email me, or check on the wiki
● Course Standards: http://bit.ly/apbiostandards List of course standards. Continually revised.
Extra Help:
● Extra help is available during tutorial periods on Wednesdays and Fridays. Don’t forget to get a
tutorial pass from me. I usually get to school very early to set up labs, and could be available
before school by appointment.
● Extra help can also be had asynchronously through edmodo. Responses will be posted within 24
hours or given during the next class meeting.
AP Biology is a college-level introduction to the Biological Sciences. It is intended as a survey of the
many fields of study that comprise “biology.” At the end of the course, students take the AP Biology
exam, administered by the College Board. A sufficient score on this exam makes a student eligible for
college credit.
Being that this is a college-level course, students should expect a workload equal to what would be
encountered in college. The typical college formula is that students will spend ~ 3 hours of their own time
per hour spent in class. In this class, typically, the formula is that students spend 1 ½ or 2 hours of their
own time per hour spent in class. As we spend about 4 hours in class weekly, you should expect to have 68 hours of work to do per week outside of class.
Required Stuff (have every day):
In class:
● 3 ring binder notebook (for notes, and to keep track of all work). It should have lined paper (100
sheets or so) and graph paper (30 sheets or so).
● The requisite writing implement (pen or pencil, I don’t really care).
● A lab notebook, which I will provide for you
At home:
● Textbook
● Your Notebook (the one you bring to class)
● Access to a computer with modern internet browsing capabilities (see me if this is an issue for you
and we can work it out :).
● Your Lab Notebook (The one that usually lives in class. Sometimes, as labs require)
Rules. Just four:
1.
Respect everyone and everything in this school.
2.
You are here to learn. Effort is required.
3.
You are expected to do your own work.
4.
You may not interfere with anyone else’s right to follow Rules 1, 2 and 3.
Specific school policies about cell phones , etc. are enforced in this class.
Work- scope and sequence: There are two major kinds of assignments in this class:
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Summative Assessments: Summative Assessments include tests and lab reports.
Tests: Tests will be given at the end of each unit. Tests are modeled on the AP exam, and include
a series of multiple-choice, mathematical “grid-in” questions, and constructed response questions
of varying lengths.
Labs: You are required to complete miniposters for selected labs that we conduct. We will do
many labs during the course of the year. These lab activities will be major, long-term, experiences
that will involve the development of a particular protocol to answer a question of your own
creation, the collection of data, and the generation and publishing of a documentation of your lab
experience (typically a lab report, or a presentation). Labs can be anywhere from a week to three
months in length, with lab miniposters typically being due the week after the conclusion of the
experimental portion of the activity.
Formative Assessment: All other work that is done in this class falls into the category of Formative
Assignments. These include (but are not limited to) quizzes, smaller lab activities and demos that I like to
call “labettes” and homework assignments.
Late Work Policy: Work is considered “late” when it is submitted after the established collection time.
Late lab miniposters will receive a 10% penalty for every day they are late.
Makeup work: It is strongly recommended that you attend class every day in a timely fashion. Excessive
lateness or absences will make it very difficult for you to keep up with the workload of this course. If you
are legally absent, it is your responsibility to makeup all assignments. “I was absent” is not an excuse
for missing an assignment, nor is it an excuse for not being prepared for a quiz, test or other class activity.
All assignments are posted on the class wiki. I strongly recommend obtaining the phone/email of at least
two other people in the class who you can call in the event of an absence. You may also email me, but
please understand that emails received after school may not be replied to until the next morning.. Please
discuss missed work with me as soon as you return to class. Work done during absences is due one class
period after your return to class, if you missed one day of school, due two class periods after return to class
if you missed two days of school, etc. You must also make arrangements to makeup any labs, quizzes or
tests as soon as you return to school.
Grade Calculations: You and your parents will be able to access your course grade on-line beginning the
third week of class. Your grade is calculated as follows:
Unit Exams
Lab posters/reports
Quizzes
Homework
40%
30%
20%
10%
There is no extra credit offered in this class...focus on doing the work assigned to the best of your ability.
Academic Honesty: You are encouraged to work together to study course content. You are allowed to
collaborate on lab exercises. Data among lab partners is expected to be identical. With this exception, all
work done in this class is expected to be original or attributed to its original source. Any violation of this
will result in an automatic 0 on the assignment in question. Cheating on exams, or plagiarism on any other
item, will result in an automatic 0, mandatory change of seating, academic referral and notification of
parents, and the inability to ever receive a college recommendation from me for all parties involved.
The AP Exam: The AP exam is given in mid-May. It administered by the College Board and is given in a
secure room somewhere in the district. There is a fee for taking the exam. All students who are in this
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course are encouraged to sit for the AP exam. Tam AP Biology students do well above the national
average, last year our pass rate was 91% (compared to a national pass rate of 63%)
The grade received on the AP exam does not affect a student’s grade for the course in any way.
A note about the exams:
The AP Biology exam will assess your ability to think like a scientist, along with your
understanding of the course content (what’s in the textbook). This will also be true of any in-class
assessments, and many of the in-class projects. To that end, there will be situations and content on exams
that will not be specifically discussed in class prior to their appearance on exams. This is very different
than many other types of courses you might have taken. The AP Biology Exam had the lowest
percentage of students scoring a 5 or a 1 on any AP-level science exam in 2013. However, Tam AP
Biology students had more than double the percentage of 5’s on the 2013 exam. If you follow the program
I have carefully honed during my 17 years of teaching AP Biology (and 14 years of training AP Biology
teachers) you will have all you need to do well.
A good rule of thumb is that any content covered in the material you are responsible for
reading/viewing/watching in the content homework could appear on an exam, regardless of whether or not
we have discussed it specifically in class. The take-home message for you is that independent
reading/viewing/watching is absolutely crucial, and must be done if you want to succeed.
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