AP bio vs Ap chemistry: which one is the best?
In this post, we’re going to discover the main difference between AP biology and AP Chemistry exam.
Also give you some tips about which one will be good for you to to take as a result gives you the maximum benefits.
Students are taking AP biology more than AP chemistry
Students tend to take AP biology exams more than chemistry and the numbers prove that according to albert.io 230,527, students have enrolled in the ap biology exam in the previous year while 134,316 in chemistry. So 50% more enrollment for biology AP courses than chemistry ones.
Students prefer to join AP biology classes because they tend to be easier than chemistry classes. but it is not a general rule because the numbers of success indicate some contradictions that’s where I went to discover in the next paragraph.
Ap biology is harder than AP chemistry
We’re going to list the results exam comparison between the biology and chemistry AP exams.
| Ap Exam Score | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP Biology | 7.4% | 19.4% | 32.4% | 30.0% | 10.8% |
| AP Chemistry | 11.2% | 16.4% | 23.7% | 24.7% | 23.9% |
If we analyze and compare these exam results we find that AP biology students are more successful by 6% than AP Chemistry ones. the principal reason is that the number of successful students scoring higher between 3 and 5 is bigger for AP biology.
Even if we find the top rankings in AP Chemistry are higher than in AP biology but when we took it in general we find students succeed even more in biology than in chemistry.
In general, what makes AP biology easier than AP Chemistry is math intensity, if you aren’t good in math, especially in algebra, AP Chemistry might be hard for you. In addition, in AP Chemistry you should be good also at physics foundations. As a result, being able to study thermodynamics, as the most challenging physic in a chemistry course.
but if you don’t like a lot to memorize a lot, AP biology classes can be hell for you, you would be studying a lot of subjects that are required a lot of memorization like Cell structures and their functions, and analyzing a lot of graphs and documents.
But the difficult questions are related to and dependable the orientation of each student and the hard work he put into the preparation phase. But we’re going to list both the Ap courses curriculum in detail on biology and Chemistry. Then listing the difference.
Biology ap curriculum
1 – chemistry of life
- Structure of water and hydrogen bonding
- Elements of Life:
- Introduction to biological macromolecules
- Properties, structure, and function of biological macromolecules
- Nucleic acids
2 – Cell structure and function
- Cell structures and their functions
- Cell size: Cell structure and function
- Plasma membranes: Cell structure and function
- Membrane permeability: Cell structure and function
- Membrane transport: Cell structure and function
- Facilitated diffusion: Cell structure and function
- Mechanisms of transport: tonicity and osmoregulation
- Cell compartmentalization and its origins
3 – Cellular energetics
- Enzyme structure and catalysis:
- Environmental impacts on enzyme function:
- Cellular energy:
- Photosynthesis:
- Cellular respiration:
- Fitness
4 – Cell communication and cell cycle
- Cell communication
- Signal transduction
- Changes in signal transduction pathways
- Feedback
- Cell cycle
- Regulation of cell cycle
5 – Heredity
- Meiosis and genetic diversity
- Mendelian genetics
- Non-Mendelian genetics
- Environmental effects on phenotype
- Chromosomal inheritance
6 – Gene expression and regulation
- DNA and RNA structure
- Replication
- Transcription and RNA processing
- Translation
- Regulation of gene expression and cell specialization
- Mutations
7 – Natural selection
- Natural selection
- Population genetics
- Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
- Evidence for evolution
- Common ancestry and continuing evolution
- Phylogeny
- Speciation
- Extinction
- Variations in populations
- Origins of life on earth
8 – Ecology
- Responses to the environment
- Energy flow through ecosystems
- Population ecology
- Community ecology
- Biodiversity
- Disruptions to ecosystems
Chemistry ap curriculum
1 – Atomic structure and properties
- Moles and molar mass
- Mass spectrometry of elements
- Elemental composition of pure substances
- Composition of mixtures
- Atomic structure and electron configuration
- Periodic trends
- Valence electrons and ionic compounds
- Photoelectron spectroscopy
2 – Molecular and ionic compound structure and properties
- Types of chemical bonds
- Intramolecular force and potential energy
- Structure of ionic solids
- Structure of metals and alloys
- Lewis diagrams
- Resonance and formal charge
- VSEPR
- Bond hybridization
3 – Intermolecular forces and properties
- Intermolecular forces
- Properties of solids
- Solids, liquids, and gases
- Ideal gas law
- Kinetic molecular theory
- Deviation from ideal gas law
- Solutions and mixtures
- Representations of solutions
- Separation of solutions and mixtures chromatography
- Solubility
- Spectroscopy and the electromagnetic spectrum
- Electronic transitions in spectroscopy
- Beer–Lambert law
4 – Chemical reactions
- Net ionic equations
- Representations of reactions
- Physical and chemical changes
- Stoichiometry
- Oxidation–reduction (redox) reactions
- Introduction to acid–base reactions
- Introduction to titration
5 – Kinetics
- Reaction rates
- Introduction to rate law
- Concentration changes over time
- Reaction mechanisms
- Activation energy and reaction rate
- Catalysis
6 – Thermodynamics
- Endothermic and exothermic processes
- Heat transfer and thermal equilibrium
- Heat capacity and calorimetry
- Energy of phase changes
- Introduction to enthalpy of reaction
- Hess’s law: Thermodynamics
- Enthalpy of formation
- Bond enthalpies
7 – Equilibrium
- Introduction to equilibrium
- Equilibrium constant and reaction quotient
- Calculating the equilibrium constant
- Magnitude and properties of the equilibrium constant
- Calculating equilibrium concentrations
- Using the reaction quotient
- Le Châtelier’s principle
- Solubility equilibria
8 – acides and bases
- Introduction to acids and bases
- pH and pOH of strong acids and bases
- Weak acid and base equilibria
- Molecular structure of acids and bases
- Acid–base reactions: Acids and basesBuffers
- Acid–base titrations
9 – Applications of thermodynamics
- Entropy
- Gibbs free energy and thermodynamic favorability
- Free energy of dissolution
- Thermodynamics vs. kinetics
- Free energy and equilibrium
- Coupled reactions
- Galvanic (voltaic) and electrolytic cells
- Cell potential and free energy
- Cell potential under nonstandard conditions
- Electrolysis and Faraday’s law
Things you have to be aware of AP chemistry and biology
The second reason is that makes you choose between AP Chemistry or biology is depending on the major you want to choose for your career. it would be obvious to choose AP biology if you want to Major in biology or prepare for pre-med schools.
On the other side taking AP Chemistry will be useful if you want to join engineering classes especially if you want to become a nuclear or chemical engineer. So in general it depends on your visions, or let’s say who you want to become.
The other thing that you have to consider is the school are University you’re going to choose, you have to check the University you will apply to if she accepts AP credits for biology and chemistry. But there are some schools that don’t.
In addition, some universities demand to have higher scores on AP exams like 4 or 5 for AP Chemistry. so you have to be aware of that and investigate to know more details to prevent falling into the trap of losing money and time.
Final thoughts: the best one you should choose
So you have to know who you are, are you good at memorization and analysis, or do you like to use math and physics knowledge a lot to solve your problems.
If you are in the first class then AP biology courses would be a good choice.
But if you’re in the second class then AP Chemistry would be a good fit in this case.
you could read this related article: Is AP statistics harder than calculus? (proved)
