A: FROM MENTOR NORRIE ROBBINS IN CA
What a ...problem—you have indeed identified something to be worried about. On the other hand, of all those subjects, biology is the easiest to do on your own—there are books and plenty of information on the web. Ask one of the other AP teachers to help you get one of the AP Biology textbooks. Then you are stuck, teaching it to yourself using the web to supplement stuff that you feel fuzzy about after reading the book. Approach the book as a course—take notes, make review sheets, make flash cards—use whatever techniques you have found that put information in your own brain. See if there is anyone else taking that course who feels like you do. Try study sessions. Design test days, and have each participant bring in 5 questions for your “exams.” It’s not as if this is the only time this is going to happen in your life.
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A: FROM MENTOR BRENDA WOLFE IN CA
Alexis- You did not say where you were thinking of going to college and what sort of major you are interested in. Unless you are going to be a biologist when you go to college - don't sweat it! Don't take the test if you don't want to ... this is not a big deal. The most a high ranking gets you is to skip one semester at college. If you aren't doing biology - you will never need it. Your AP test scores may not even show up on your high school transcript - I think you have to attach them separately anyway.
Take your A in the class and move on to the next subject.
Good luck!
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A: FROM MENTOR DENISE HARBERT IN IL
So Alexis, how do you really feel?!?! :-) I can see how angry and frustrated
you are and, on one hand, you certainly have a right to be. On the other
hand, problems like this come up in life all the time, ESPECIALLY for people
who are over-achievers. Trust me, I am one of those people myself!!! For
many years, I got extremely angry every time I felt someone was standing in
between me and one of my goals. When I encountered those people, it felt like
I was going mock speed and slammed into a wall that I couldn't get around. Or
like I was making great progress climbing a mountain when suddenly someone
strapped a dead elephant to my back. It took me a long time to get my mind
around the idea that very few people view goals and achievement the way I did.
From the perspective of the "dumb" person standing in my way, I was the
"dumb" one because I got myself all worked up over things that were not
life-and-death and probably didn't really matter so much in the long run. Try
to look at it this way for just a minute - What is the worst thing that could
possibly happen to you because of your "dumbed down" AP Bio class? You'll
have to take Freshman Bio in college? Although not ideal, that's really not
so bad a thing. Despite how it may FEEL from your perspective, you are such
an exceptional student that a bad AP Bio class will certainly not prevent you
from getting into college, nor from even majoring in biology if you chose to
do so. Now consider this - What is the worst thing that could happen to the
slowest students in your AP Bio class if the teacher taught at the speed and
level she is supposed to teach? They could flunk the class, not get into
college, and possibly not even have enough science credits or high enough
grades to graduate from high school. Without a high school diploma, they
would have problems finding work to support themselves, let alone a family.
Their very lives may be at stake over one AP Bio class. Now think again about
your anger over having to take an extra class in college. Do you see the
difference in perspective about what's important? I completely disagree with
your teacher's approach to "dumb down" the class, but maybe she is focused
more on the "worst" possibilities rather than the "best" possible ideal. If
you can understand that other perspective, even if you don't agree with it,
then maybe some of your anger will dissipate and it will be easier for you to
deal with your teacher and the situation.

From a practical standpoint, you really only have three choices when it comes
to AP Bio:
(1) Continue to be angry, continue to demand that someone teach you enough
material to do well on the AP/SAT2 exams, and continue to hope that someone
will acknowledge and stop the injustice of your teacher's teaching style.
Although this is a choice you can make, I honestly believe that the only thing
you'll accomplish is making yourself miserable. At this point, I can't
imagine that there is anything that anyone can do to change the situation into
the ideal you want it to be. Even if you find an administrator to force your
teacher to change her teaching style, it's too late in the school year to
"catch up". If you've only covered 6/55 (11%) of the material, then you still
have 49/55 (89%) left to be covered. That means that your teacher would have
to teach 8 times faster in the second half of the year than she did in the
first half. Even if that were possible (which I doubt), you would probably be
the only person in the class who could learn it that fast!

(2) Acknowledge that you are not going to learn enough in class to do well on
the AP Bio/SAT2 exams, and commit yourself to learning the material on your
own. Again, this is a choice you can make, but I don't think it's a good
idea. As calculated in (1) above, you would have to learn 8 times faster
during the second half of the school year as you did the first. Also,
learning will be more difficult because you will have to teach yourself a
topic you don't know yet. I believe you are intelligent enough to do that,
but I think doing it would come at a very high cost. You already have 3 other
AP classes with demanding teachers, so you would inevitably have to sacrifice
time from those classes in order to put enough time into your self-taught
class. Or, worse, you would sacrifice sleep, extra curricular activities, or
personal resting time. None of that is going to help you over the long run.
To learn about my experiences with taking on too much, see the answer I gave
today to FRANCISCA L IN CA's question about being well-rounded. I had a lot
of instability in my life when I was growing up because I moved around a lot
and had a lot of people making decisions about my life that I could not
control. I responded by over controlling the things I could control (mostly
academics and extra curricular activities). I took on ridiculous goals and
achieved every one of them and somehow felt better about all the change I was
forced to deal with. Over the long run, though, taking on too much ended up
being very bad for me, my health, and my attitude. Life is much better
without so many activities and without so many goals! Reducing the number of
your goals is not the same thing as reducing the quality of achievement. It
does not mean you are less intelligent or less worthy. It just means that you
are choosing life and health over stress and disease, which in my mind is the
most intelligent choice.

(3) Acknowledge that you are not going to learn enough in class to do well on
the AP Bio/SAT2 exams, and make a firm decision that you are not going to take
either exam and you are not going to try to learn the material. I believe
this is truly your only real option at this point. If you admit to yourself
that you have no control over the situation and there is nothing you can do to
change it, then it is easier to see that your attitude about the situation
means everything. The situation is beyond your control, so getting angry and
frustrated is going to do nothing but hurt YOU and make YOU miserable. Learn
to let it go!!! Stop fighting to get a perfect score in everything. I
GUARANTEE you will feel MUCH better about it!!! Look at AP Bio like a gift
and pretend like you're not really taking AP Bio. Instead, tell yourself
you're taking a free period that will give you an AP "A" on your report card
without much effort at all. No college will think it's strange that you only
took 3 AP exams when you had 4 AP classes on your report card. A lot of
students take AP classes without taking the AP exam. At least some of them do
it for the reason you're angry - because they had a teacher who didn't teach
what was needed to pass the exam. (I'm living proof that you're not the only
one this happens to. I got A's on every report card in AP French and didn't
think I knew enough to get a 2 on the AP exam, so I didn't take it.) If you
do choose this option and decide to not learn Bio, then that doesn't mean you
have to accept the injustice of what happened to you (and it is injustice).
You can give up your own AP Bio goals without giving up on the AP Bio goals of
other students who will follow you. Once you accept your fate, your anger
will settle and you will be in a better position to speak calmly about your
experience. You SHOULD lobby your school administrators and try to make
changes in your school's AP program. Teachers should not be allowed to teach
AP classes if they are not willing to set a pace that teaches all of the AP
requirements. Students should not be allowed to register for AP classes if
they are not willing to follow that pace. Your class should be considered an
embarrassment to any AP program. Instead of studying, use the time you would
have spent studying to make changes for future generations of students. This
"big picture" goal is just as worthy as your individual goal was (perhaps more
so), and it is realistically achievable in the time you have remaining in the
school year. If your administrators don't listen to your calm, rational
arguments, then you could always resort to starting a petition for students to
sign or contacting a small, local newspaper and asking them to do a story on
it. Nothing makes administrators move faster than bad press!!!

On a more psychological note, this situation and your feelings about it may
give you some great insights into what kind of person you are and what kind of
career choices you should think about making. I was an individual achiever
like you are and it took me a long time to figure out what situations work for
me and what don't. I was always excellent at school because my classes were
always based on individual achievement. In my entire academic career, I only
had one group project and it was in college. I lucked out because it was a
regular psychology class, we were allowed to choose our own groups, and I had
just taken an Honors psychology class the semester before. I knew all the
Honors students in the regular class, so we chose to work together on the
group project. We all wanted an A, so we were all working towards that goal.
That allowed us each to pull our own weight and feel comfortable allowing the
others to pull their weight. As a result, we were able to accomplish a higher
A together than any of us could have achieved on our own. Unfortunately for
other students in the class, some groups were made up of students whose goals
ranged from A to C. The person who wanted a C didn't feel the need to put in
the effort needed for an A and the person who wanted an A had to drag along
the C person by constantly checking up on her and redoing everything she did.
As a result, the A person put in three times the work I did and still ended up
with a grade lower than an A. I did not equate that situation with working in
a private sector job until many years later, but that is often what it's like
in many company environments that have team projects. If you choose a career
that requires teamwork, be exceedingly careful about what company you choose
to work for and what types of work you will be doing. You will be miserable
if you put yourself in an environment where you want A work and everyone else
is pushing for C work! The other path you may be more successful choosing is
to select a career that's less focused on teamwork and more focused on
individual achievement. Pure research at a national laboratory or academic
careers are probably the most obvious possibilities, although I'm sure there
are others. The important idea is to be honest with yourself about who you
are and put yourself in an environment where that kind of person is highly
valued and can be successful.

Good luck Alexis! I hope I've helped you, even though it may not be what you
wanted to hear! I truly wish someone had told me all of this when I was your
age!!! I might have saved myself a lot of grief!!
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A: FROM MENTOR JO ELLEN HINCK IN MO
Alexis -
You definitely seem to be an ambitious student - not only from this
question but the many others you have posted in the past. Not many
students wish for more difficult/challenging coursework! My suggestion
would be to talk with your teacher in a calm manner. Perhaps you can
explain you don't feel you are being challenged enough and would like an
extra project (these are great for your personal development and
transcripts - shows initiative and independence) - you may want to have a
few suggestions/topics ready for her that interest you. Every teacher
develops their own coursework and deserve a level of respect - make sure
you show her that - it may help your cause more than putting her on the
defensive. As far as preparing yourself for AP bio test or SAT2 - you may
have to do it the old fashioned way - on your own. I went to a high school
that didn't even offer AP courses so I had to prepare on my own time. Your
lucky to be in a situation that is preparing you for college. Throughout
your educational and professional career you will encounter situations
that aren't ideal. You will have to turn negatives into positives - looks
like your current situation is a good opportunity to develop some of these
characteristics.