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ADVANCED PLACEMENT BIOLOGY SYLLABUSWarren High SchoolMs. Zablotsky A320 2016-2017Dear AP Biology Students and Parents,This Syllabus has been prepared for you so you will become familiar with the Advanced Placement Program? and Advanced Placement Biology and understand the requirements for success. I have included as much information as possible to help you. The Advanced Placement Program? is designed to allow high school students to obtain college credit and/or advanced placement in college. The credit is earned by examination. The AP Biology Exam is given in May to over 200,000 students. The score range is 1-5. A score of 3 is usually acceptable to most colleges and universities. About 70% of the students who take the exam earn a 3 or better. Most of the exam is based on course content, but critical thinking skills are required to successfully complete the majority of the exam. Much of the exam involves laboratory-based questions, which may involve the demonstration of an understanding of experimental design, graphing, data analysis, prediction, etc. We will work on these skills throughout the year.Since this course is a college-level course taught to high school students it is very demanding. Universities expect the course to be the equivalent of a freshman Biology majors course. Universities differ in their acceptable exam score requirements depending on whether the student plans to major in science or not. If you are concerned about this contact the college or university you plan to attend and find out their policy.For those of you who are not familiar with AP courses, you should be aware of some expectations beyond what is required in a regular course. All students are required to take the AP Exam. The exam date is Monday, May 8, 2017. Each student will be required to read and learn materials outside of the text that might not be covered in lecture. Each student will be required to learn to use and read current scientific literature. Students will need to spend time outside class to study, read and work on assignments. In a typical college level science course, a student would spend around 7 contact hours weekly in class. Since our classes are only 50 minutes, we end up spending only around 4.1 contact hours weekly in class. Since we are expected to cover at least the same amount of material, much of the learning is necessarily accomplished independently by the student outside of class.Attendance is extremely important in AP Biology. Material is covered very quickly and in much more detail than in Biology I. Excessive absences for whatever reason (excused or unexcused) will jeopardize your chances of success in this course. Laboratory work is almost impossible to make-up and will be included on unit tests. If students are absent on a lab day, they may not understand the concepts well enough to answer questions on quizzes and tests. It is important if you are absent to find a time to see me at school or email me to discuss the material you missed. I understand that some students are necessarily busy with extracurricular activities and I will do my best to schedule major labs and tests around the majority of the students. Students are provided with a detailed calendar of assignments for the entire school year and copies of the assignments for the first semester on the first day of class. Students are encouraged to look ahead and plan to complete their assignments early if they know they will be very busy or have a conflict at a particular time during the course. Time management is an extremely important skill to learn and is best learned before being on your own at a university.We will be using the Internet quite frequently in this course. While it is not required that you have internet access from home, it would be very helpful. Students who cannot connect from home can use the computers in the school library, the public library, and the classroom. Grading Policies and ProceduresHow to Contact Ms. Zablotsky:bethany.zablotsky@(210) 397-4200 (x3320)zablotskybiology.Materials you need for this class:Large (2-3in) 3 ringed binder to keep materials in AT HOME.Small (1/2-1in) 3 ringed binder to keep current unit materials in (you will bring this to class each day)1 notebook (composition) for labsPen, pencil, extra notebook paperInternet access for online homework and access to reading material.Any other material that would be useful to you for studying or time management: planner, notecards, post it notes, highlighters, several pen colors etc…Sign up for Remind 101:To receive messages via text, text @zabloapbio to 81010 Grades:Exams, Quizzes50%Labs40%Classwork, Homework10%All students will take the fall semester exam (i.e. there will be no exemptions). By taking the Semester Exam in the fall, students have an opportunity to review a good deal of material that will be on the AP exam. Since students will be taking the AP Exam in the spring there will be no spring semester exam (i.e. you are exempt) provided the student registers and takes the AP Exam on May 8. General Guidelines for Assignments:All work must be completed and turned in at the beginning of class on the day the assignment is due. Since you will know the due dates in advance, you are expected to turn in your work the day you return from an unexpected absence.If you have a planned absence (i.e. school trip, college visit etc…) you are expected to turn in any assignments due before you leave on your trip. If you have extenuating circumstances you must communicate that with me before you leave on the trip.Each day the assignment is late is 10 points off. Once I return graded work to students, only ? of the points may be earned on the assignment should it be turned in late.I reserve the right to decline to accept any late assignment.All work for a unit must be completed before the unit exam.It is okay if you work in study groups, but ALL ANSWERS AND ALL NOTES MUST BE YOUR OWN! You will be given a calendar each unit with due dates and will not be given verbal reminders of when work is due.Textbook Reading and Note-taking:You will be expected to read and take notes on assigned readings, using the SQWR format. It is beneficial to read the material before it is covered in class. These notes must be turned in at the beginning of class on the day that it is due. These notes should be taken in a section of your binder. When this assignment is checked in class, I will record a score of 0-100 depending on the quality and completeness of your work. On the day of the unit exam, I will recheck these notes and your lecture notes to assess interaction (additional notes added in a different color—including sections omitted on due date, highlighting, diagrams added etc…). Homework Assignments:Many homework assignments will be done through Mastering Biology. You will be given instructions on how to access MB during the first week of school.Assignments must be completed on time and cannot be made up.These assignments are meant to help you practice skills we will be working on in class. Most assignments will allow you to access hints to help you resolve misconceptions so that you learn the correct information. There will be many times that you will be assigned homework over concepts we haven’t covered in class. You should always read the chapter in the book and complete the SQWR BEFORE working on the homework assignment. Class time is meant to help you think critically about the material you are learning and to clear up misconceptions. You will be better able to learn if you take the time to prepare yourself before you come to class by thoroughly reading, taking notes and completing the homework.Some of the homework sets are long but they are not timed. It would be wise to work on the homework a little bit each day so that you may finish it without having to rush through the material.Video Notes:You will usually have a set of short instructional videos to watch each week. You are expected to watch the videos and take notes in your spiral along with your SQWR’s. Keep these in a section of your notebook. They will be collected on Wednesdays at the beginning of the class. These videos are meant to supplement classroom instruction and will allow us to explore topics in class more deeply. The videos are also a very good tool for test review for many students. You will receive a rating of 0-100 based on your efforts. If there is evidence you have interacted with these notes after they have been checked (i.e. additional notes in another color, highlighting etc…) you will receive bonus points in the lab category.Lab Assignments:Directions for formal lab write-ups will be given to you before the first lab write up. You will not prepare a formal report for every lab.All lab assignments must be turned in on time (i.e. at the beginning of your class on the due date). These are considered major assignments and cannot be turned in late.Pre-labs are not accepted late for any reason and will result in your inability to participate in the lab!!Some lab activities cannot be made up because the materials will not keep very long, but you are still responsible for completing the lab questions or write up. If you are absent on a lab day, you are expected to get lab data from someone in class in order to complete the lab and turn it in on the due date.Quizzes:Some quizzes are announced ahead of time (on your calendar) and will cover material you should have read, work we have done in class or something that we worked on in lab.Some quizzes will not be announced ahead of time and may be used to assess whether you have mastered important concepts that we have been working on in class. Consequently, it is important to try to manage your time and not get behind. It is also helpful to frequently review your prior work!Quizzes may be short answer, multiple choice or a free response question from a previous AP Exam.Some quizzes will be completed on Mastering Biology. These will be timed and cannot be turned in late or made up.If you are absent and miss a quiz, expect to take it on the day you return to class unless you have made other arrangements with me ahead of time.Unit Exams: It is important that you keep up with your assignments and work on studying a little bit each day. There is too much information for you to try to “cram” all of your studying into a few hours before the exam. If you try to do the “cramming” method, you will hurt yourself in the long run because you will be unable to remember the material long term (i.e. for Unit Exams or the AP exam in May). You will be more likely to retain information if you review and study your notes and textbook a little every day!Exams are composed of questions that mirror what you will see on the AP exam. Many questions will present you with data and/or experiments that you have not seen before and you will be expected to apply the information you have learned in class. In other words, simply memorizing information from the textbook or notes will not be the most productive study method! You must understand the material in order to apply the concepts and or evaluate new material.Expect each exam to be comprehensive (i.e. contain material previously learned in class). Most of the exam will consist of material for that particular unit but will often contain questions from previous units.Exams will sometimes take one/two periods and time will be limited just as it is on the AP exam. Exam questions will be based on class notes, assignments, labs and the textbook. The exam will be curved with a square root curve based on interactions in your SQWR. If you do not complete your interactions you will not be granted the curve. All exams will be corrected when they are returned. Directions for correcting will be given to you after your first unit exam. If you are absent on the day of an exam, you should expect to take the test on the day you return to class. If you have extenuating circumstances you are expected to make arrangements with me ahead of time. Honesty Policy:Cheating will be absolutely prohibited in this class. All work in this class should be your own. If you are caught cheating, you will receive a “0” on that assignment, and will not be allowed to redo the assignment. Please note: this includes using electronic devices at prohibited times. BehaviorEXEMPLARY behavior is expected at all times. You are responsible for you. Unnecessary talking, wasting of class time, disturbances, or any other behavior deemed unsafe, unacceptable, or inappropriate by the teacher will not be tolerated and will be handled accordingly.TutoringOfficial tutoring times will be determined the first week of school. I am very flexible with tutoring times and we can work to accommodate your busy schedules. However, coming to tutoring is your responsibility. If you see yourself struggling or falling behind coming to tutoring is essential to success!Please sign your Student Information Sheet: AP Biology verifying that you have read and agree to the conditions of this syllabus. ................
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