Notes from Mr. W:
- You’ll find our Student Learning Guides (SLGs) for each unit in the Unit Menus below. Note that many SLGs have been updated to match tutorial updates (see below).
- Click here for a list of updates we’ve made to align our curriculum with the College Board’s Revised 2025 AP Bio Course and Exam Description
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AP Bio Course Introduction
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Unit 1: Chemistry of Life
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Unit 2: Cell Structure and Function
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Unit 3: Cellular Energetics (Enzymes, Energy, Cellular Respiration, Photosynthesis)
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Unit 4: Cell Communication; Feedback and Homeostasis; the Cell Cycle; Cancer and Apoptosis
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Unit 5: Heredity (Meiosis and Genetics)
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Unit 6: Gene Expression and Regulation
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Unit 7: Evolution
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Unit 8: Ecology
Updates for 2025
To ensure student success in AP Bio, we’re committed to covering every topic that the College Board list’s in their Course and Exam Description. Here’s how we’ve changed our AP Bio curriculum on Learn-Biology.com to correspond to the changes the College Board made in their 2025 CED.
Note that most of our Student Learning Guides were updated to match the changes described below.
Completed Work
- Unit 1: The College Board changed their chaotic organization of biochemistry in the 2019 CED to one that treats carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids as separate topics. This was already our structure.
- Unit 2
- We renumbered Unit 2 Topics to align with changes in the CED
- We expanded Topic 2.2 (Cell Size) to include the relationship between body size and metabolic rate in mammals. This topic had previously been in Unit 8.
- Unit 3
- We renumbered Unit 3 Topics to align with the CED’s new topic numbering.
- Unit 3 in the 2019 CED included Topic 3.7, Fitness (which always seemed to me like a mistake). They’ve dropped this topic and moved it to Unit 7, Evolution (which is where we previously covered this topic).
- Unit 4: we renumbered our topics to align with the CED’s new topic numbering
- Unit 5
- We renumbered our topics to align with the CED’s new topic numbering
- We added coverage of pleiotropy to correspond with the College Board’s addition of this topic
- Unit 6: No changes required
- Unit 7
- The College Board persists in calling Unit 7 “Natural Selection,” which is simply the wrong title for this unit (because “natural selection” is too narrow). We can’t abide that incorrect title, and we will continue to call Unit 7 “Evolution.”
- The College Board dropped Extinction from Unit 7. We’ve demoted this to be an optional topic within our curriculum.
- We improved and updated our tutorial for Topic 7.11, Variation.
- We updated our topic numbers to correspond to what’s in the 2025 CED.
- Unit 8
- The College Board added biogeochemical cycles to the 2025 CED. This includes the carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle, and phosphorus cycle. We added tutorials about these topics to Topic 8.2, Energy Flow through Ecosystems.”
- Ecological Succession is not mentioned in the College Board’s 2025 AP Bio Course and Exam Description. We’ve demoted it to an optional topic. You can still access it at the preceding link.
- The College Board added Eutrophication and Biomagnification to Topic 8.7, Disruption to Ecosystems. We have created a new tutorial that covers both issues.
- All of our topic numbers were updated to align with topic numbers in the new CED.
Ongoing Work
- Improving our Enhanced FRQs with AI feedback in terms of content (aligning with the 2025 CED) and format (shorter, more focused prompts)
- Implementing Enhanced FRQs in our Unit Reviews (replacing our current, non-interactive FRQs).
- Improving multiple choice questions and flashcards in our AP exam reviews and our Unit Reviews (aligning with the 2025 CED).
Getting ready for the AP Bio exam?
- AP Bio Review Menu (Comprehensive Flashcards, Practice FRQs, Practice Multiple Choice, and Click-On Challenges).
- AP Bio Exam Study Outline
- Try the Click-on Challenges below. They’re the funnest way to review.
- Get the Biomania AP Bio App.
Click-On Challenges
Click-on games, with a timer and a leaderboard. An incredibly fun way to review for the AP Bio exam. They’re even better when played on the Biomania AP Bio app.
- Unit 1: Molecules of Life
- Unit 2: Cells Parts and Functions | Cell Membranes
- Unit 3: Cellular Respiration | Photosynthesis
- Unit 4: Mitosis and Cell Division | Cell Signaling
- Unit 5: Meiosis
- Unit 6: DNA and DNA Replication | Transcription and Translation | Operons | Eukaryotic Gene Regulation
- Unit 7: Evolution
- Unit 8: Ecology
Recommended Readings
- Articles and books to extend your learning.