AP Biology
In 2021, AP Biology is offered online on 2 dates:
- Primary Test Date: Monday May 18th 2020, 6:00 PM EDT
- Makeup Offering: Wednesday June 3rd 2020, 8:00 PM EDT
- Score Release Date: July 2021
Student's Choice Study Book:
2021 Test Information and Resources
Jump to a resource:
- AP Biology: Details
- AP Biology: Units Covered
- AP Biology: Questions
- AP Biology: Study Guides & Resources
- Academic Integrity
Test Details
The AP Biology exam will consist of 2 online free response questions. The total time for the exam will be 45 minutes. The test is open note and open book. Read more about the College Board's academic integrity policy.
Time on the exam will be divided between two questions. Each question will have a 5 minute upload period for students to submit their work. After a student submits their work for the first question, they will not be able to return back to it.
Units Covered
The units covered on the 2021 AP Biology exam will be adjusted to encourage fairness amongst students who have missed varying levels of school due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Units covered: Units 1–6
Units not covered: Units 7–8
Test Questions
Interpreting and Evaluating Experimental Results
Question #1
Time: 25 minutes
Weight: 65%
Question 1 presents students with an authentic scenario accompanied by data in a table and/or graph. This question assesses students’ ability to do the following:
- Describe and explain biological concepts, processes, or models, in applied context
- Identify and justify experimental design procedures
- Analyze data
- Make and justify predictions
Conceptual Analysis
Question #2
Time: 15 minutes
Weight: 35%
Question 2 presents students with an authentic scenario describing a biological phenomenon with a disruption. This question assesses students’ ability to do the following:
- Describe biological concepts or processes, in applied context
- Explain biological concepts or processes, in applied context
- Predict the causes or effects of a change in a biological system
- Support or justify a claim with reasoning or evidence
AP Biology: Popular Resources
- Collegeboard Lesson Notes - Notes on all the Collegeboard provided AP Biology videos. Not i…
- AP Bio FRQ Tips - These FRQ tips are made specifically for the 2020 online AP Bio…
Academic Integrity
College Board is taking a strong stance against cheating on the 2021 online Biology test. The following anti-cheating measures will be deployed on testing day to prevent cheating amongst students:
- Submitted work will be run through plaigarism detection tools (similar to TurnItIn)
- College Board will watch online resources looking for collaboration amongst students (shared Google Documents, Discord groups, internet forums)
- Teachers will review the student's submitted work and are encouraged to inform the College Board if the work looks different than what a student normally produces.
- College Board will use additional unreleased heuristics to determine whether or not students have cheated in any way.
Students found violating the academic integrity policy will suffer severe consequences, including:
- If found cheating, test scores will be cancelled.
- If found distributing exam content or exam responses, or found coordinating effors to distribute exam content or responses, the student will will be blocked from testing and their scores will be cancelled.
- Students found in violation of any academic integrity violations will have their high school notified of the violation, and action can be taken accordingly at the high school level.
- Additionally, any organization the student has sent or will send College Board score reports to will be notified of the academic integrity policy violation.
- Students who violate the policy will further be barred from taking any additional College Board exams such as the SAT or AP tests.
- In certain situations, College Board will include local law enforcement to determine if prosecution of the student is possible.
- If you have knowledge of online cheating occuring, please notify the College Board. Reports are anonymous and can be made online.