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2022 AP Environmental Science Exam Guide

10 min read•december 22, 2021

AP Environmental Science ♻️

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Your Guide to the 2022 AP Environmental Science Exam

We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We have created a study plan that will help you crush your environmental science exam. We will continue to update this guide with more information about the 2022 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you score that 5. Create a Fiveable account and join Hours 🤝 to stay involved in all things AP exams! 😁

Format of the 2022 AP Environmental Science Exam

This year, all AP exams will cover all units and essay types. The 2022 Environmental Science exam format will be:

Section 1: Multiple Choice

80 questions in 1 hr 30 mins
60% of exam score
This includes individual questions as well as sets of questions that refer to the same stimulus.
3-4 sets of questions will include quantitative data, such as data tables, charts, or graphs.
3-4 sets of questions will include qualitative data/information, such as models, representations, or maps.
2 sets of questions will include text-based sources.

Section 2: Free Response

3 questions in 1 hr 10 mins
40% of exam score
1 question in which you’ll design an investigation
2 questions which will ask you to analyze an environmental problem and propose a solution, one of which will require performing calculations.

Check out our study plan below to find resources and tools to prepare for your AP Environmental Science exam.

When is the 2022 AP Environmental Science exam and how do I take it?

The exam is on paper and in school.

The exam will be given on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at 8 AM, your local time.

How should I prepare for the exam?

We’ve put together this plan to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam. Join Hours 🤝to talk to real students just like you studying for this exam!

Pre-work: Set up your study environment

Before we begin, take some time to get organized. Remote learning can be great, but it also means you’ll need to hold yourself accountable more than usual.

Create a study space.

Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space.

Organize your study materials.

Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get yourself set up!

Plan designated times for studying.

The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.

Decide on an accountability plan.

How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!

Get support from your peers.

There are thousands of students all over the world who are preparing for their AP exams just like you! Join Hours 🤝to chat, ask questions, and meet other students who are also studying for the spring exams. You can even build study groups and review material together!

AP Environmental Science 2022 Study Plan

Unit 1: The Living World: Ecosystems

Big takeaways:

The first unit sets up the rest of the course. It is a refresher of ecology topics learned in biology. If you have not taken biology yet, no worries. Here you will learn how species interactions are affected by various ecosystem resources, the global distribution of biomes, biogeochemical cycles, and energy transfers within food webs and chains.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomes: climate, soil, flora, and fauna
Biogeochemical Cycles: Comparing different types of maps
Energy Transfer in the Ecosystem: trophic levels, 10% Rule

📰 Check out these articles:

Everything Returns to Carbon (New York Times)

✍️ Practice:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Missouri Botanical Garden - Biomes
🎮 Can you build a marine food web? Play this game! (requires Flash)

Unit 2: The Living World: Biodiversity

Big takeaways:

This unit investigates the different forms of diversity and how that diversity is essential for ecosystems. Then it presents the impacts of ecosystems from both human and natural disturbances. The unit concludes by looking at organisms’ adaptations for survival due to the disturbances.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Island Biogeography how islands affect population size
Adaptations and Ecological Succession: organisms change due to environmental changes, terrestrial and aquatic succession
Why is biodiversity so important? (TED-Ed), three forms of biodiversity, integration in ecosystem survival in the face of change

📰 Check out these articles:

Ecological Succession (Fiveable)
Ecosystem Services (Fiveable)
Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems (Fiveable)
Island Biogeography, K-/r- species (Fiveable)
Ecological Tolerance (Fiveable)

Resources:

Island Biogeography

Adaptations and Ecological Succession

2.7 Ecological Succession

2.2 Ecosystem Services

2.5 Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems

2.3 Island Biogeography

2.4 Ecological Tolerance

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Why is Earth so biologically diverse? Mountains hold the answer Science Daily
🎮 Play this game! (HTML5) Work through either primary or secondary succession, try the quiz at the end
📰 Surprising Changes Will Affect Biodiversity in 2019 (Scientific American)

Unit 3: Populations

Big takeaways:

This unit discusses the different population dynamics within an ecosystem. First is a look at the species being a generalist vs. specialist and K- vs. r-. This is followed by how resource availability affects population grow and how that looks graphically. This unit finishes with human population dynamics and the four demographic transitions.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Generalist/Specialist and K-/r- species reproductive and survivorship strategies
Carrying Capacity: factors that affect population growth, different growth curves
Age Structure Diagrams: TFR, growth patterns, Replacement Level Fertility
Demographic Transition Model
Population Pyramids (TED-Ed), graphical population structures, predictions

📰 Check out these articles:

Surprising Changes Will Affect Biodiversity in 2019 (Scientific American)

✍️ Practice:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Why is Earth so biologically diverse? Mountains hold the answer Science Daily
🎮 Play this game! (HTML5) Work through either primary or secondary succession, try the quiz at the end
📺 Hans Rosling - Global Population Growth (TED-Ed), based on the demographic transition
🎮 Play this game! (Quizlet) Human Population Growth formulas

Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources

Big takeaways:

This unit discusses the abiotic factors that influence life. Earth’s massive plates and their movements show that our planet is still changing. Soils also influence the type of life in an area from the topsoil to the bedrock. Atmospheric movements influence weather patterns and ocean currents.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Earth's Seasons and Climate seasons, El Nino, rain shadow effect
Earth's Atmosphere and Global Wind Patterns: atmosphere composition, Hadley Cells, Coriolis Effect
Soil Composition what makes soil, differences in biomes
Plate Tectonics (Bozeman), plate boundary types, volcanoes, earthquakes

📰 Check out these articles:

Global Wind Patterns (Fiveable)
Solar Radiation and Earth's Seasons (Fiveable)
Tectonic Plates (Fiveable)
Soil Composition and Properties
Earth's Atmosphere

✍️ Practice:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 What are El Niño and La Niña? (NOAA)
📺 Do Toilets Really Flush the Opposite Way in the Southern Hemisphere? (SLATE)
🎮 Try this activity! Have a little fun making your own plate boundaries with graham crackers

Unit 5: Land and Water Use

Big takeaways:

This unit looks at how humans use the land and waters. This entails the harvesting of crops, meat, and fish along with the effects of harvesting on the land and water. The effects of overfishing, mining, and urbanization are also discussed. Lastly, this unit looks into your ecological footprint and sustainable practices.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Fishing Practices, Tragedy of the Commons, types of fishing, impacts of overfishing
Agricultural Practices II, clear-cutting, Green Revolution, impacts of agriculture
Agricultural Practices III irrigation, pest control, meat production
Mining (Bozeman), mining, environmental impacts of mining
Integrated Pest Management (YouTube)
Sustainability (YouTube)

📰 Check out these articles:

The Tragedy of the Commons (Fiveable)
Irrigation Methods (Fiveable)
Clearcutting (Fiveable)
Pest Control Methods (Fiveable)
The Green Revolution (Fiveable)
Impacts of Overfishing (Fiveable)

✍️ Practice:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Effects of Fishing for Wild Seafood (Monterey Bay Aquarium)
🌆 What is Urbanization? (Conserve Energy Future)
🎮 Try this activity! Calculate your ecological footprint

Unit 6: Energy Resources and Consumption

Big takeaways:

Energy is either renewable or nonrenewable. Both types have impacts on the land, water, or air. Different areas of the world have different energy needs and availability. Conserving energy and finding efficient alternatives will extend the supply of our nonrenewable energy sources.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Renewable Energy I solar energy, wind energy, conservation
Renewable Energy II nuclear, geothermal, hydroelectric, hydrogen fuel cell
Fossil Fuels, crude oil, coal, natural gas, fracking, energy distribution
Global Energy Consumption global energy distribution, conservation, calculations

📰 Check out these articles:

Fossil Fuels (EESI)
How Has Fracking Changed Our Future? (NAtional Geographic)
Dakota Access Pipeline: Top 3 Pros and Cons (ProCon.org)
What is Energy Conservation? (Conserve Energy Future)

✍️ Practice + Watch:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Pollinator-Friendly Solar Installations Benefit Wildlife, Farmers, Climate (EESI)
🎮 Try this activity! Energy Conservation Quizlet

Unit 7: Atmospheric Pollution

Big takeaways:

Atmospheric pollution has both natural and anthropogenic sources. Air pollution affects the health of an ecosystem and may harm humans. Many businesses are required by law to remove certain chemicals before releasing wastes into the atmosphere.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

Air Pollution, fossil fuel combustion, smog, thermal inversion, Clean Air Act, scrubbers
Photochemical Smog formation process, causes, catalytic converter
Primary vs Secondary Pollutants sources of air pollution

📰 Check out these articles:

Air pollution, explained (National Geographic)
CO2 Levels historic and current

✍️ Practice + Watch:

Air Pollution

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

Premature mortality related to United States cross-state air pollution (Nature)
🎮 Try this game! APES: Air Pollution (Quizlet)

Unit 8: Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution

Big takeaways:

Pollution created by human activities directly impacts ecosystems in the air, on land, and in water. The source of pollution can be easy to identify, but other times the source is diffused. We’ll learn how to evaluate data related to pollution and explain concepts related to the different types of pollution that impact land and water. Legislation has been created to reduce discharges of pollution in water and regulate drinking water.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

📰 Check out these articles:

✍️ Practice:

Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution MCQs

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

💎 Microplastic Pollution
🎮 Try this activity! Aquatic and Terrestrial Pollution (Quizlet)

Unit 9: Global Change

Big takeaways:

In this unit, we’ll look at how the actions of humans can have global impacts. We explore cases of countries having great success in preservation of Earth’s natural resources, but also times when humans have directly resulted in irreparable harm. Some topics we’ll learn about include global climate change, alteration of the ocean’s temperature and pH, and loss of biodiversity.

Definitely do this: