Biology Semester One Final Study Guide
These are the topics that you could be assessed upon on the final. Please review your notes, the
textbook, labs and assignments from these topics as needed. Remember I am available before and after
school and you have an hour on the days of finals before class for extra review time!
Science Skills
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Observations vs. inferences
Controlled experiments
o Identify independent variables, dependent variables
o Hypothesis
Be able to interpret graphs pertaining to a variety of content that we have covered this
semester
Microscope Use
o How to determine total magnification, prepare a wet mount slide, properly focus, etc.
Characteristics of Life
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Review the characteristics of life
o Know the key terms associated with these (i.e. metabolism, homeostasis)
Macromolecules
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Know the four key macromolecules and their functions
o Identify which macromolecules are made of monomers and identify the monomers (i.e.
amino acids are monomers that form a larger polymer-a protein!)
Enzymes
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What they are, how they work, how different conditions (pH, temperature) change their activity.
o Look through your flip book and understand the roles of the following: substrates,
active site, enzyme, product, lock and key fit, activation energy
Understand their role in living things
Acids and Bases
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Characteristics of Acids and Bases
pH scale and what numbers represent acids and bases (and strong acids and bases) respectively
Ecology
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Food webs and food chains.
o Label types of organisms (producers, consumers, decomposers, omnivores, etc.)
o Predict what might happen if an organism is removed
Three types of ecological pyramids and what they show
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Key terms for describing organisms in the tropic levels (autotrophs, primary producers,
primary consumers, heterotrophs, etc.)
o 10 percent rule with energy pyramids
Nitrogen, Carbon and Water Cycles
Abiotic and Biotic Factors
o How they interact with one another in an ecosystem
o Different levels of ecological organization and how biotic and abiotic factors play a role
in these levels
o Role of decomposers in an ecosystem
o How changing or removing an abiotic or biotic factor might change an ecosystem or
food web
Types of symbiosis
Primary and Secondary Succession
o Differences
o Identify stages of either type of succession
o What causes a change in types of organisms found in an ecosystem throughout the
various stages of succession?
Population Growth
o Logistic growth, exponential growth, carrying capacity, limiting factors
 Be able to interpret graphs of a population over time
o Factors that affect population size (including limiting factors, emigration, immigration,
birth rate, death rate, etc.)
Niches and Competitive Exclusion Principle
Cells
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Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic Cells
Plant vs. Animal Cells
Functions of major organelles: Nucleus, chloroplast and cell membrane
EOC Application Problems (like the Ebola Assignment)
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Identify possible solutions to a problem
Identify constraints to solving the problem and explain why they are limitations
List unintended consequences of possible solutions