AP Biology Quiz 1 Review Sheet
This is to be used for REVIEW. It is not all encompassing.
Knowing only what is on this sheet does not guarantee success.
Quiz 1 will cover:
Chapter 1: Overview to section 1.4
***Use the PowerPoint, your notes, textbook figures/bold
words to study (I do not recommend rereading the textbook).
Make sure you cover up the information and ask yourself
questions. Take breaks and repeat to make sure the
information sticks. Do not just memorize…understand.
Anyone can memorize.
1. Describe the hierarchy of life starting from the atom level and ending at the ecosystem
level. You should know the definition and have an example of each level.
2. In class we discussed the concept of emergent properties. Describe this concept in
terms of the hierarchy of life.
3. You should understand each level of the hierarchy and how each level is different from
the others. Ex. Compare and contrast the community level to the population level. How
are these two similar and how are they different?
5. In class we discussed the structure-function relationship. I used the example of a
hammer. Describe this example. Now describe how this relationship relates to living
organisms.
6. Describe the SEVEN characteristics that are common to all life and be sure to give
examples of each. Explain why non-living things can have some of the characteristics,
but living things must have all of them. Give an example of a non-living thing that has at
least four of these characteristics.
7. What is meant by metabolism? Give many examples.
8. Explain the function of a phlyogenetic tree.
9. Recall how to convert numbers between units (see online worksheet).
10. Give one example of natural selection. Explain how it works. What was Darwin’s
contribution to the theory of evolution?
11. What is meant when someone says that an object has “energy”? What can it do if it
has energy??
12. What is a force? There are only four fundamental forces in the universe. Identify
theses forces.
13. The four forces are what give objects energy. Explain. Think about a bowling ball on
a table. It has energy. Why? What force gives it energy?
14. How many microns in a millimeter?
15. What do I mean when I say that humans have a more recent common ancestor with
frogs than with oak trees? Draw a phylogenetic tree that depicts this.
16. Compare and contrast prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Which domains/kingdoms are
each found?
17. Identify the two major groups of bacteria. Why do we split monera into these two
domains? Which group are eukaryotes more similar to and why do we hypothesize this?
Draw a simple phylogenetic tree of the three domains showing eukarya to have a more
recent common ancestor with archae than with eubacteria.
18. Explain how it is that energy flows through ecosystems and chemicals cycle. Give
examples.
19. Explain why we said that energy flows (one-way). Describe, starting from the sun, the
flow of energy to Earth and away from Earth as it passes through life. Make sure you can
explain why the energy in you will likely not be used by my cells in the future, but you
atoms could be used by me.
20. Describe what is meant when we say that chemical nutrients cycle between the
abiotic and the biotic. Give specific examples of nutrients cycling. You will be asked to
describe how an atom somewhere could end up somewhere else as we did in class (i.e. a
carbon in me could find itself being part of your great, great grandkids a hundred years
from now).
21. Identify the two levels of the food chain (web) required by all ecosystems. Explain.
22. Compare the holistic to the reductionist approach to science.
23. Explain the endosymbiotic theory.
24. Compare negative to positive feedback and know biological examples of each.
25. Describe the “madison square garden cell analogy”, which concerns the size of
cells, protein and DNA.
26. Describe the structure and function of DNA.
27. Explain the nucleus is a library analogy.
28. Explain the importance of genetic variation in populations. Explain how bacteria
generate variation while continuing to reproduce asexually. Why must humans use
sexual reproduction to maintain variation?
29. Briefly describe how your blood glucose is lowered back to its homeostatic level
after eating something like chocolate.
30. What is meant by differential gene expression and why is this important in
terms of differentiation of stem cells into adult cells?
31. You should be able to explain how a carbon atom inside you as part of one of
your molecules can find itself being part of a different person next week. Make sure
you include photosynthesis and cell resp as part of your answer. You cannot just say
that one person ate the other…haha.
32. Describe briefly the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics.
33. What is the definition of an organic molecule?
34. Describe the role of enzymes in biological systems. What type of macromolecule
are enzymes? Describe negative feedback in terms of enzymes.
35. Compare homeostasis to equilibrium.
36. What is meant by “survival of the fittest”?
37. Describe cell theory and know the people involved and their general
contribution to the theory.
38. Compare the size of a eukaryotic cell to a prokaryotic cell and a virus. Make sure
you know general sizes and the analogy.
39. Describe the central dogma of molecular biology (DNA  RNA 
polypeptide/protein). Make sure to include the terms DNA, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA,
gene, ribosome, transcribe, translate, amino acids.
40. Compare producers to consumers. What nutritional classes do these two groups
of organisms belong to?
41. Describe how a plant obtains its vitamins like vitamin C.
42. Where does an autotrophs C,N,O,H,P and S come from? What about a
heterotroph?
43. Dry mass of a plant is mostly what element? What is the abiotic reservoir of this
element? In what molecule is it found in this abiotic reservoir.
44. Autotrophs need to do cell respiration just like heterotrophs. Why is this if they
can do photosynthesis/chemosynthesis?
45. ATP fuels what molecules?
46. Make sure you know the organ systems of humans in terms of anatomy
(structure) and physiology (function). Look at all bold red words in powerpoint.
47. Define hormone.
48. Compare excretion to egestion.
49. Define the five methods by which evolution works. Which one was figured out by
Darwin (Charles)?
50. What is a gene?
51. All bold words in assigned sections including those not discussed in class like
bioinformatics, systems biology, etc…
GOOD LUCK, STUDY HARD!! REVIEW WILL BE HELD BEGINNING AT 7AM
TOMORROW MORNING IN ROOM 610.