Review or summary study sheets are classic study instruments for students in biology.
There is so much information that must be assimilated that weeding out the irrelevant and emphasizing core information is essential. Study sheets help you organize material in meaningful ways that are personalized and unique to the way you think.
A good review sheet has:
 A title at the top with the date and your name
 Comprehensive coverage of all information covered on upcoming exam
 Information drawn from notes, labs, handouts, textbooks, relevant assignments and homework (especially graded and returned to you)
 Compartmentalization of topics, lectures, and ideas using blank space, borders, colorcoding, etc.
 Logical placement of subjects (chronological, hierarchical) based on how you think
 Organized by bullets, numbering, indentations, color-coding, linking lines, etc.
 Titles of each section that indicate the subject or lecture in that section
 Detailed information at the level which you are required to know
 Highlighted personal problem areas or concepts that you have trouble remembering
 Examples of how to solve problems (and formulas) if relevant
 Little or no exact questions written out from a study test or quiz; be general
 Neat and clean handwriting, big enough to read, straight lines
 Labeled diagrams, lists, charts if relevant
Unique Prop Living Things
 Highly ordered and complex
 Made of 1 or more cells
 Adapts and evolves as a population
 Uses energy to maintain order
 Grows by adding on new parts using energy
 Responds to environment using energy
 Reproduces by passing DNA to offspring
 Regulates internal environment (homeostasis)
Levels of Complexity - Emergent properties at each level
Atomic>molecular>organelle>cellular>tissue>or gan> organ system> organism> population > community > ecosystem/ biome > biosphere
Classification/Categorizing Life in hierarchical categories
3 Domains: Eubacteria (soil, water, disease bacteria),
Archaea (extreme environ. bact.), Eukarya
(plants, animals, protists, fungi).
Taxon groupings: Domain>Kingdom >Phylum
>Class >Order>Family>
Genus>Species
Species name is Genus + species adjective
Evolutionary Theory - pervades all of science
1. Variation in a population
2. More organisms born than can survive
3. Competition between organisms
4. Differential survival based on traits
5. Reproduction largely from survivors or good competitors
6. Adaptive traits become more common in subsequent generations (descent with modification)
Scientific Method used to objectively gather and weigh evidence: 4 Steps
1. Observations (can use microscope, etc.)
2. Hypotheses (tentative, predictive, and testable statements)
 Formed by inductive reasoning
 Includes 2 variables: indept., dependent
 Eg. The bigger the X, the lighter the Y; size is indpt.; color is dept. variables
3. Experimentation (multiple trials and controlled (constant) variables
4. Conclusion (Eval. hypos based on data)
 Formed by deductive reasoning
 Can only support or reject hypos

Well-tested hypos become theories (gen'l models for how things work