Biology 1st Semester Exam Review
General Information
 It will be entirely multiple choice questions. Make sure you answer every question.
 You may use a note sheet that is one side of 8x11 sheet of paper
o This must be handwritten notes and diagrams. NO photocopies are allowed.
 You must stay in the room for the entire time (no early release and no bathroom breaks) so take
care of necessities before you come in.
Study tips
 Be sure you know all of the material on the review. Write information on the topics that are
giving you the most difficulty on your notesheet first.
 Look over your notes and handouts of the concepts listed below
 Look over the summary for each of the chapters covered
 Go over your old tests, particularly the questions that you missed the first time
 Get a study partner to quiz you over the material
Topics
Chapter 2: The Science of Biology:
1. Describe parts of an experiment (scientific method) and give an example
2. Describe a hypothesis and its purpose in an experiment
3. Compare quantitative and qualitative data
4. Distinguish between observations and inferences
5. Describe a variable in an experiment.
6. Discuss the purpose of a control group in an experiment.
Chapter 4: Chemical Basis of Life:
1. List the most common elements in living thing.
2. Be able to compare and contrast elements and compounds.
3. Describe the structure of an atom.
4. What is an isotope and how can it be used to study biological processes.
5. Describe the electron arrangements of atoms and how this affects the type and number of
bonds the atom will form
6. Describe an ionic bond. Give examples.
7. Describe a covalent bond. Give examples.
8. Be able to determine if the structural formula of a molecule is correctly drawn, based on the
correct number of bonds that carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen would form
Chapter 5: The Molecules of Life:
1. Describe monomer, polymer and be able to relate them to biology and macromolecules
2. Describe the processes of building and breaking polymers.
3. List the types of carbohydrates
4. Know what a disaccharide is and how disaccharides are formed.
5. Name the polysaccharides starch, glycogen and cellulose and describe their functions.
6. Identify a general characteristic of lipids..
7. Distinguish between hydrophobic and hydrophilic
8. Describe why some fats are saturated.
9. Describe why some fats are unsaturated.
10. List functions of proteins.
11. Describe the structure of amino acids and proteins..
12. Describe what a polypeptide is and what its smaller unit is.
13. Be able to identify amino acids, monosaccharides, polysaccharides, proteins, and fats by
their structural formulas
14. Know what an enzyme is and how it functions.
15. Know what activation energy is and how an enzyme affects it
Chapter 29: Nutrition and Digestion:
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List the organs that food passes through as it goes through the digestive tract
Describe what happens within the oral cavity, including any enzymes and what they digest
Describe the process that moves food through the esophagus (and also through the intestines)
Describe the functions of the secretions of the stomach.
Describe the environment (in terms of pH) of the stomach and small intestines. What molecules
are responsible.
What enzymes are produced by the pancreas, what these digest, and where they have their
effect.
What are the functions of the liver and gall bladder
Describe the 2 main functions of the small intestine.
Explain how the structure of the small intestine promotes nutrient absorption.
Describe the structures and functions of the colon and rectum. Explain the role of bacteria here
Chapter 6: Tour of the Cell:
11. Distinguish between the structures found in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
12. Compare the structures of plant and animal cells.
13. Describe the structure and functions of the nucleus, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum,
Golgi apparatus, vesicles, lysosomes, and vacuoles.
14. Compare the structures and functions of chloroplasts and mitochondria.
15. Describe the function of centrioles and the cytoskeleton
16. Describe the function of plant cell walls
17. Describe the structure of cell membranes.
18. Define diffusion and describe the process of passive transport.
19. Explain what osmosis is
20. Distinguish between hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic solutions.
21. Explain how animal and plants cells change when placed into hypertonic or hypotonic solutions.
22. Explain how transport proteins are involved in facilitated diffusion.
23. Compare the processes of facilitated diffusion and active transport in terms of concentration
gradients
24. Distinguish between exocytosis and endocytosis
Chapter 7: The Working Cell: Energy from Food
1. Compare and contrast how autotroph and heterotrophs obtain food.
2. Describe kinetic, potential energy and identify which one chemical energy is
3. Describe the structure of ATP and how it stores energy. Be sure to include all the parts
of an ATP molecule.
4. Describe the ATP cycle (include ATP, ADP )
5. Describe (in general) what is happening in cellular respiration (why is it necessary)
6. Identify the 3 stages of cellular respiration and the order in which they occur
7. Identify where in the cell (or the part of the mitochondria) that each stage of cellular
respiration occurs.
8. Know the overall equation for cellular respiration and which are reactants and which are
products
9. identify what is produced during glycolysis
10. Identify what is produced during the Krebs cycle
11. Know what enters the Krebs cycle.
12. Describe how ATP is produced from the electron transport chain
13. Know in which part of cellular respiration the most molecules of ATP are produced.
14. Distinguish between aerobic and anaerobic processes
15. Describe the 2 types of fermentation. Include how much ATP is produced, aerobic or
anaerobic, products made, and what part of respiration is utilized
Chapter 8: The Working Cell: Energy from Sunlight:
1. Write the equation for photosynthesis and be able to identify the products and
reactants
2. Know the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration. (think in terms
of products and reactants of each)
3. Know the structure of a chloroplast.
4. Describe structure of a leaf and the functions for the parts (epidermis, stoma, mesophyll,
veins)
5. What are the two parts of photosynthesis and where in the chloroplast they occur
6. What energy conversion occurs during the light reactions
7. List what is used and what is produced in the light reactions
8. Explain what happens as water is split in the light reactions
9. Explain the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis. Include what is used and what is produced
10. Know the relationship between light dependant stage and the Calvin cycle.
11. What are pigments and what is the main photosynthetic pigment
12. What part of photosynthesis requires pigments to function
Chapter 28 – The Nervous System
1. Describe the basic function of the nervous system
2. Identify the structures in the Central Nervous System (CNS). And what its function is
3. identify the structures in the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).
4. distinguish between the sensory and motor divisions
5. Distinguish between the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions
6. Describe the basic structure of a neuron.
7. describe the direction that a neuron takes as it travels along a neuron
8. Describe how a nerve signal begins, travels and crosses synapses.
9. Identify the main parts of the brain and their functions.