AP Biology Midterm Review Sheet
The midterm exam will focus on chapters 1-10, 12-17, 19, 20, 27.2, and any
assigned portions of chapters 18 and 21. The exam will include true/false, multiple
choice, vocab identification, genetics problems, and essays. Exact format details
will be provided during review days in January. Be aware that we will be working
on new material when we get back from break, and completing the bacteria
transformation lab! The exam is scheduled for Friday 1/17 at 8 AM and will last
two hours. It is worth 20% of the 1st semester grade.
To study for this exam, I would highly recommend reviewing each chapter
carefully and consulting your notes. While your student study guide outlines the
chapters well and is a good reference, be sure to look at your textbook and
notebook to get detailed information, and at the Campbell website for extra
practice. The AP exam itself is very detailed so it is always best to know the
textbook material as well as you can. Pay particular attention to bold-face terms,
which highlight important concepts, and the chapter review, which re-emphasizes
main ideas. The diagrams in the text are also good at helping you visualize
complicated processes.
For those who would like to get a jump-start on preparing for the midterm
examination, there are review questions for all of the assigned chapters on Net
Classroom.
Merry Christmas!!!!!
I. Introduction & The Chemistry of Life
Chapter 1 – Introduction: Themes in the Study of Life
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What are the unifying themes that pervade the science of biology?
What is the hierarchy of structural levels in biology?
How do properties of life emerge from complex organization?
What are several emergent properties associated with life?
What is the difference between holism and reductionism?
How did technological breakthroughs contribute to our knowledge of cell theory?
What are basic differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
What is meant by the phrase “form fits function”?
What are the five kingdoms of life, and what are some characteristics of each?
How did Charles Darwin’s ideas contribute to biology’s conceptual framework?
What is the scientific method?
What are the features of a controlled experiment?
What are the differences between inductive and deductive reasoning?
How are science and technology interdependent?
Chapter 2 – The Chemical Context of Life
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What are elements and compounds?
What four elements essential to life make up 96% of living matter?
What is the structure of an atom?
What are atomic mass, atomic number, atomic weight, and valence?
How can the number of neutrons be found given the atomic and mass number?
Why are radioisotopes important to biologists?
How does electron configuration influence chemical behavior of an atom?
What is the octet rule and how is it useful?
Why are the noble gases so unreactive?
What is electronegativity and how does it influence the formation of bonds?
What are the differences between polar, non-polar, and ionic bonds?
How does a hydrogen bond form, and how does it differ from a covalent or ionic bond?
Why are weak bonds important to living organisms?
How do the concentrations of reactants and products affect a chemical reaction?
Chapter 3 –Water and the Fitness of the Environment
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How does water contribute to the fitness of the environment to support life?
What is the structure and geometry of a water molecule?
How is water able to form hydrogen bonds?
What are several characteristics of water that result from hydrogen bonding?
How is the cohesiveness of water important biologically?
What is the difference between heat and temperature?
How do water’s high specific heat capacity, high heat of vaporization, and expansion upon
freezing affect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems?
H. How does the polarity of the water molecule make it a versatile solvent?
I. What is molarity, and why is it advantageous to measure quantities in moles?
J. What is the equation for the disassociation of water, and what is actually transferred from
one molecule to another?
K. What is the pH scale?
L. How do acids and bases directly or indirectly affect hydrogen ion concentration?
M. What is a buffer and how does a buffering system work?
N. What causes acid rain, and how does acid rain adversely affect environmental fitness?
Chapter 4 – Carbon and the Molecular Diversity of Life
A. What are the philosophies of vitalism and mechanism, and how did they influence the
development of organic chemistry?
B. Why is carbon such a versatile building block of molecules?
C. In what ways can carbon skeletons vary?
D. How does variation in carbon skeletons contribute to the diversity of organic molecules?
E. What are the three types of isomers and what are the differences between them?
F. What are the major functional groups, and what are the chemical properties of organic
molecules in which they occur?
Chapter 5 -- The Structure and Function of Macromolecules
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What are the four major classes of biomolecules?
How do organic polymers contribute to biological diversity?
How are covalent linkages formed and broken in organic polymers?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of carbohydrates, and how are they classified?
What are the characteristics of a sugar?
What is a glycosidic linkage and how is it formed?
What are the important biological functions of polysaccharides?
What is the difference between the glycosidic linkages in starch and glucose, and why is this
difference biologically important?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of lipids?
What are three groups of lipids, and what are the unique properties, building blocks, and
biological significance of each group?
What is an ester linkage and how is it formed?
What are the differences between saturated and unsaturated fats?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of proteins, and what are the biologically
important functions of this group?
What are the four major components of an amino acid?
How may amino acids be grouped?
What is a peptide bond and how is it formed?
What determines protein conformation and why is conformation important?
What is primary structure, and how may it be deduced in the laboratory?
What are the two kinds of secondary structure, and how do hydrogen bonds play a role?
What factors contribute to tertiary protein structure?
What is denaturation and how may it occur?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of nucleic acids?
What are the functions of nucleic acids?
What are the major components of a nucleotide, and how are monomers linked together to
form a nucleic acid?
What are the differences between pyrimidines and purines?
What is the three-dimensional structure of DNA?
Chapter 6 – An Introduction to Metabolism
A. What are the roles of catabolic and anabolic pathways in cellular metabolism?
B. What are the differences between kinetic and potential energy?
C. What are the differences between open and closed systems?
D. What are the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics?
E. Why are complex organisms not a violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics?
F. What are the differences between entropy and enthalpy, and what equation links these two
properties to Gibbs free energy?
G. How can changes in enthalpy, entropy, and temperature influence the maximum amount of
energy that can be harvested from a reaction?
H. What is the usefulness of free energy?
I. What two major factors are capable of driving spontaneous processes?
J. What are the differences between exergonic and endergonic reactions?
K. What is the relationship between equilibrium and free energy change for a reaction?
L. What are the components of the ATP molecule and how does it function in a cell?
M. Why is chemical disequilibrium essential for life?
N. What do the energy profiles of exergonic and endergonic reactions look like?
O. What is the function of enzymes in biological systems?
P. What is the relationship between enzyme structure and enzyme specificity?
Q. What is the “induced fit” model of enzyme function?
R. What are several mechanisms by which enzymes lower activation energy?
S. How does substrate concentration affect the rate of enzyme-controlled reactions?
T. What are four factors that can affect the activity of an enzyme?
U. What are the differences between competitive and non-competitive inhibition?
V. What are the differences between feedback inhibition and cooperativity?
II. Cellular Structure
Chapter 7 – A Tour of The Cell
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What techniques are used to study cell structure and function?
What is the difference between magnification and resolving power?
What are three types of microscopes and how do they function?
What are the advantages and limitations of the three kinds of microscopes?
What are the major steps of cell fractionation, and why is it a useful technique?
What are the differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
Why are there upper and lower limits to cell size?
Why is compartmentalization important in eukaryotic cells?
What is the structure and function of the nucleus, and how does it control protein synthesis
in the cytoplasm?
What is the structure and function of a eukaryotic ribiosome?
What are the components of the endomembrane system?
How are rough and smooth ER different structurally and functionally?
What is the structure and function of the Golgi apparatus?
How does impaired lysosomal function negatively affect a cell?
What are the roles of vacuoles and how do their functions differ?
What are the roles of peroxisomes in eukaryotic cells?
What are the roles of mitochondria in eukaryotic cells?
What is the structure of mitochondria, and how is compartmentalization important in their
function?
What are the differences between amyloplasts, chromoplasts, and chloroplasts?
What is the structure of chloroplasts, and how is compartmentalization important in their
function?
What are the probable functions of the cytoskeleton?
V. Of what are mictotubules, microfilaments, and intermediate filaments composed, and what is
each’s function in the cell?
W. What are cilia and flagella?
X. What is the structure of a plant cell wall?
Y. What is the structure and function of the extracellular matrix in animal cells?
Z. What are four types of intercellular junctions?
Chapter 8 – Membrane Structure and Function
A. What is the function of the plasma membrane?
B. How did early experimental evidence allow scientists to make deductions about membrane
structure and function?
C. How did the Davson-Danielli model describe membrane structure?
D. What contributions did Robertson, Singer, and Nicolson make in clarifying membrane
structure?
E. What is the current model of the plasma membrane?
F. How is membrane fluidity affected by membrane composition?
G. How do hydrophobic interactions determine membrane structure and function?
H. How are proteins spatially arranged in the cell membrane and how do they contribute to
membrane function?
I. What factors affect the selective permeability of membranes?
J. What is diffusion, what causes it, and why is it a spontaneous process?
K. What regulates the rate of passive transport?
L. How does a concentration gradient across a membrane represent potential energy?
M. What is osmosis, and how can the direction of water movement be predicted based upon
difference in solute concentration?
N. What are hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic solutions, and how can they be distinguished?
O. How do living cells with and without walls regulate water balance?
P. How are transport proteins similar to enzymes?
Q. What is facilitated diffusion and what is one model for it?
R. How does active transport differ from diffusion?
S. What mechanisms can generate a membrane potential or electrochemical gradient?
T. How can potential energy generated by gradients be harvested by the cell and used to
transport substances across the membrane?
U. What are three mechanisms cells use to transport large molecules across a membrane?
V. What is an example of receptor-mediated endocytosis?
III. Cellular Function
Chapter 9 – Cellular Respiration: Harvesting Chemical Energy
A. How does energy flow through the biosphere?
B. What is the overall summary equation for cellular respiration?
C. What is the difference between substrate-level phosphorylation and oxidative
phosphorylation?
D. How is the exergonic oxidation of glucose coupled to the endergonic synthesis of ATP?
E. What is the difference between oxidation and reduction?
F. How are redox reactions involved in energy exchanges?
G. What is the role of ATP in coupled reactions?
H. What are the three metabolic stages of respiration?
I. Why is ATP required for the preparatory stages of glycolysis?
J. Where does glycolysis occur in the cell?
K. How does the carbon skeleton of glucose change as it proceeds through each stage of
glycolysis?
L. Where in glycolysis do sugar oxidation, substrate-level phosphorylation, and reduction of
coenzymes occur?
M. What is the summary equation for glycolysis?
N. Where in the cell is pyruvate converted to acetyl CoA, and how does this step link glycolysis
to the Krebs cycle?
O. Where does the Krebs cycle occur in the cell?
P. What are the steps of the Krebs cycle?
Q. What molecules are produced in each “turn” of the Krebs wheel?
R. At what point during respiration is glucose completely oxidized?
S. What is the process of chemiosmosis, and in respiration, where does this process occur?
T. How is the slide of electrons down the transport chain coupled to the production of ATP?
U. What is the net ATP yield from the oxidation of a glucose molecule?
V. What are two ways cells can produce ATP in the absence of oxygen?
W. What are the fates of pyruvate, and how many ATP are produced by the above two
processes?
X. Why is fermentation necessary?
Y. How is catabolism a versatile process?
Z. How is ATP production controlled by the cell?
Chapter 10 – Photosynthesis
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What are the differences between autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition?
What are the differences between photosynthetic and chemosynthetic autotrophs?
What is the structure and of the chloroplast and where is it found?
How does chloroplast structure relate to its function?
What is the summary equation for photosynthesis?
What are the two major processes of photosynthesis?
What is the range of wavelengths for visible light?
What is the difference between an action and an absorption spectrum?
Why does the absorption spectrum for chlorophyll differ from the action spectrum for
photosynthesis?
What wavelengths of light are most and least effective for photosynthesis?
What happens when a chlorophyll or accessory pigment molecule absorbs photons?
What are the main components of a photosystem, and what are their functions?
What are the steps of electron flow through photosystems I and II?
How do cyclic and noncyclic electron flow differ, and what is the relationship between these
two components of the light reactions?
Where do the light reactions occur in the cell, and what is the summary equation for these
reactions?
What are important differences in chemiosmosis between oxidative phosphorylation in
mitochondria and photophosporylation in chloroplasts?
What are the steps of the Calvin cycle, and what are ATP’s and NADPH’s roles in it?
What happens to rubisco when the oxygen concentration is much higher than carbon dioxide
concentration?
What is photorespiration and what are its major consequences?
What are two important photosynthetic adaptations that minimize photorespiration?
What are the fates of the products of photosynthesis?
IV. Classical Genetics
Chapter 12 – The Cell Cycle
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How is the genome organized structurally?
What are the differences between somatic and gametic cells?
How does chromosome number change throughout the human life cycle?
What are the phases of the cell cycle, and what events occur during each phase?
What are the steps of mitosis, and what occurs during each phase?
What is the spindle apparatus, what molecules comprise it, and what is its function in
mitosis?
What model explains how chromosomes retract during anaphase?
What is cytokinsesis and how does it differ in plant and animal cells?
How do prokaryotic cells divide, and how might this process have evolved into mitosis?
What are the roles of checkpoints, cyclin, Cdk, and MPF in the cell-cycle control system?
What internal and external factors influence the cell-cycle control system?
How does cancerous cell division differ from normal cell division?
Chapter 13 – Meiosis and Sexual Life Cycles
A. Why do offspring more closely resemble their parents than unrelated individuals of the same
species?
B. What are the differences between sexual and asexual reproduction?
C. What are the differences between haploid and diploid cells, and which cells in the human
body are haploid?
D. Where in the human body do mitosis and meiosis occur?
E. What are the products of mitosis and meiosis?
F. What are the phases of meiosis I and meiosis II, and what events characterize each phase?
G. What is the process of synapsis, and how does genetic recombination occur?
H. What are the key differences between mitosis and meiosis?
I. How do independent assortment, crossing over, and random fertilization contribute to
genetic variation?
J. Why is inheritable variation crucial to Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Chapter 14 – Mendel and the Gene Idea
A. What was the favored model of heredity in the 19th century prior to Mendel, and how was
this model inconsistent with observations?
B. How is Mendel’s hypothesis of inheritance different from the blending model?
C. What are four components of Mendel’s hypothesis that led him to deduce the law of
segregation?
D. What did Mendel’s law of segregation state?
E. What is a Punnett Square and how may it be used to predict the results (genotype and
phenotype) of a cross involving one or two traits?
F. What are the differences between genotype and phenotype; heterozygous and
homozygous; and dominant and recessive?
G. How can a test cross can be made to determine if a phenotype is dominant or recessive?
H. What is a “random event”, and why is it significant that allele separation during meiosis and
fusion of gametes at fertilization are random events?
I. How are the the laws of multiplication and addition used in calculating probabilities?
J. What is an example of incomplete dominance, and why isn’t it proof of the blending theory
of inheritance?
K. How is the phenotypic expression of a heterozygote affected by complete dominance,
incomplete dominance, and codominance?
L. What is the manner in which blood type is determined?
M. What is pleiotropy and what is an example of it?
N. What is epistasis and how can it alter expected phenotypic ratios?
O. Why are a few examples of polygenic characters?
P. How can the environment affect the phenotypic expression of a character?
Q. How can a family pedigree be used to determine the genotypes of family members?
V. Molecular Genetics
Chapter 15 – The Chromosomal Basis of Inheritance
A. What are the contributions that Thomas Morgan made to the chromosomal theory of
inheritance?
B. What was Morgan’s system of naming dominant and recessive genes, and how did it differ
from Mendel’s?
C. What is linkage and how does it differ from independent assortment?
D. What are the differences between parental and recombinant phenotypes?
E. How may crossing over occur?
F. How may recombination frequencies be found, and how may they be used to construct a
map of genes along a chromosome?
G. How is a human’s sex determined?
H. What are sex-linked traits, and how may such a trait be inherited (according to Mendel)?
I. Why are recessive sex-linked genes always expressed in human males?
J. What are the differences between aneuploidy, nondisjunction, and polyploidy, and how may
these situations arise?
K. What is the difference between trisomy and triploidy?
L. What are four errors that are caused by alteration of chromosome structure?
M. What kind of chromosomal alterations give rise to the following human disorders: Down’s
Syndrome, Klinefelter Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, Triple-X Syndrome?
Chapter 16 – The Molecular Basis of Inheritance
A. Why did scientists initially think that protein was the genetic material?
B. How did these scientists contribute to the discovery of DNA’s structure and function in the
cell: Griffith, Avery, Hershey and Chase, Chargaff, Franklin, Watson & Crick?
C. What are the three components of a nucleotide?
D. What is the difference between deoxyribose and ribose?
E. What are the nitrogen bases found in DNA, and are they pyrimidine or purine?
F. What evidence did Watson and Crick use to deduce the structure of DNA?
G. What is the DNA “base-pairing rule”?
H. What is the structure of DNA, and what kind of bond holds the two strands together?
I. What is meant by “semi-conservative” replication, and how did the Meselson-Stahl
experiment support this hypothesis?
J. What is the basic process of DNA replication, and how do helicase, DNA polymerase, ligase,
primase, and single-strand binding protein play a role?
K. What is anti-parallel, and why is continuous synthesis of both DNA strands not possible?
L. What are the differences between the leading and the lagging strand, and why must the
lagging strand mush be synthesized in fragments?
M. How do DNA polymerase, ligase, and repair enzymes function in DNA repair?
Chapter 17 – From Gene to Protein
A. What was Beadle and Tatum’s experiment, and how did it contribute to our understanding
of how genes control metabolism?
B. What is the “one gene, one enzyme” hypothesis and why it was later modified to “one gene,
one polypeptide”?
C. How does DNA differ from RNA?
D. What is the difference between transcription and translation?
E. Where do transcription and translation occur in prokaryotes and eukaryotes?
F. How is it significant that in eukaryotes, transcription and translation are separated in space
and time?
G. What is a codon, and what relationship exists between the linear sequence of codons on
mRNA and the sequence of amino acids in a protein?
H. What are the three stop codons and the one start codon?
I. In what way is the genetic code redundant and unambiguous?
J. How may the “codon table” be used to determine which amino acid is coded for by a codon?
K. What are the three major steps of the transcription process, and what occurs during each?
L. What is the role of RNA polymerase in transcription?
M. What are the differences between mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA?
N. How is the structure of tRNA related to its function?
O. How may corresponding codons transcribed on mRNA be found given a sequence of bases
on DNA?
P. How may anticodons of tRNA be found given the codons of mRNA?
Q. What is the wobble effect?
R. What is the structure of a ribosome?
S. What are the three major steps of translation, what occurs in each step, and what enzymes
and protein factors are needed for each step?
T. How, in eukaryotes, is mRNA is modified before leaving the nucleus?
U. What are exons and introns, and why must introns be removed from mRNA before
translation begins?
V. Why do base-pair insertions or deletions usually have a greater effect than substitutions?
W. What is meant by a frameshift mutation?
VI. Biotechnology
Chapter 19 / 27.2 – Microbial Models: The Genetics of Viruses and Bacteria
A. What were the following scientists’ roles in the discovery of virus structure and
function: Mayer, Ivanowsky, Beikerinck, and Stanley?
B. What components make up a virus?
C. Why are viruses obligatory parasites?
D. What are the differences between the lytic and lysogenic reproductive cycles?
E. What is a retrovirus, and what is an example of one?
F. What is the structure of a bacterial chromosome like?
G. What are three processes of genetic recombination in bacteria, and what are the features of
each?
H. How does bacterial conjugation differ from sexual reproduction in eukaryotic cells?
I. What roles do plasmids play in bacteria, and what are some examples?
J. How do antibiotics protect against disease?
K. What are the effects of the over-use of antibiotics?
L. How do vaccines protect against disease?
Chapter 20 – DNA Technology (pg. 375-388, 393-399)
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Define the following terms: Recombinant DNA, Biotechnology, Genetic engineering
What are two useful purposes of gene cloning?
Describe the basic steps of gene cloning.
What benefit do restriction enzymes provide a bacterial cell?
What is a cloning vector?
List three reasons why bacterial plasmids are widely used as cloning vectors.
What is a genomic library? What is a complementary DNA library? What is an advantage of
each?
What is the purpose of hybridization?
What is an expression vector? What does it do?
What is the purpose of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)?
Name and describe the three stages of PCR.
What is the purpose of gel electrophoresis? What determines how quickly molecules travel
through a gel?
What is the purpose of Southern blotting?
What is the purpose of the dideoxy chain termination method?
Describe the following: In vitro mutagenesis, RNA interfefence, genome-wide association
studies.
How does organismal cloning differ from gene cloning?
Describe the process used to clone Dolly the Sheep
What are two problems associated with animal cloning?
What is a stem cell? How does an embryonic stem cell differ from an adult stem cell?
What development has reduced concerns about moral issues surrounding therapeutic
cloning?
List five practical applications of DNA technology Future Questions from Chapters 21 and Chapter 18 TBA