Here's a simple check on whether you are keeping up with the work appropriately. And a few other
thoughts are included. He/she who hasn't been keeping up is at risk of poor performance on the exam.
Below are three lists of 20 vocabulary items each from the three areas of genetics material. Every one
of these was covered in class. And when you see these sixty, each one should call to mind other
vocabulary items which you must also know.
Here's the moment of truth: The person who cannot define at least 15 in each list (that would be a
score = 75) right now, without referring to notes, is not keeping up with the work and is at risk. Making
the situation possibly worse is the likelihood that some of those people don't have effective study skills
and will have trouble mastering the terms when they do get around to studying seriously.
After reviewing the lists, read on, below.
20 items from the "genetic code" material:
Okazaki fragments
repressor
DNA ligase
base complementarity
pyrimidine
nucleotide
silent mutation
gene
codon
exon
antiparallel
template
histone
polyanionic
nitrogenous base
ribosomal subunit
post-translational modification
operon
helicase
mRNA
20 items from the "cell division" material:
Cleavage furrow
synapsis
nondisjunction
sister chromatids
tetrad
crossing over
interphase
the 4-item life cycle (for any eukaryote)
homologous
diploid
cell plate
spindle pole
independent assortment
independent segregation
characteristic chromosome number
anaphase II (the stage of ? in which ? )
centromere
metaphase I (the stage of ? in which ? )
daughter cell
ovum
20 items from the "inheritance" material:
allele
dihybrid cross
codominance
Punnett square
pleiotropy
hemizygous
phenotype
autosomal
epistasis
recessive
sex linkage
haploid
progeny genotype
doubly homozygous recessive
zygote
inbreeding
penetrance
carrier
genome
gamete
This little test, above, will sort people into three groups.
(1) There are those who can (really can) define that many, maybe more, right now, without reference to
notes. They're not at risk.
(2) There are those who cannot meet that challenge, perhaps not even close to 15 out of 20. They are
at risk. These have not taken the work seriously enough yet and/or they are hampered by inadequate
study tools/skills.
(3) There are those who tell themselves that they do know the terms, that they're in good shape. But
they don't and they're not. The typical member of this group takes an exam and thinks he/she did OK
(not great, but OK) and is later shocked by the 50-something or 30-something score. And later I'll hear
how he/she doesn't understand the low score because he/she knew the material really well going into
the exam. This is the largest group and the one most in need of recognizing and/or acknowledging the
problem.
For group #3 people, here's the factor that must be seen. Every one of the 60 items is familiar. They
should be since every one was covered in class and should be in the lecture notes. But group #3 people
will look at and think about each term and roll it over in the mind and then conclude that they know it
because it's familiar and they know something about it. They confuse that view with being able to
define the term and then being able to connect to others. To see if this is you, try the following.
Look in the cell division list for homologous. We hammered that word repeatedly in class. Certainly it's
familiar to you. But can you define it? If you say 'yes' to yourself, then get pencil and paper, sit down,
and write the definition-- the definition that you would write on the exam, for credit. Few people will do
this correctly, including those who would have said they know the definition before being required to
write it for credit. If you can't do that, then you must wonder how well you really do grasp the meaning.
This write it test can help with vocabulary mastery in general. And it can help in other ways.
Example: The exam might ask you to explain the disadvantage of inbreeding. First, can you define it? Do
you know what it means? Really? If not, you can't answer the question. Second, assuming you know
the meaning, then you should practice writing the answer to such questions as part of your studying.
What are you actually going to write for credit at the exam? A jumble of things in your head about
inbreeding will probably look like that on paper too, when it counts: a jumble. Plus, how much time,
during the exam, will it take to think about what to write?
Example: What is the significance of independent assortment? That term is in the list. But the question
isn't asking for a definition. You must know that first, of course. Then, the issue is significance. We did
that in class. Knowing what it is is not all you should know. It's an obvious question. Now, when you
have to write the answer, what will you write? How long will it take to think about it and write it at the
exam? Why would you not anticipate such questions and decide how to answer in writing before the
exam, as part of studying?
Further.... when you do study vocabulary, are you using the other suggestions from day #1 of the
semester? For example: Structure/function relationships of the vocabulary items? Levels-oforganization relationships of the vocabulary items? Relative sizes of structures? Let's see.
1. From the genetic code list above: operon, pyrimidine, gene, nucleotide, codon, exon.
a. Which one represents the lowest level of organization (or the question might be 'highest')?
b. Assign numbers, 1-6, to these items to arrange them in order from most simple (#1) to most
complex (#6).
When you study vocabulary, why would you not be asking yourself, as part of studying, how these things
are related to each other?
2. Arrange the following events in proper order in time. segregation, synapsis, DNA replication,
cytokinesis, assortment. You must know the meaning of each, of course. But you must know more than
that. Such a question should not come as a surprise to anyone, since we covered them in class in time
sequence.
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Finally, for the person who’s thinking “If the exam is multiple choice, I don’t need to bother with all this
‘writing’ that he’s talking about.” No? Haven’t two exams taught many of us that multiple choice format
doesn’t mean easy. The suggestions here are about how to learn the vocabulary (which many have not
done yet) and understand the material. If you can write it correctly, you’ll do better on the multiple
choice format too. This is about how to study.