AP Biology Cell Exam Study Guide
Vocabulary List…don’t only study definitions. Think about each term, what it is, what it does, and its overall
importance…yeah, ya gotta know what these words mean but you also have to know about them!
Prokaryote
Plasma Membrane
Golgi Body
Lysosome
Adhering Junction
Hydrophobic
Saturated Fat
Active Transport
Hypertonic
Exocytosis
Fungus/Fungi
Vacuoles
Eukaryote
Cytoplasm
Chloroplast
Cell Wall
Plasmodesmata
Hydrophilic
Membrane Fludity
Passive Transport
Hypotonic
Endocytosis
Nucleolus
Vesicles
Nucleoid
Nucleus
Centrioles
Mitochondria
Desmosome
Fluid Mosaic Model
Cholesterol
Facilitated
Diffusion
Bulk Flow
Turgor Pressure
Virus
DNA
Surface Area to
Volume Ratio
Endosymbiotic
Cell Theory
Bilayer
Carbohydrate
Diffusion
Isotonic
Protist/Protistan
Pinocytosis
ATP
RNA
Organelle
Peroxisome
Gap Junction
Phospholipid
Unsaturated Fat
Na+/K+ Pump
Osmosis
Concentration
Gradient
Phagocytosis
Organization
Things to Think About…if you know/know about these you’ve been studying well  These concepts are most
definitely on the test!
1. What features do eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells have in common? What features are different?
2. What features do plant and animal cells have in common? What features are different?
3. How is life organized—be able to order these terms: atom, cell, molecule, organ, organelle, organism, organ
system, tissue
4. How do surface area and volume affect a cell’s ability to grow?
5. Do a little research (okay, view the table at the end of these questions)…what components are present in the
cells of a fungus? A protist (like an amoeba or paramecium)? A bacterium?
6. Do a little more research—are viruses cells?
7. Read up on and know the 3 parts of the Cell Theory.
8. Be familiar with the structure of the cell membrane including the location, characteristics, and functions of:
 Phospholipid
 Carbohydrate
 Protein
 Cholesterol
9. Speaking of cholesterol—what kinds of organisms have cholesterol in their cell membranes?
10. What is it about unsaturated fats that help them make the cell membrane fluid?
11. Identify forms of active transport.
12. Identify forms of passive transport.
13. How do cells react in hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic environments?
14. What is the ultimate goal of a process like diffusion or osmosis?
15. Where do vesicles come from? What do they do?
16. How do chloroplasts and mitochondria provide evidence for the endosymbiotic hypothesis?
17. What factors speed up diffusion? What factors slow down diffusion?
18. Do you know your organelles and their functions yet?
19. How are bulk flow and osmosis different?
20. How do plant leaves wilt? How do they resist wilt-age?
AND here’s the cheats I promised about cell organelles in different types of cells…
Cell Type
Cell
Cell
Nucleus
Nuclear
Cytoplasm
Vacuole
Wall
Membrane
Membrane
Bacteria
*Y
Yes
No
No
Yes
Protist
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Some
times
****Y
Fungus
**Y
***Y
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
*****N
Plant
Animal
Chloroplast
Prokaryote
or
Eukaryote
Yes
P
Some
times
No
Yes
No
E
E
E
E
*Bacterial cell walls are composed of peptidoglycan, a carbohydrate and protein mix.
**Fungus may have a cell wall made of chitin, another polysaccharide (if you have ever seen an insect’s shed
exoskeleton then you have seen chitin).
***Plant cell walls are composed of cellulose.
****Protists don’t really have storage vacuoles…they may have a food vacuole similar to a phagocyte that an
animal cell forms when it sucks in a particle for digestion. Some protists also have contractile vacuoles to
regulate water content—they fill up with water and compress the water out when they are full. As a byproduct,
the compression of the contractile vacuole may cause movement for the protist.
*****Animal cells use vesicles, not vacuoles to move things in and out of the cell. Animal cells do not store
waste and water long term inside like a plant cell. Remember, vesicles originate from two organelles in the cell.
After a product leaves the rough ER it will be wrapped in a vesicle provided by the smooth ER for transport to
the golgi. The golgi will also wrap a finished cell product in a vesicle to prepare it for exocytosis. All materials
for vesicles (the lipids) are prepared by the smooth ER.
Other Practice Questions…try your hand at these to get your brain juices…oh wait—this is AP Biology…so to
get your neurotransmitters flowing!
a. ribosome
b. mitochondrion
c. lysosome
d. golgi body
e. endoplasmic reticulum
1. site of polypeptide (protein) assembly
2. cellular digestion and disposal of biological materials occurs here
3. aerobic respiration (to make ATP) occurs here
4. RNA is translated into protein with the help of this organelle
5. secretory proteins (proteins that are going to be secreted) are packaged here
6. involved in lipid production and protein transport
7. the hemoglobin of mammals and birds (the protein that carries oxygen around the body) would be
synthesized here
8. sugar metabolism (the use of sugar to make energy) occurs here
9. Four of the five answers are related by a common observation. Select the exception:
a. Hooke
b. Galileo
c. Schwann
d. Schleiden
e. Virchow
10. Four of the five statements are portions of a well known theory. Select the exception:
a. cells are the structural and functional components of living things
b. cells arise from preexisting cells
c. all organisms are composed of cells
d. cells are the basic living unit of organization in living things
e. all cells have a nucleus
11. Four of the five statements are familiar organelles in the cytoplasm. Select the exception:
a. nucleolus
b. mitochondrion
c. ribosome
d. Golgi body
e. chloroplast
12. Four of the five items listed are organelles found in eukaryotes. Select the exception:
a. mitochondrion
b. Golgi body
c. Nucleoid
d. Lysosome
e. Vacuole
13. Four of the five answers listed below are composed of membranes. Select the exception:
a. endoplasmic reticulum
b. granum
c. plasma membrane
d. chromosome
e. nuclear envelope
14. Four of the five answers listed below are chloroplast features. Select the exception:
a. stroma
b. granum
c. microbody
d. pigment
d. ATP
15. Four of the five answers below are features of membrane extensions. Select the exception:
a. amyloplast b. centriole
c. microtubule
d. basal body
e. 9 + 2 arrangements
16. Four of the five answers below are types of intracellular junctions. Select the exception:
a. tight junctions
b. gap junctions
c. plasmodesmata
d. adhering junctions
e. microvilli
17. Four of the five answers below are bound by membranes. Select the exception:
a. mitochondrion
b. ribosome
c. chromoplast
d. vacuole
e. lysosome
a) simple diffusion
b) bulk flow
c) osmosis
d) active transport
e) endocytosis
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
process used by white blood cells to digest bacteria
process specifically removes water molecules across a differentially permeable membrane
explains the movement of any kind of molecule from areas of higher to lower concentrations
tendency of molecules to move more rapidly when they move together
movement of molecules against a concentration gradient
23. Four of the five answers below are characteristics of the plasma membrane. Select the exception:
a. phospholipid
b. fluid mosaic
c. lipid bilayer
d. inert & impermeable
e. hydrophobic tails
24. Four of the five answers below are factors affecting simple diffusion. Select the exception:
a. temperature b. pressure
c. characteristics of membrane d. size of molecules e. concentration gradient
25. Four of the five answers below result when a cell is placed in hypertonic solution. Select the exception:
a. wiltin g
b. plasmolysis
c. turgidity d. limpness
e. shriveling
26. Four of the five answers below are related by energy requirements. Select the exception:
a. water potention
b. osmosis
c. bulk flow
d. active transport
e. diffusion
27. Four of the five answers below are related by energy requirements. Select the exception:
a. active transport
b. endocytosis
c. facilitated diffusion
d. exocytosis
e. Na+/K+ Pump
ANSWERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
A
C
B
A
D
E
A
B
B
E
A
C
D
C
A
E
B
E
C
A
B
D
D
C
C
D
C