General Biology 101



General Biology 101

Study Guide - Final Exam

I. Suggestions for preparing before the exam:

Look over all prior study guides given to you by your instructor these will be your greatest source of information about test preparation for the comprehensive component.

How to prepare for a comprehensive final exam in a really challenging subject:

✓ Divide and conquer! Use your syllabus as a guide.

- Devote at least one hour per day, divided into 3 sessions.

- Study during your peak hours – not late or when you are fatigued.

- If you are not finished with your readings this should be your first priority!

- Items to review to help you

• Lecture Outlines (1st)

• Instructor provided learning tables & video guides

• Worksheets & Homework Activities

• Textbook summaries (found at end of chapters) – read for review.

• Review over lab introductions and reattempt to understand items you may have missed on labs, in case those items appear on the final exam.

• Also understand why you missed questions on the quizzes.

• Videos: Lord of the Ants & Microbe video

✓ Short periods of frequent review are more effective than long, cram sessions.

✓ Discussing key concepts on this study guide and in your labs with study group partners will help you understand the material on a deeper level, because you will find that you have to explain and articulate concepts rather than just input data via reading.

Remember that most people do not learn by reading alone. You MUST interact with the material on several levels, discussing, hands on activities, writing summaries, organizing notes/worksheets, & watching media to have a chance of retaining sufficient content that you may encounter on the exam!

II. Approximate test distribution

Per the biology department’s policies, this will be a comprehensive exam. The distribution will be approximately 50% from the final unit (animals) and 50% from the rest of the quarter. The comprehensive component will be approximately 25% ecology & 25% diversity of life (microbes, plants and fungi), so that means that the heaviest portion of the final exam will be diversity oriented.

Note: Your lab materials will be a VERY important component of the final exam. Numerous test questions will reflect prelab materials and lab observations/activities. In this unit, you may also be asked specific questions about lab techniques such as microscope use, bacteria staining, dissections, graphing, fecal coliform tests, purpose of using dichotomous keys, constructing cladograms, content of dissections etc.

III. Approximate Format of Exam

Will be very similar to the previous mid-terms, however it will be 100 points total.

➢ Take home essay assigned on Friday prior to exam: 10 points*

➢ Multiple Choice Questions: 25 points (2 pts each)

10 points comprehensive material

15 points new material over animals

➢ Matching: 15 points (3 sets), including ecology unit.

➢ Fill in the blank: 10 points (with a word bank provided)

➢ Explain the difference: Short answer (5 pts)

➢ Choose the one that does not fit: 5 pts. Out of a line up of 5 related terms pick the exception.

➢ Interpretation of data: 5 points. – similar to graphing exercise on exam #2 – it is a good idea to look at this component at the end of respective chapters for an idea of choice examples.

➢

* The take home component is due the day of the final exam – no exceptions. NO LATE submissions will be accepted! It is due at the time that you enter into the exam, and must be in your own handwriting – make it legible if you want full credit. Word processed essays will NOT be graded.

A scantron will be provided for the exam, but you should bring good #2 pencils with erasers, the multiple choice & matching sections will be machine graded. Bring a snack & water with you on exam day so that you have sufficient energy to take the test.

V. Content on the exam

Definition of life: What do all life forms require? What limits where life can be?

Parameters of Science: CONPTT Why is a control important in experiments? Know basics of graphing e.g. where does the dependent variable go on the graph? Independent variable?

Basic Ecology: What are the basic principles and models used in ecology? E.g. food chains, food webs, energy pyramids, different species interactions e.g. mutualism. Know the difference between herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, decomposers etc. Review the learning table on the biogeochemical cycles. Know basic terminology and be able to distinguish e.g. competitive exclusion, succession, symbiosis, distribution patterns, survivorship curves, logistic growth.

Survey methods to assess ecology & diversity: e.g. indexes, dichotomous keys, transect method used in lichen lab, allelopathy results i.e. zone of inhibition, dissections.

Populations: What are the demographic measurements made to qualify and quantify populations? What are the factors that affect population growth or decline? Be familiar with the type of graphs used to model populations e.g. Carrying capacity, exponential, type I, II, III, age structure diagrams etc Know limiting factors e.g. density dependent and density independent.

Species concept: What is a species? What are the different ways to describe a species e.g. invasive, pioneer, endemic, indicator, keystone etc. What are cladograms? What two names are used to i.d. a species

Diversity: Know the main characteristics and the importance of each group. Also know why each group is significant e.g. why should we know something about the archaeans? How do humans use fungi? Could you cite examples of disease causing organisms e.g. prokaryotes, protista, insects? What are examples of the living fossils that show the transition points in evolution? e.g. archaeopteryx, lancelets etc.

Plants: You need to know the anatomy of the flower, the characteristics that separate the different categories of plants, the adaptations for a terrestrial existence, and life cycles of plants. E.g. what do megaspores & microspores become? What is endosperm? How is the pine life cycle different than mosses or angiosperm plants? Know the structures & life cycle of ferns. Know examples of each group e.g. conifers & cycads are gymnosperms, grasses & tulips - angiosperms. Review alternation of generations, know what is produced by the sporophyte and gametophyte. Why are fruits beneficial to plants? What is pollen and which plants make this? Know double fertilization and its significance. What are some methods of dispersion that plants have come up with to disperse their seeds? Structures to know: archegonium, antheridium, sori, lignin, germination, spores, meiosis, mitosis

Fungi: Review major groups, know difference between hyphae & mycelium.Types of lichens.Mycchorhize. Review humongous fungus activity. Know what composes a lichen and the different types. Review life cycles of fungi. What is mycosis?

Animals: Know the main defining characteristics of each major phylum and in the case of the vertebrates the class level of classification e.g. birds/feathers. Know different types of metamorphosis.

Be familiar with the unique structures and life styles of the arthropods studied more intensively in the lab e.g. know the names of the insect mouthparts that were part of the Prelab, be able to site examples of leg adaptations, know the different types of metamorphosis and the growth trajectory for insects compared to humans. Some important structures to know (not all inclusive): amniotic egg, notochord, coelom, pharyngeal gill slits, swim bladder, cuticle, spicules, nematocysts, tympanum, radula, mantle, deuterostome.

Final considerations:

➢ Review through your recent labs especially on the animal unit. Understand why you missed questions if this occurred.

➢ Review the fill in the blank sample questions at the end of each chapter covered and also read the summary material from the chapters.

➢ Remember you already have an entire series of study guides – they are the lecture guides. Organize these and go over them several times. More than 80% of the test will be over material covered on these lecture guides.

➢ Review through your learning tables especially the animal unit organizational tables, since this is where the heaviest emphasis is on the final.

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