Evolution (25%):

Key ideas are Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (Can you summarize natural selection in three points?)  Evidence for evolution (biogeography, what is a homologous structure?  what is a vestigal structure? Why would two closely related organisms have similar DNA and proteins? What does the fossil record indicate about the history of life on Earth?) 

Explain the theory of punctuated equilibrium;

Be able to apply Hardy-Weinberg to story problems; What are the 5 assumptions?problems;

Define: founder effect, bottleneck, niche, distruptive selection, speciation, allele, allopatric speciation and sympatric speciation, analogous structures, convergent evolution.

Bacteria/Viruses(10%):

Key ideas are how bacteria reproduction (conjugation vs prokaryotic fission); plasmids and how they are useful for biotechnology; properties of prokaryotic cells; shape of bacteria;  anatomy of a virus; 4 stages of viral infection.

Fungi/Protists (5%):

What is a mycorrhizae?  What is a lichen?  What unifies the Fungi Kingdom? (cell wall? eukaryotes? mulicellular? autotrophic?)  Couple questions on protists (what unifies this group?  how do ameoba and paramesium move?)

Plants (20%):

Bryophytes to Angiosperms (properties of each group); structure of a leaf and stoma; what factors influence transpiration; differences between monocots and dicots; parts of a flower; you only have to know the function of gibberillic acids, auxins and ethylene; differences between primary and secondary growth; what is the function of the casparian strip?; difference between apical and vascular meristem?

Inverts (5%):

A few questions on the symmetry, gut, cephalization of annelids, arthropods, molluscs, echinoderms and poriferia.

Vertebrates (10%):

What do fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals have for heart?, mechanism for getting rid of nitrogenous waste?, how do they lay eggs (type of egg)?, how do they live away from water?.

Brain and Neurons (10%):

Be able to identify the parts of a neuron; explain the function of each part of the neuron; what is the difference between the central and peripheral nervous system?  how does a synapse function?  what is the function of the meninges, cerbebellum, cerebrum, corpus callosum, and medulla.

Photosynthesis and Respiration (20%):

What is the equation for each process?  Where does each occur?  You only need to know the following details: What are the inputs and outputs for the light-dependent reaction? light-independent reaction?  What are the three steps of respiration?  Which require oxygen?  Where does each occur?