Comprehensive Final Exam Study Questions

Section 1 What is biology?

1. What are the characteristics that all living organisms have in common?
2. To what 3 domains and 4 kingdoms do all organisms belong?
3. What are the overall themes of biology? (Recognize examples in all units).
4. Distinguish between theories, laws, and hypotheses. Define and give an example of a testable
hypothesis for different situations.
Section 2 Why is all life inter-connected?
5. What is the relationship between a biome, an ecosystem, a community, and a population?
6. What happens when a community is disturbed? Recognize examples of primary & secondary
succession.
7. What is the relationship between organisms at various food web and trophic levels?
8. How do food webs illustrate the first and second laws of thermodynamics?
9. What abiotic and biotic factors affect population growth?
10. What is the difference between exponential and logistic populations growth.
Section 3 What is a cell and how does it work?
11. What are the differences and similarities between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
12. How are materials moved in and out of a cell by the following mechanisms: diffusion, osmosis,
active transport, facilitated diffusion, endocytosis, and exocytosis?
13. What happens to an atom if the numbers of electrons, protons, or neutrons are changed? Recognize
examples of ions, elements, and isotopes.
14. What are the similarities and differences between, ionic, polar covalent, non-polar covalent, and
hydrogen bonds?
15. What characteristics define organic molecules? Distinguish (by structure and function) the
following organic molecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Section 4 How do living organisms get energy from food?
16. How do the first and second laws of thermodynamics relate to how living organisms acquire and
use energy?
17. What is an enzyme? To which class of organic molecules do enzymes belong? How are enzymes
involved in the process of cellular respiration?
18. What is the summary reaction cellular respiration?
a. . What is the role of glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and the ETC in cellular respiration?
b. Is the reaction anabolic or catabolic?
c. What happens to the energy stored in glucose during cellular respiration?
19. As compared to cellular respiration, why does fermentation produce less ATP from each glucose
molecule?
Section 5 Where does the food you eat come from?
20. Why are plants defined as "autotrophs" and animals defined as "heterotrophs?"
21. What is the summary reaction of Photosynthesis
a. What role do the light dependent reactions and the Calvin cycle play in
photosynthesis?
b. Which of the reactants in photosynthesis contributes the most to the mass of a plant?
c. How are the products of photosynthesis related to cellular respiration?
d. Where in the plant cell does photosynthesis occur?
22. Do plants perform cellular respiration? What is the evidence you used to determine your answer?
Section 6 How are traits inherited?
23. What is the difference between sexual and asexual reproduction? What is an advantage of asexual
reproduction over sexual reproduction? What is an advantage of sexual reproduction over asexual
reproduction?
24. What are the differences and similarities between mitosis and meiosis? Your answer should include
similarities and differences in the function, number of daughter cells, genetic variability of daughter
cells, and location of where the two divisions occur.

25. What are Mendels findings? Be able to solve genetic problems related to Mendels findings
26. What are the exceptions to Mendels findings? Be able to solve genetic problems related to
findings that are exceptions to Mendels.
27. What events in meiosis are explained by the theories of segregation and independent assortment?
Section 7 and 8 - See original objectives