Exam Preparation: Topics, Study Guidance, and Important Concepts for a Biology Exam - Prof, Study notes of Biology

Download Exam Preparation: Topics, Study Guidance, and Important Concepts for a Biology Exam - Prof and more Study notes Biology in PDF only on Docsity!

The exam will consist of 40 questions, the majority of which are from the lectures. There will be one question from each of the discussion topics. Review the assignments - if you can answer the questions on the discussion assignments, you should be fine for the relevant exam question.

The exam material is taken from the lecture and online notes. The book is an excellent source of information, but any material covered in the book but not in lecture is NOT on the exam.

Be sure to look at the previous exams - especially the ones given in the past couple of years. Any material covered on those exams that we did not get to (i.e. the Na+/K+ pump) will not be on the exam

Study Topics:

The process of science & the scientific method Experimental design - controls, experimental procedures, data collection, interpretation, etc Hypotheses, models, etc. What do they explain? What are their limitations? Learning & Bloom’s Taxonomy Atomic chemistry (protons, electrons, nueutrons, ions, isotopes, number of covalent bonds formed, etc) Covalent bonds, ionic bonds, polar bonds, hydrophilic & hydrophobic substances, etc Properties of water Oxidation and reduction - especially when related to carbon (i.e. C-C & C-H bonds have reduced carbon, C-O and C-N have more oxidized carbon) Properties of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and nucleic acids. Make sure you know their monomers (if they have them), and what bond types are called. Also, make sure you can identify to what class a given molecule belongs. Enzyme function - how do enzymes work? What is the active site? Competitive inhibition & allosteric regulation (activation & deactivation) Feedback inhibition How Temp and pH affect enzyme function Cell structure and function Prokaryotic vs Eukaryotic cells Plant vs Animal cells What makes Archaeans special? Properties & components of the cytoskeleton What movement proteins are associated with each Nuclear pores - how does stuff get into and out of the nulceus (NLS) Organelle structure and function Which organelles are part of the endomembrane system What is the function of each organelle? What makes a ribosome bind to the rough ER vs what makes them remain free What types of proteins to bound ribosomes make & what types to free ribosomes make? Signal hypothesis How are proteins separated in the Golgi apparatus?

Endosymbiosis - what is it and what does it explain? What is the evidence for this model? Biological membranes What is their composition? Fluid mosaic model of membranes What affects membrane fluidity? Saturated vs unsaturated fatty acids Cholesterol Long vs short chains Temperature What can cross a membrane unaided? What needs help? Diffusion Osmosis Hypertonic, hypotonic, isotonic The cell has xxx and the outside has yyy. Does the cell expand or contract? - types of problems Facilitated diffusion - how does it work? How can cells “cheat” and bring lots of stuff Which processes (diffusion, osmosis, facilitated diffusion, ion channels, active transport) require carrier proteins? Which can transport molecules down their concentration gradient? Against?