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, this 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?
Ø Divide and conquer! Use your syllabus as a guide.
- Ideally you should study one week of material per study session.
- This means that you need about 10, 20 minute sessions to cover this material well. Maybe more, but that is a minimum of 4 hours between now and the final.
- 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! Alternatively or in addition to the readings, print off and study intensively from the chapter summaries provided by your instructor on the website.
Ø If you are not happy with the way that your grade has been represented on prior exams re-examine your study strategy. Your prior strategy may not be working!
- Consider how did you prepare for your best scoring mid-term?
- What methods/tools did you use?
· Lecture Notes
· Instructor provided learning tables
· Study Guides
· Textbook summaries
· Study sessions with other students
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 (higher plants & animals) and 50% from the rest of the quarter. The comprehensive component will be approximately 25% ecology & 25% diversity of life (bacteria – lower plants), that means that the heaviest portion of the final exam will be diversity oriented.
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 etc.
III. Approximate Format of Exam
Will be very similar to the previous mid-terms, however it will be 75 points total.
Ø Take home essay assigned on Friday prior to exam – 10 points*
Ø Multiple Choice Questions – 25 points
10 points comprehensive material
15 points new material over higher plants & animals
Ø Matching – 15 points (3 sets) – Mostly from unit one (ecology)
Ø Fill in the blank -10 points (with a word bank provided)
Ø Lists/Arguments of support – 5 points
Ø Interpretation of data – 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. – 5 points.
Ø Identification – 5 points for phylum (rotation basis in the room). This will be answered on a separate sheet of paper, when needed dichotomous keys will be provided.
* 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. – Details will be provided on Friday.
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.
IV. Resources to consult for the exam
- Learning tables from the invertebrate and vertebrate exercises in class.
- Worksheets provided by the instructor
- Notes from films e.g. (insect pollinators, Lord of the Ants, Typhoid Mary, Ecology summary).
- Self quizzes at the end of each chapter – some questions will be used on the exam – I promise!
V. Content on the exam
Definition of life: What do all life forms require? What limits where life can be?
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.
Survey methods to assess ecology & diversity: e.g. indexes, nested quadrats, dichotomous keys, 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 etc.
Species concept: What is a species? What are the different ways to describe a species e.g. invasive, endemic, indicator, keystone etc. What are cladograms?
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. bacteria, 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?