Advanced Placement Biology
Semester 1 Final Exam Review
Format:
 2 written response worth 10% of your semester grade
 30 multiple choice worth 10% of your semester grade
Unit 1 Test: Biochemistry and Statistics
Atomic Structure: Draw the atoms (with protons, neutrons, and e-) for carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and
nitrogen. How does the atomic structure of the atom affect an atom’s bonding behavior?
Chemical bonds: Compare ionic, polar covalent, nonpolar covalent, and hydrogen bonds. Use the drawings to
explain electronegativity.
Water properties are due to hydrogen bonding which are the result of polar covalent bonds. Why does water
stick to other water molecules?
What is TACT? How does it explain how water gets to the top of a plant?
Describe the role of guard cells in regulating transpiration rates. How do stomata open and close as
environmental conditions change?
Lab: Alcohol and Water: Compare the polarity of water and alcohol. How does this explain why more water
drops fit on a penny than alcohol?
Lab: Transpiration: What environmental factors can affect transpiration rates? Calculate tranpiration rates.
Use example below.
Windy Conditions
No Wind
Mass Before (Day 1)
150 g
200 g
Mass After (Day 2)
125 g
137 g
Mass Lost
% Mass Lost
Transpiration Rate (% Mass Lost per day)
Statistics: If given a 2 data sets, can you reject/fail to reject a null hypothesis? Calculate: mean, standard
deviation, calculated t, degrees of freedom; estimate. Example below.
alcohol
water
12
22
14
18
15
19
Unit 2: Cell Transport:
POGIL: Cell Membranes: Draw and describe the structure and function of a lipid. Compare fats and
phospholipids. Why are phospholipids useful in a cell membrane? Use the idea: hydrophilic, hydrophobic,
polar, nonpolar, bilayer. Explain selective permeability. Compare molecules that can get in through the cell
membrane with those that need an integral protein.
Modeling Activity: Diffusion: Explain why some molecules can move by passive transport. Use entropy to
explain how molecules tend towards disorder, and how organism counteract this to maintain homeostasis.
Explain how cells benefit from making molecules like hemoglobin that cannot leave a cell but can bind to
molecules that they need like oxygen.
Lab: Model Cells in Model Environments: Predict and explain the results of the experiment below of dialysis
bags filled with sugar water solution and placed in distilled water. Calculate percent change. Make microscope
drawings of those changes (Do a before “Microscopic Drawing” and an after “Microscopic Drawing”). Show
both solutes and solvents in the solution. Example:
A cell with sugar
water inside and
distilled water
outside
Mass Day
4
Mass Day
6
10.5
grams
14 grams
Increase in
Mass
(Final –
Initial)
% Change in Mass
(Increase/Initial)*100
Rate (%
change in
mass per
time)
Calculating Water Potential; Review your 2 sets of practice problems. 1: Calculate water potential in the
following scenario. Make a before and after microscope view of the cell. Animal Cell's salt concentration:
0.3M. Environment's salt concentration: 0.2M. Calculate water potential in the cell and outside. Explain the
movement of water in the cell using math. Assume pressure at start is 0 both inside and outside of the cell,
and temperature is 25C. Compare how the results would change if the cell was a plant cell. When would the
plant cell’s pressure cause no more change in mass of the cell.Terms to use: hypotonic, hypertonic, isotonic,
equilibrium, diffusion, osmosis, solute concentration, solute potential, pressure potential, water potential
Lab: Potato and Yams. Use the data to answer the following questions. Graph the data (collected at 25C). Use
the x intercept to calculate solute potential, total potential. Draw a “microscopic” drawing of the cell in a 0.5
M sucrose solution. Data, percent change: 0 M: 27%, 0.2 M: 15%, 0.4 M: 6%, 0.6 M: -12%, 0.8 M: -25%, 1.0 M:
-32% Label solutes and solvents. Predict by explaining what will happen to the cell after 100 hours in a 0.5 M
sucrose solution. What will move? How will it move?
Modeling AND POGIL: Cell Size: Explain how surface area to volume ratio influences the shape and size of cells
AND organisms. Use examples to show what happens when a cell gets big, AND how large animals increase
their surface area to volume ratio. How does a cell’s need to transport material affect the size of the cell?
Explain how surface-to-volume ratio influences the plasma membrane. Explain why a high surface-to-volume
ratio facilitates exchange of materials between a cell and its environment.
Modeling Passive and Active Transport: Why can some molecules move passively by facilitated diffusion.
Compare hypotonic, hypertonic, and isotonic. Compare a glucose 4 transporter to the Na+/K+ pump, noticing
energy demands of each. Compare an aquaporin to a glucose 4 transporter. Why are they different? Use the
glucose/Na+ symporter to explain the benefit of cells expending ATP to run the Na+/K+ pump. Compare
endocytosis to facilitated diffusion. Explain the role of proteins in each (surface receptors (ligands are a type of
protein) to integral proteins).
Unit 3 Exam:
Free Energy POGIL: Explain the Gibbs Free Energy equation. A reaction that increases entropy is/is not (choose
one) spontaneous? Explain why. Given a delta G less than 0, will the reaction release or absorb energy?
Explain why.
Metabolism: Compare anabolism and catabolism. Give an example of each. Explain how anabolic and catabolic
reactions differ in their transfer of energy. What is a metabolic pathway and how are enzymes involved? What
is the 1st law of thermodynamics? Give some examples from nature and class. What is the 2nd law of
thermodynamics? Give some examples from nature and class.
Protein Structure (3.6): How is a protein polymerized? What makes 1 protein different than another? Compare
primary and tertiary structure. Why do some amino acids’ R groups interact with each other but others don’t?
Choose 3 amino acids to compare/contrast. What can cause R groups to no longer interact?
Sickle Cell Poster: Compare Hemoglobin A vs Hemoglobin S. Why is Hemoglobin S different and what impact
does this difference have on people with sickle cell anemia? Explain the role of genetics in causing change to
proteins.
Modeling Activity: Protein Structure: Explain how proteins fold. Explain why denaturation cannot be undone.
Compare the egg before and after heating. What has happened to the protein?
Enzyme Structure and Function (5.4 and 5.5): How do enzymes work? Why are enzymes substrate specific?
Use tertiary structure of a protein to explain. What environmental factors can influence the shape of an
enzyme? Explain how. Explain what the optimal environment is given the graph below. Research each of these
three enzymes and explain how their function matches their optimal pH.
Penny Flipase Modeling Activity: Explain the role of denaturation, coenzymes, and competitive inhibitors in
influencing enzymatic reaction rates. Calculate rate for time 0-5 and 10-20 for the 3 trends on the graph
below. Explain what’s happening at the molecular level during these two time periods for these 3 different
environments.
Acids and Bases (2.6): What does an acid/base do to an enzyme? How? Draw 4 molecules in solution: NaOH,
HCl, vinegar, and ammonia. Explain how each caused a pH change in the solution. Explain how pH is measured.
The Spit Lab: Part 1: Describe what a serial dilution is and what the value of it is. Explain how the indicator
iodine works to indicate the presence of starch. Use the equation for the line of the known amylase
concentrations to determine the unknown amylase concentration of a student’s spit where the student’s spit
digested 275mm2 of starch.
Area of Digested Starch (mm2)
350
y = 255x + 45.424
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
Concentration of Amylase (%)
The Spit Lab Part 2: Factors Affecting Enzyme Function: What factors influence enzyme shape? How can this
be measured? Use amylase, iodine, amylose, and maltose in your explanation.
Unit 4: Cell Communication: REVIEW TOPICS: All questions must be answered and turned in on December 15th
in order to be allowed to do the test make-up.
POGIL Activity: Cell Communication: How do cells, in general, communicate? How are external signals able to
affect changes within a cell? Explain factors that cause a response. Compare different methods organisms
have for communicating between cells. Explain the pros/cons of each method. Use examples. Explain why one
cell is a target for one ligand. Define terms: paracrine, autocrine, juxtacrine, endocrine, ligand, receptor
Signal Transduction Pathway: Concept 34.2 and 34.6: What are the 4 steps of the Signal Transduction
Pathway? Compare the parts of the pathway that are extracellular with those that are intracellular. Why is the
receptor said to be ligand specific. Refer to specific ideas from Unit 3 on Protein Structure.
Insulin/Glucagon Model: Concept 34.8: How is a signal transduction pathway passed by body cells that have
been stimulated by insulin/glucagon? In your explanation, use the following terms: insulin, glucagon,
hyperglycemic, hypoglycemic, insulin receptor, glut4 transporter, glycogen synthase, glycogen phosphorylase,
glucose, glycogen, facilitated diffusion, pancreas, homeostasis, blood, liver cell
Diabetes Drawings Handout: Control of Blood Glucose Levels: Explain the role of genetics, diet, and exercise in
causing Type I and Type II diabetes. Compare a person’s glycogen, glucose, and enzymes in a person without
diabetes, with Type I diabetes, and with Type II diabetes. Use drawings in your comparisons. Describe
treatments for Type I and Type II.
Neuron Stop Motion Movies:
 Define and draw the parts of the neuron: cell body, dendrites, axon, synapse.




Describe the role of active transport in creating the resting membrane potential of a neuron. Describe
the role of and describe how the Na+/K+ pump works. In your description, use ALL of the following
terms: Na+, K+, ATP, ADP, P, Na+/K+ pump, membrane potential, -70mV
How does a neuron send a signal from one end to another end of the cell? In your description, use ALL
of the following terms: Na+, K+, neurotransmitter, neurotransmitter/ligand gated ion channel, Na+
voltage gated channel, K+ voltage gated channel, action potential, -70mV, -55mV, +30mV
How does a neuron send a signal to another neuron? In your explanation, use ALL of the following
terms: vesicle, exocytosis, Ca2+, neurotransmitter, Ca2+ voltage gated channel, -70mV, -55mV, +30mV
Identify the parts of the graph and what is happening at different points on the graph.
Neuron Function Handout: Compare Figure 4 and 5 below. Explain what is happening in each, comparing each
protein (A-G). Label each protein as either: ligand gated ion channel, voltage gated Na+ channel, or voltage
gated K+ channel. Explain the movement of ions by facilitated diffusion through the different ion channels.
Virus Life Cycle Handout: Why do viruses hurt us? Compare the life cycle of a bacteriophage, influenza virus,
and HIV. Use terms: cell membrane, receptor, lytic cycle, latent cycle, viral DNA, host DNA, viral replication
POGIL Activity: Immunity: Compare the initial and secondary exposure to an antigen. How do cells
communicate via antibodies and antigens? Understand the role of the following in the adaptive immune
response: antigen, antibody, killer T cell, helper T cell, B cell, memory cell, macrophage, perforin, lysosome.
Explain why adaptive immunity is learned in an individual’s life. Use the graph in your explanation, comparing
what’s happening to B cells in the first star compared to the second.
Lab: ELISA: How can scientists determine if an organism is producing an antibody? Explain how an ELISA works.
Use a drawing to explain.
Concept 34.10: Autoimmune Disorders: How do immune cells “know” which cells should be attacked and
which should not? What happens when a T cell does not know which cells to attack? Compare two
autoimmune disorders (see list p.659 and research on the internet (1 paragraph should suffice). What’s the
same, and what’s different?
Unit 5: Photosynthesis and Cell Respiration
Energy “IN” Matter Worksheet: Explain how energy is stored in a molecule.
Concept 3.4: Carbohydrates: Draw the structure of a carbohydrate. Sketch and compare glucose, sucrose, and
cellulose. Compare a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, and a polysaccharide. Why does a lipid have more
potential energy than a carbohydrate? Explain using your understanding of electronegativity.
Photosynthesis Notes: What is the general formula for photosynthesis? Where does it happen? How does it
explain where the mass of a plant comes from? Why do plants need light, air, water, and soil (remember, soil
is not needed for photosynthesis). How do photosystems transfer energy to plants? Inputs/outputs? What is
the role of chlorophyll, a photon, and water? For the electron transport chain: know where in the cell, what is
the input/output, how energy is transferred, the role of the phospholipid bilayer, integral proton pumps, and
ATP synthase. Why do we breathe oxygen?
POGIL Activity: Photosynthesis: Note location of each of the 2 reactions of photosynthesis: light reactions and
the Calvin Cycle. Compare the reactants and products of each. Compare the role of chloroplasts, mesophyll
cells, stomata, xylem, thylakoid, thylakoid space, stroma, and thylakoid membrane
Lab: Photosynthesis and Cell Respiration in Mung Beans: How do different environmental factors affect
photosynthesis and cell respiration? How can this be measured?
Modeling Activity: Harvesting Light: Why is chlorophyll an affective molecule in absorbing light? What does it
mean to “absorb” a photon? Why are plants green?
Cell Respiration Notes: How do chemicals transfer potential energy? Why does an organism bother with so
many steps in oxidizing sugar? Know what, in general, happens during glycolysis, Krebs, and electron transport
chain. Why do we breathe oxygen?
POGIL Activity: Cell Respiration: Note location of each of the 3 reactions of cell respiration: glycolysis, Krebs,
electron transport chain. Compare the reactants and products of each.
Modeling Activity: Cell Respiration: How is potential energy transferred from glucose to ATP? Identify and
draw the structures of the plant that help the plant perform photosynthesis and cell respiration. Describe how
the energy from light gets transferred to sugar and ATP. Use your drawings to show how the potential energy
of light has been used to produce sugar, a high potential energy chemical, and ATP. Connect the molecular,
organelle, and organismal processes. Show how the plant is a system of parts that work together to
accomplish the task of photosynthesis and cell respiration.