Midterm Review Questions
Name: _____________________________
Write answers on a separate sheet of paper and STUDY!!!! 
1. What is the first step of the scientific method? Define.
a. Define inference2. What are the steps (in order) of the scientific method?
a. What is the next step if your hypothesis is supported?
b. What is the next step if your hypothesis is not supported?
3. What is the very first thing a student should do before beginning a lab activity?
4. Graphs are used to compare/analyze data found while conducting an experiment. From this, you are
able to draw a conclusion. There are 2 main types of data:
a. Quantitativeb. Qualitative5. In a controlled experiment, ____variable is changed. All other variables are kept unchanged, or
________.
a. Independent variableb. Dependant variable6. If you wanted to measure the mass of something very small, such as the mold that grew on your
bread for your portfolio experiment, which would be the best unit of measurement?
Kilogram, kilometer, milligram, or millimeter
7. How do you find the average of something?
8. Bar graphs are used to display information found by __________.
a. Consecutive9. What is a scientific theory?
a. A useful theory that has been thoroughly ______and _______ by many lines of evidence may
become the __________ view among the majority of scientists, but no theory is considered absolute
_________. Science is always changing; as new evidence is uncovered, a theory may be ______ or
________ by a more useful explanation. (p.13)
10. What is the goal of basic scientific research in biology?
11. What is peer-review?
a. If a researcher makes an observation that is contrary to scientific understand, what should
they do?
12. Why is it important to validate the reliability of an experiment?
a. How would this be done?
13. Are scientific theories always absolute truths? If not, why?
14. Why is peer review important?
a. Name 3 documents that are considered reliable in the scientific community.
15. List and define (in order) the 5 levels of organization. (ch. 3 sect.1)
16. Typically, an experiment is divided into control and experimental groups.
a. Control groupb. Experimental group17. Think about your bread mold experiment for your portfolio. If one piece of bread was put in the
refrigerator, what would you do to the second piece of bread to be a good control?
18. List the 3 parts to the cell theory:
19. List the 8 levels of organization for all living things (in order):
20. What is a covalent bond?
a. How many valence electrons does carbon have?
b. How many covalent bonds can carbon form?
c. How many covalent bonds can hydrogen form with carbon?
21. What makes a molecule an organic compound?
a. Identify the organic compounds: C6H12O6; H2O; CuSO4; C12H24O12
22. What is the pH scale?
a. What is an acid?
b. What is a base?
c. Which solution has the greatest concentration of hydroxide ions? Hydrogen ions?
(urine—pH 6.0; rainwater—pH 5.5; tomato juice—pH 4.0; gastric juice—pH2.0)
23. Sugars dissolve easily in water. What property of water explains why sugar dissolves easily in water?
24. When the pH value of a solution changes from 2 to 4, how did the Hydrogen ion concentration
change? Hint: which pH has more hydrogen ions?
25. What is the balanced chemical equation for cellular respiration? What is the balanced chemical
equation for photosynthesis?
26. What key factor distinguishes organic compounds from inorganic compounds?
27. What are enzymes?
a. How do enzymes speed up chemical reactions?
28. Define ATP. What characteristic of an ATP molecule enables it to store energy for use by cells?
29. Define diffusion & facilitated diffusion.
a. Describe the movement of molecules by diffusion.
b. Describe the movement of molecules by facilitated diffusion.
30. What is the structure and function on the Golgi apparatus?
31. Which organelle makes proteins in the cell?
32. After proteins are made in the cell, what organelles do they move to?
a. What happens to the protein at each step?
33. Define homeostasis.
a. If an organism is in an environment that is hypotonic to the cell, which way does water
move?
b. If the organism is a Paramecium, how can it maintain homeostasis?
34. What is the purpose of cellular respiration?
a. Which step of cellular respiration produces the most ATP?
35. Describe the structure of the cell membrane.
a. Draw a lipid bilayer and shade the polar areas.
36. What process are thylakoid membranes a part of?
a. What step of this process occurs in the thylakoids?
b. What occurs in the stroma?
c. How are the two steps (what occurs in the thylakoids and stroma) connected?
37. What is a pigment?
a. What pigments are found in plants?
b. If the plant is green, what is the most abundant pigment?
38. What are the products of the light-dependent reactions?
a. What are the products of the light-independent reactions?
b. How are the products of light-dependent reactions related to the light-independent
reactions?
Constructed Response Topics
1. Characteristics of Living Things
2. ATP