Study Guide AP Biology Exam-Day Test

Study guide – AP Biology Exam-day Test

Major concepts to look over:

Evolution

Biochemistry / Molecular Biology

Genetics and Gene Expression / Regulation

Biological Systems

Evolution

 Natural selection as a major, nonrandom mechanism of evolution

 Evolutionary fitness

 The role of mutations and genetic variation in evolution

 Conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (in other words, conditions for a population NOT to evolve)

 Genetic drift as a result of the founder effect or the bottleneck effect

 Fossil evidence for evolution

 Homologous, analogous, and vestigial structures

 Development of new species – requires reproductive isolation, which could be geographical, behavioral, temporal, physical

 Origins of life on earth – evidence that early organic compounds could be synthesized abiotically, RNA World Hypothesis

Biochemistry / Molecular Biology

 Atoms – protons, neutrons, electrons, isotopes, ions, valence and electron orbitals

 Bonding – ionic, covalent, polar covalent, hydrogen, van der Waals

 Properties of water – Surface tension, cohesion/adhesion, polarity

 Structures / functions of macromolecules – Carbs, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids

 Chemical reactions and energy – Endergonic/exergonic, endothermic/exothermic, anabolic/catabolic, +/- ΔG, activation energy

 Enzymes and their role in organisms

 Photosynthesis & Cell Respiration, including o Redox reactions

o Generation of an electrochemical gradient to fuel ATP synthesis

o Chemiosmosis, photophosphorylation

 Fermentation – alcohol and lactic acid

 Maintenance of homeostasis by the cell membrane

Genetics and Gene Expression/Regulation

 DNA structure, replication, transcription, translation, differences between DNA and RNA

 Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic gene regulation – operons, RNA modifications, regulatory genes and transcription factors

 Signal-transduction pathways are linked to gene expression; ligands and second messengers play a major role in this process

 Mendelian genetics – dominance, codominance, incomplete dominance, linked genes, sex- linked traits, pedigrees, Punnett squares, and probabilities

 Laws of segregation and independent assortment

 Mitosis & meiosis, comparing/contrasting the 2 processes

 Genetic disorders are a result of gene mutations, including insertions, deletions, and substitutions, or from chromosomal nondisjunction events

 Viruses affect the gene expression of the hosts they infect

Biological systems

 Structures / functions of cell organelles and how they interact to form a working system

 Xylem and phloem help the leaves and roots of plants work as a system

 The structure of an ecological community is measured and described in terms of its species composition and species diversity

 Food webs demonstrate the interactions and flow of energy among organisms in an ecosystem

 Human impacts cause major disruptions in ecosystems, ultimately affecting the extinction rates of species

 Energy flows in a single direction, while matter is recycled in an ecosystem

 Competition for resources between organisms can be described by the logistic population growth model

 Bacterial communities function as a unit through quorum sensing  Organisms may interact with each other symbiotically through mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic relationships

Short-answer section: This will involve some maths! Here are some things you will want to revisit:

 Water potential – calculating water potential / determining tonicity based on calculations

 Genetic linkage – determining if genes are linked using crossover frequency data

 Mendelian genetics – based on a di- or trihybrid cross, predict offspring probabilities

 Ecology / Ecosystems – interpretation of population models and predicting population size

 Chi-squared calculations – really any set of data could apply here, just know how to use the data and formula