Section 1: 90 minutes

60 Multiple Choice Questions

50% of the exam

Section 2: 90 minutes

6 FRQ Questions (2 Long 4 Short)

50% of the exam

Unit 1: Chemistry of Life 8–11%

Unit 2: Cell Structure and Function 10–13%

Unit 3: Cellular Energetics 12–16%

Unit 4: Cell Communication and Cell Cycle 10–15%

Unit 5: Heredity 8–11%

Unit 6: Gene Expression and Regulation 12–16%

Unit 7: Natural Selection 13–20%

Unit 8: Ecology 10–15%

Types of Multiple Choice Question

Independent Questions

• Small prompt or a single graphic combined with one question

Question Sets

• Long prompts and multiple graphics, generally 3-5 questions per set.

~1.5 minutes per question recommended (each question in a question set is counted as its own question in this time estimate)

FRQs

Long FRQs

• 8-10 points

• Often requires you to draw a graph at least once

• Q1 and Q2

• 20 minutes each recommended (35 for 1.5x time accommodation)

Short FRQs

• 4 Points each

• 8 minutes each recommended (12 minutes for 1.5x time accommodation)

Following times above leaves 10 minutes (15 for 1.5x) for looking over answers

FRQ Practice Here

FRQ Math Reviews Here

Show your work for math!

There are also good unit reviews on both of these channels

FRQ Question Types

Long

• Q1 - interpretations and evaluating experimental results

• Q2 - interpreting and evaluating experimental results with graphing

Short

• Q3 - scientific investigation

• Q4- conceptual analysis

• Q5 - analyze a model or visual

• Q6 - analyze data

Things you need to know for FRQs

• Identify independent vs dependent variables

• When do you accept/reject null hypothesis

• Identify Positive vs negative control

• Construction of graphs

• Calculate percent change

Quick Overview of the Units

Unit 1

• 1.1 Structure of Water and Hydrogen Bonding

  • Water Properties

  • Understand hydrogen bonds

• 1.2 Elements of Life

  • Functional Groups

    • Hydroxyl

    • Carbonyl

    • Carboxyl

    • Amino/Amine

    • Phosphate

  • Isomers

• 1.3 Introduction to Biological Macromolecules + 1.4 Properties of Biological Macromolecules

  • Carbs

    • Sugar

    • Quick energy

  • Lipids

    • Fats

    • Hormones

    • Plasma membrane

  • Proteins

    • Enzymes

• 1.5 Structures and Functions of Biological Macromolecules

  • Be able to identify a macromolecule type based on its chemical structure

    • Proteins are the only macromolecule monomers with nitrogen, can have sulfur in the r group.

• 1.6 Nucleic Acids

  • Nucleic acids (also a macromolecule!)

    • RNA and RNA

    • Phosphodiester bonds

Unit 2

• 2.1 Cell Structure: Subcellular Components

  • Cell organelles

  • Endomembrane system

  • Cytoskeleton

  • Motor proteins

  • Intercellular Junctions

  • Extracellular Matrix

• 2.2 Cell Structure and Function + 2.3 - Cell Size

  • Surface Area: Volume ratio rule

• 2.4 Plasma Membranes

  • Phospholipid bilayer, fluid mosaic, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic

• 2.5 Membrane Permeability

  • Water, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and some small, hydrophobic molecules can pass through the membrane always, unassisted.

• 2.6 Membrane Transport

  • Exocytosis

  • Endocytosis

• 2.7 Facilitated Diffusion

  • Transport Proteins

  • Concentration gradient

• 2.8 Tonicity and Osmoregulation

  • Concentration gradient

  • Hypo -> hyper

• 2.9 Mechanisms of Transport

  • Active Transport

• 2.10 Cell Compartmentalization + 2.11 - Origins of Cell Compartmentalization

  • How is it helpful for cells to compartmentalize?

  • How did that happen? (Endosymbiosis theory)

Unit 3

• 3.1 Enzyme Structure

  • How do enzyme structures contribute to their function?

  • Substrate specific

• 3.2 Catalysis

  • How do enzymes help speed reactions

• 3.3 Environment Impacts on Enzyme Functioning

  • Heat and pH changes can denature proteins

• 3.4 Cellular Energy

  • Thermodynamics

  • Metabolism

  • Endergonic/Exergonic

  • ATP

  • Fermentation

• 3.5 Photosynthesis

  • Inputs and Outputs

  • Light independent reactions

    • Photolysis

    • Electron Transport Chain

  • Light dependent reactions

    • Calvin Cycle

• 3.6 Cellular Respiration

• 3.7 Fitness

  • CAM Plants

  • C3 Plants

  • C4 Plants

Unit 4

• 4.1 Cell Communication

  • Paracrine signaling

  • Endocrine signaling

  • Autocrine signaling

  • Synaptic signaling

  • Direct contact signaling

• 4.2 Introduction to Signal Transduction + 4.3 Signal Transduction + 4.4 Changes in Signal Transduction

  • How do signal transduction pathways work?

  • What are the stages of signal transduction pathways?

  • How do phosphorylation cascades work?

  • What are the common receptor types?

    • G-Protein coupled receptor

    • Enzyme-Coupled receptors

    • Ligand-gated ion channel

• 4.5 Feedback

  • Positive vs Negative feedback

• 4.6 Cell Cycle

  • Interphase G1, (G0), S, G2

  • Mitosis - M (prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase)

• 4.7 Regulation of Cell Cycle

  • G1, G2, and M checkpoints

  • cyclin and Cyclin Dependent Cyclase (CDK)

  • Maturation Promoting factors

  • Regulation of the cell cycle in cancer

Unit 5

• 5.1 Meiosis

  • Haploid (gamete) vs diploid (somatic)

  • Meiosis 1 and 2

  • Reductive Division

  • Chromosomes vs Chromatids and how many rate in various stages on meiosis

  • Compare/contrast meiosis and mitosis

• 5.2 Meiosis and Genetic Diversity

  • Crossing over

  • Independent assortment

• 5.3 Mendelian Genetics

  • Dominant vs recessive

  • Punnett squares

  • Pedigrees (Also for non-Mendelian)

  • Calculate expected phenotypic ratios or number of offspring of a certain cross

• 5.4 Non-Mendelian Genetics

  • Incomplete dominance

  • Codominance

  • Pleiotropy (effects of a single phenotype on another phenotypes)

  • Epistasis

  • Polygenic Inheritance

  • Sex-Linked traits

  • Mitochondrial Inheritance (maternal inheritance)

• 5.5 Environmental Effects on Phenotype

  • Epigenetics

  • Phenotypic plasticity

• 5.6 Chromosomal Inheritance

  • Barr Bodies

  • Chromosome vs chromatid

Unit 6

• 6.1 DNA and RNA Structure

  • Double/single helix

• 6.2 Replication

  • Which way is the DNA read?

  • How does replication work

  • What enzymes are involved?

  • How do viruses get their RNA replicated and reproduce? (Lytic vs lysogenic, retroviruses)

• 6.3 Transcription and RNA Processing

  • How does transcription work?

  • Which way is the DNA read?

  • What enzymes are used?

  • Know mRNA splicing, poly-a tail, GTP cap

• 6.4 Translation

  • How are proteins created?

  • A, P, and E sites on a ribosome

  • Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase

• 6.5 Regulation of Gene Expression

  • Operons in bacteria

    • Repressible operons

    • Inducible operons

  • Promoters in eukaryotes

    • Enhancer + transcription factors

    • Silencer + repressor

  • DNA methylation (turn off)

  • Histone acetylation (turn on)

  • HOX genes

• 6.6 Gene Expression and Cell Specialization

  • Stem cells

    • Totipotent

    • Pluripotent

    • Multipotent

  • Gene expression means the proteins they code for are translated at high enough levels

• 6.7 Mutations

  • Types of mutations, which are more dangerous

• 6.8 Biotechnology

  • Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR)

  • Gel Electrophoresis

  • DNA Sequencing (Sanger Method)

  • Conjugation

  • Restriction enzymes

  • Cloning

  • Transgenic animals

Unit 7

• 7.1 Introduction to Natural Selection + 7.2 Natural Selection

  • Lamarckian Evolution (Wrong)

  • Darwinian Evolution

• 7.3 Artificial Selection

  • Dog breeding

  • Pesticides

  • Antibiotic resistance bacteria

• 7.4 Population Genetics

  • Directional selection

  • Disruptive selection

  • Stabilizing selection

  • Genetic Drift

    • Bottleneck effect

    • Founder effect

  • Sexual selection

  • Balancing selection with heterozygous advantage

  • Inclusive fitness

• 7.5 Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

  • Large population

  • No migrations

  • No net mutations

  • Random mating

  • No natural selection

  • Know how to use the Hardy-Weinberg equation

• 7.6 Evidence of Evolution + 7.7 Common Ancestry

  • Homologous structures

  • Analogous structures

  • Vestigial structures

• 7.8 Continuing Evolution (in 7.4)

• 7.9 Phylogeny

  • Phylogenetic Trees

• 7.10 Speciation

  • Allopatric Speciation

  • Sympatric Speciation

  • Prezygotic vs postzygotic barriers

• 7.11 Extinction

  • Regional extinction vs extinction in the wild vs “Traditional” extinction

  • Natural selection and fitness contribution to extinction

• 7.12 Variants in Populations (in 7.4)

• 7.13 Origin of Life on Earth

  • ”Primordial soup” theory

  • Abiotic synthesis -> macromolecules -> protocells -> self-replicating molecules

  • Endosymbiotic theory

Unit 8

• 8.1 Responses to the Environment

  • Specialist vs Generalists

  • K-selected vs r-selected

  • Endotherms vs Ectotherms

  • Countercurrent flow

  • Fixed action patterns

  • Innate behavior

  • Proximate vs Ultimate cause

  • Classical vs Operant conditioning

  • Taxis and Kinesis

  • Types of Learning

• 8.2 Energy Flow through Environments

  • 10% rule

  • Trophic levels

• 8.3 Population Ecology

  • Carrying capacity

  • logistical vs exponential growth

  • Survivorship curves

• 8.4 Effects of Density of Populations

  • Distribution patterns

  • Niches and resource partitioning

• 8.5 Community Ecology

  • Types of Symbiosis

  • Aposematic coloring

  • Cryptic coloring

  • Batesian mimicry

  • Mullerian mimicry

  • Primary vs Secondary succession

• 8.6 Biodiversity

  • Impacts of biodiversity

• 8.7 Disruptions to Ecosystems

  • Invasive species

  • Periodic vs Episodic vs random disturbances

FAQ’s

*note, these are simply things I’ve heard from my teacher or teachers online, I’m not an expert. I can’t confirm anything here

Do you need to remember all the inputs and outputs of each step of respiration/photosynthesis?

Not really, most questions that require that level of specificity also give you a diagram.

Do we need to memorize any formulas?

No, there is a formula sheet on the exam, but you need to know how to use the equations and apply them

What graphs will I potentially need to know how to draw?

X:Y, Log Y, Bar, Histogram (Bar Graph), Line, Dual Y, Box and Whisker, and Pie graphs

Common examples on AP tests (you don’t have to know these, you should be able to use application to understand them, but it is easier if you know it)

• Adrenaline signal-transduction pathway (cAMP and CDKs)

• Neurons and action potential

• Sodium Potassium pumps

• Intracellular vs extracellular signaling - Know intracellular signaling is generally just lipid hormones, protein ligands cannot often cross (the membrane, especially without a channel protein! including antibodies!)