Biology Exam
Yonah Ziemba
A few things about the Biology test:
- The practice tests don't cover photosynthesis or viruses. Make sure to study that separately.
-Both professors said that they make questions based on the lectures, not the textbook. The book has a lot of information that was not in lecture, and the lectures had a lot that's not in the book, so it may not be wise to rely on it too much.
I find that the end of chapter reviews are very helpful. Almost all of it was covered (and emphasized) in lecture. It's a brief overview of the main concepts, and it's usually understandable even if you don't know the chapter or lecture. It's a good starting point.
-The chart on page 696 is essential. It's worth many points on every sample test.
-I got the answer key to spring '08 as an excel document from a friend who took it that year. If you want it, I can email it to you.
- I think this test has more memorization than any of the previous tests. Often memorization is easier if... 1) you think of memory aids (the more ridiculous the better). 2) You say the word verbally; especially with our long, ten letters or more, words. It's impossible to memorize a long meaningless sequence of letters; but it's easier to remember a sound. (It doesn't matter if you pronounce it incorrectly.) 3) you start off believing that you can do it.
-From the sample exams, it seems like these teachers don't reuse their old questions too much. But there are a few basic concepts that keep on coming up in the questions, and many that never came up once. Maybe the best study method is to get a feel for this from the old tests, and read the slides while focusing on (and memorizing) those concepts.
( I'm trying to identify a concise list of all the concepts that came up two times or more on sample tests, clicker questions and homework. I'm almost finished, and, if I think it's reliable, I'll post it on the google group tomorrow.)
-As usual, recordings of all the lectures are available at www.dropbox.com, username- chemist...@gmail.com, password nyu@ws. (Please don't give this to non-postbaccs. I can get permission to record the lectures for myself and some friends, but I don't think the teachers would like it to be publicized, and I would be responsible.)
Good Luck!
Jay
Here are my answers for the 2009 Exam 1
Correct me if I am wrong, thanks,
1) A
2) C
3) E
4) A
5) C ?
6) A ? did we cover "16S" DNA? p. 566 addresses an rDNA marker that
distinguishes bacteria and archea...
7) A
8) C
9) C
10)C
11)C
12)B
13)A
14)D
15)A ?
16) D
17)A
18)B ?
19)B
20)A
21)E
22)C
23)D ?
24)E ?
25)D
26)A
27)C
28)B
29)B
30)C
31)E
32)A
33)D
34)E
35)A
36)A
37)A
38)C
39)C
40)B
41)E
42)B ? (or E?)
43) E
44)C ?
45)A
46)E
47)E ? I'm basing this on the homework question from last week
48) A
49)D - it's a trilobite right?
50) D?
51)C
52)A
53)D
54)E
55)D
56)A ?? no idea
57)A
58)A
59)D?
60)C
61)A ?? i'm guessing from the pictures on p. 712
62)E (or is it D?)
63)A
64)A
Kim Kopff
Jay
Jay
2sigma
discuss, I combined my answers with yours--sorry for all the "NOT X,"
I don't mean "no! you're wrong!" simply that our answers do not
agree--was trying to do it fast and be concise and make it easy to
see. For when our answers disagreed, I tried to write an explanation
if I felt it was useful.
That was great when we had the Google spreadsheet last semester--does
anyone know how to set that up for the next exam?
Still very unsure of 29 & 58--can anyone please explain these?
Also, as a reminder, in his first lecture, Borowsky explicitly told us
to read about bird imprinting (Konrad Lorenz, p. 1163) and associative
learning (p. 1168), so he could pull questions from there.
1) C (NOT A—Leeuwenhoek was the first to describe microbes)
2) C
3) A (NOT E)
4) A (this is confusing, because could also be D, but A at least is
definitely true)
5) we didn’t cover this
6) “”
8) C
9) C
made of peptides)
11) C
12) B
13) A
14) D
15) A
16) D
17) A
18) B
19) B
20) A
21) E
22) C
23) D
24) A (NOT E—green algae is a model organism for photosynthesis. For
more on Dictyostelium see last 3 slides of Protists lecture)
25) D
26) A
27) C
28) B
29) B ?? (I thought D, but not sure—anyone clear on this one?)
30) D (NOT C)
31) E
32) C (NOT A)
33) D
34) E
35) A
36) A
37) A
38) C
39) C
40) B
41) E
42) B (Agree B, NOT E, b/c Borowsky talked a lot about looking at
features we can see with the naked eye (e.g. morphology and behavior),
as opposed to doing molecular analyses)
43) E
44) D (NOT C)
45) A
46) E
47) E (it’s in a slide)
48) A
49) D (Yeah it’s a trilobite—they look so freakin cool)
50) A (NOT D—it says in the slide with the cutaway spider)
51) C
52) A
53) D
54) E
55) D
56) B (NOT A—it’s hidden in a sentence two slides after that spider
slide)
57) A
58) E?? (I think—could be A, except that the definition of a tetrapod
in the slide is “four limbs and feet with digits (or E??? Borowsky
seemed to indicate that leg-like fins were present in ancestor of
tetrapod. He said ichthyostega was first true tetrapod—does that mean
it had real limbs, or limb-link fins? Wikipedia says it had lungs.)
59) D
60) C
61) D? (NOT A—process of elimination: we can’t assume color from
fossilized remains, so A and B are out, and Brorowsky mentioned that
limbless amphibians evolved later from those with legs)
62) E (definitely)
63) A
64) A
On Feb 24, 11:03 am, Yonah Ziemba <yz...@nyu.edu> wrote:
> Thanks, Jay! I want to look at it.
>
> Here is '08.
>
> 512KViewDownload
>
>
>
> Good luck tomorrow!
Laura G. Duncan
I agree with all of them except two, if someone sees where I'm going
wrong on these definitely point it out.
54) On pg. 681 in the text is says that both longitudinal and circular
muscles are used for locomotion but they work against a
"non-compressible coelomic fluid" so I thought it might be E instead
of D (though that part was never explicitly stated in lecture.)
58) I had A as an answer since in the slides under the photo of
Acanthodtega it says it has "tetrapods limb skeleton" and that's
repeated in the text too.
Otherwise I'm in agreement with all the answers above.
Good luck all,
-Laura
Hayley Weinberg
2sigma
Thanks Laura. Good call on 54.
Still not convinced on 58, since he said it's arguable whether
Acanthostega is a true tetrapod or ancestor of a tetrapod, but I think
A is probably a good guess. He probably covered this more
specifically in last year's lectures.
Also, someone caught another error: 23 should be E.
Finally, thanks Yonah for sharing all your hard work! It's a great
overview and I think you made a good assessment of what is most likely
to be covered. I want to expand on one point, though, because I think
it could come up on the exam:
For Protists (Lecture 3):
Secondary Endosymbiosis of Red Alga led to Stramenopiles (Diatoms,
Gold & Brown Algae; all photosynthetic), as well as the Alveolates.
Secondary Endosymbiosis also took place with a Green Alga, which led
to the Eugleinds. (Think: Green-Glein)
In contrast, the Kinetoplastids diverged from the Euglenids before
secondary endosymbiosis of the green alga, and only underwent a single
endosymbiotic event.
Also, remember that bacterial spore formation involves formation of an
"endospore" within the parent cell (an assymetric division), and then
the parent cell busts up when the spore is ready; the protective shell
doesn't form around the existing bacterial cell.
Thanks again, all.
R
Rebecca H Sussman
New York University
rhsu...@nyu.edu
917-692-2867
On Feb 24, 11:43 pm, Hayley Weinberg <hrweinb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> if anyone has some good mnemonics, please do share!
>
> happy studying
>
> (516) 987-7933