Xavier College Preparatory High School

34-200 Cook Street

Palm Desert, CA 92211

Midterm Exam Preparation Guide:

Pre-AP Biology
Spring 2024
Ms. Denise Velasquez
[email protected]
Voicemail: 6197

Office Hours prior/during Midterms Week:

Mondays after school from 2:45pm-3:15pm
Tuesdays before school from 7:30am-7:55am
Thursdays at lunch from 1:00pm-1:30pm

Midterms Week
Monday, March 11th from 8:00-9:00am

Exam Date and Time:

● Monday, March 11th at 9:00am

Weight of Semester Grade: Midterm Exam is 7.5% of overall grade

Exam Details:
● Midterm exam will consist of multiple choice questions, matching, fill in the blanks, and cell
diagrams/labeling.
● Midterm exam is worth 85 points

Materials Allowed
Allowed Not Allowed

● Ipads, chromebooks, macbooks ● No Notes, Binders, Cheat Sheets,

Flashcards, etc
● Apple watches, smart watches, phones,
translators

Exam Policies/Procedures
● For your midterm exam, you will need a charged device. Cell phones will not be allowed to be used in
place of a smart device. Any student who does not have a charged device will have to make-up their
exam at a later date and time.
● All students must have a lockdown browser on the device that they will be using for the exam. No
exceptions. Please make sure it is up and running prior to your exam. If you run into any issues, please
let me know.
● Your notifications must be TURNED OFF on your devices. Put them on Do Not Disturb. Any
notifications will be considered cheating and will result in a “0”.
 ● All windows must be closed. The only window open should be your canvas page with your midterm
page open.
● All laptops must face forward and have your brightness turned up so your proctor can see your screen
from the back of the room.
● If you are done early, please close your laptop immediately. You may not work on anything else after
you are done. If you start working on other assignments, you will be sent to the dean.
● No talking to others or facing other students during the exam even if you are done with your exam.
Please respect everyone who is working on their exam.

Units/Topics Assessed:
● Midterm exam will cover material from pages 29-47 in your interactive science binder. Refer to the table
of contents found on Canvas.
● The units are as follows:
○ Unit 1: Cell Unit:
■ Chapter 8
● 8.2 Cell Structure
● 8.3 Cell Transport
■ Chapter 9
● 9.2 Photosynthesis Overview
■ Chapter 10
● 10.1 Cellular Respiration Overview
Room Assignments:
TBD

Helpful Resources:
● Interactive Science Binder
● Textbook
● Biology Teacher
● Khan Academy
● Biology Crash Course - Youtube

**Please note that this study guide is to help guide you while you study for your
MIDTERM exam. I highly recommend you look at your interactive binder to
review all material from quarter 3.
 Unit 0: Introduction to Science

Chapter 1.1: What is Science?

1. What is science?
2. What is the scientific method?
3. List the five steps of the scientific method.
4. What is the difference between an experimental group and a control group?
5. Why is it important to have constant variables?
6. Identify independent and dependent variables. Identify experimental and control groups.
7. Review the different practice examples of how to identify variables and the two groups required in a
controlled experiment.
8. Identify a well designed experiment.
9. What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
10. Define biology.

Unit 3: Cellular Systems

Chapter 2.1: The Nature of Matter

1. What are atoms?

2. What three subatomic particles that make up atoms?
3. What are the charges for each of the subatomic particles?
4. How are the subatomic particles arranged? Which subatomic particles make up the nucleus?
5. How many electrons can be held in the first shell of an atom? The second shell and beyond?
6. How do we determine how many protons, neutrons, and electrons are found within each element?
7. What are chemical compounds? What happens when chemical compounds are formed?
8. What is the difference between an ionic bond and a covalent bond? Which one is stronger and why?
9. Understand how table salt (NaCl) is an ionic compound.
10. How are ions formed?
11. What is an example of a molecule that has covalent bonds?

Chapter 2.3: Carbon Compounds

12. Why is carbon unique?

13. What are the four biological molecules (macromolecules)?
14. Which three macromolecules contain monomers?
15. Identify the monomers of carbohydrates.
16. What are the three types of simple carbohydrates?
17. What are the three types of complex carbohydrates?
18. What are the two types of disaccharides?
19. What are the functions of carbohydrates?
20. Identify the monomers of proteins.
21. What are the functions of proteins?
22. What are polypeptide bonds?
23. What makes up the monomers of proteins? How many are they?
24. How are the monomers joined together for proteins? What bond is involved?
25. What are the monomers of nucleic acids? What are the different components of the monomers?
26. What are the different types of nucleic acids?
27. What is the function of nucleic acids?
28. What is the function of lipids?
29. What are some examples of lipids? What makes up lipids?

Chapter 2.4: Chemical Reactions and Enzymes

1. What are chemical reactions?

2. What are reactants of a chemical reaction?
3. What are products of a chemical reaction?
4. What is activation energy?
5. Where is energy stored within molecules?
6. What is the difference between energy absorbing and energy releasing reactions?
7. Draw the two graphs of energy absorbing and energy releasing reactions.
8. Which reaction can occur spontaneously?
9. What are catalysts?
10. What are enzymes?
11. How do enzymes affect energy within a reaction?
12. Draw a diagram to show the effects of enzymes. (refer to enzyme catalase lab packet and powerpoint
lecture)
13. Review the alpha amylase activity (cracker experiment). Be able to write a summary using all the
vocabulary terms to explain what happened in the activity (refer to your 2.4 powerpoint packet)
14. What is a substrate?
15. Why is a key to a lock method used to describe an enzyme?
16. Draw enzyme-substrate complex reaction.
17. What is the active site of an enzyme?
18. What can cause an enzyme to denature?
19. List the four enzymes and substrates we have discussed in this class.
 Chapter 8.2 Cell Structure

● Identify the two different types of Eukaryotic Cell

● Understand the two different types of eukaryotic cells and organelles found in each cell (see table
below)

Eukaryotic Cell Animal Cell Plant Cell

Organelles Cytoplasm Cytoplasm

Mitochondria Mitochondria
Nucleus Chloroplast
Nucleolus Nucleus
Ribosomes Nucleolus
Endoplasmic Reticulum (smooth & Ribosomes
rough) Endoplasmic Reticulum (smooth &
Golgi Apparatus rough)
Centrioles Golgi Apparatus
Vesicles Vesicles
Cell Membrane Cell Membrane
Cell Wall

● Label the eukaryotic cells with the organelles listed in the table above.
● Know all the functions of each organelle found in both eukaryotic cells (reference table above for list of
organelles).
● What is the cell membrane composed of? What macromolecules are found within the cell membrane?
● Draw a phospholipid.
 ● What are the five properties of cell membranes?
● What does selective permeability mean?

8.3 Cell Transport

● What are the two different types of cell transport?
● What is the concentration gradient?
● What is dynamic equilibrium?
● What is diffusion?
● What is osmosis?
● What is facilitated diffusion?
● What is endocytosis?
● What is exocytosis?
● What special proteins are found embedded in the cell membrane to allow water molecules to pass
through? Why do we need these proteins to help water (think of the cell membrane properties and
water)?
● Understand the diagram below:
○ Where is the water diffusing to? Why?

○
● What is hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic? Understand the difference in the diagrams below:

● How do animal cells differ than plant cells when placed in different types of solutions? ( hypertonic,
hypotonic, and isotonic)
 Chapter 9: Overview of Photosynthesis
● What is pigment?
● What is white light?
● What is chlorophyll and where is it located?
● Understand the structure of the chloroplast and identify the parts of the chloroplast.
● How are we able to see an object’s color? (Hint: why is an apple red?)
● What is the main organelle responsible for photosynthesis?
● What are the two stages of photosynthesis?
● What are the reactants and products of photosynthesis?
● Understand which reactants enter at which stage of photosynthesis and what products are produced.
See image below.

Chapter 10: Cellular Respiration

● What are the similarities and differences between photosynthesis and cellular respiration?
● What are the reactants and products of cellular respiration?
● Where does cellular respiration take place?
● What are the three stages of cellular respiration?
● How many ATP molecules are produced in cellular respiration? How many are produced in each stage
of cellular respiration?
● What are the two types of cellular respiration?
● Understand which reactants enter at which stage of cellular respiration and what products are
produced.