All AP Biology students are eligible to compete. Our team consists of 4 students.
Please see Mrs Hance if you are interested.
About Science League
The Science League Test is administered during the second Thursday of January, February, March, and April.
The purpose of the Science League is to provide competitions between schools in selected science areas of study.All competitions are on two levels.One level is for the students.Students within any one testing area are ranked with each other based upon their scores on 3 of the 4 exams given.Any student completing 3 of the 4 exams receives a certificate from the Science League.The top ten percent (10%) of the students receiving a certificate also receive a student plaque.Last year the League awarded approximately 240 student plaques.The plaques are presented to the students in conjunction with your school’s awards program.
The next level of competition is with teams.The students make up teams from the various schools.Each school only needs two members for each team, but as many as four may compete for each subject area.Schools may sign up for one to nine teams.Team scores which is sum of top 2 student scores are cumulative from January through April.Competition within each testing area is extremely keen.By the end of the season there can be as little as one question separating first place from second place.The final team score for the season will be the sum of all four exams.Schools are ranked from #1 down to the last school.The top 10 schools (not 10%) are awarded plaques.
BIOLOGY 11 updated 2-9-2015
Question topics for each test will include questions which relate to the Big Ideas I –IV listed below taken from the Advanced Placement Curriculum designed by The College Board. Questions will involve science practices such as, analysis of data and evidence to support biological principles.
Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives diversity and unity of life
Big Idea 2: Biological Systems utilize free energy and molecular building blocks to grow, reproduce, and to maintain dynamic homeostasis
Big Idea 3: Living Systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life processes.
Big Idea 4: Biological Systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties.
Whereas specific organ systems are not addressed in detail, what remains “fair game” is how
each of the above “big ideas” manifests itself in any given system. In other words, students
will be expected to make sense of how, for example, a motor neuron communicates with a
muscle cell without having to memorize the detailed structure of either."
EXAM January: Monomers and Polymers of Biological Molecule; Structures’ relationship to function, Protein Folding, Bonding in Polymers, Enzymes, Coenzymes, Cofactors, Lipid and their Properties, Carbohydrates, Cell Structure and Subcellular Organelle Function(s) and Interactions, Cell and tissue types, Germ layers and development. Free Energy and Gibbs Reactions, Enthalpy in Biological Systems, Biological Applications to the Laws of Thermodynamics, Exothermic/Exothermic Reactions, Coupled Reactions, Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration, Endotherm/Exothermic, Body Temperature Regulation, Cell Types, Surface Area/Volume Ratios, Fluid Mosaic Model of the Membrane, Properties of Water, Osmoregulation, Membrane Transport, Cellular Feedback Mechanisms, Metabolic Processes and Metabolism, Communication: Signaling, reception, transduction and response, Systems included: Nervous, Endocrine , Immune
EXAM February DNA and replication , RNA in Protein Production, RNA Types, Cell Cycle and Controls, Mitosis, Meiosis, Application of Mendel’s Laws, Mendelian andNonmendieian Genetics, Genetic Disorders, Cancer, Genetic Engineering Techniques, Nonnuclear Inheritance, Transposons, Crossover, Gene Regulation, Apoptosis, Developmental Genes, Mutations, Biotechnology, Embryonic Development in Plants and Animals, Signaling Mechanisms, Transmission and Transduction Pathways, Polyploidy, Sex Inheritance, Mutation Effects, Viral Replication, Genetic Variation Processes, Mating Types, Behaviors and Parenting Bacteria and Yeast Reproduction and use in Biotech, Systems in Plants and Animals; Reproduction and Development
EXAM 3 March Evolution, Natural Selection, Artificial Selection, Mechanisms for Evolution, Hardy Weinberg Principles, Genetic Drift, Gene flow, Evidences for Evolution, Blast Genomic Analysis, Cladogram , Evolutionary Trees, Evolution of the Domains, Adaptive Radiation, Island Biogeography Theory, Speciation, Prezygotic and PostzygoticMechanisms, Energy in Reproductive Strategies Hypothesis on Origins of Life, Virus and Bacteria types and adaptations Evolution of Systems in Plants and Animals; egnervous, endocrine and immune.
EXAM 4 April Ecosystem Energy Pyramid Structure, Food Web Alterations, Organ and System Specialization, Interactions and Coordination in Plants and Animals, Organism Responses Adaptation to Environment, Ecosystem Transformations, Components of a community, Transpiration, Population: Variation, Growth, Dynamics and Distribution, Exponential and Logistic Population Growth Models, Population Density Limiting Factors, Species Richness, Species Diversity, Competition, Bacteria, Fungi, Symbiotic Relationships, Food Webs and Productivity and Energy Dynamics, Keystone species, Exotic and Alien Species Biogeochemical Cycles, Energy of Reproductive Strategies, Behavioral and Physiological Response to Environmental Stress, Taxis and Kinesis, Tropisms, Biological Rhythms, Behavioral Biology,