BIOL 2030 FINAL EXAM 2026 ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Organic compounds - ✔✔- Contain Carbon (and other atoms) covalently bonded
- Present in living things
✔✔Hydrocarbons - ✔✔Organic compounds with only C and H
✔✔Macromolecules - ✔✔- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Nucleic Acids
- Lipids
- Polymers
✔✔Proteins - ✔✔Polymers of amino acids
✔✔Carbohydrates - ✔✔Polymers of simple sugars
✔✔Nucleic acids - ✔✔Polymers of nucleotides
(sugar, phosphate, N base)
✔✔Lipids - ✔✔Have many structures, not necessarily polymers
✔✔Polymers - ✔✔Long chains of repeated units
✔✔Energy - ✔✔The capacity to accomplish work
✔✔Two major forms of energy - ✔✔- Kinetic
- Potential
✔✔Kinetic - ✔✔Energy due to motion
✔✔Potential - ✔✔Energy due to composition or position
✔✔1st Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔Energy cannot be created or destroyed but can
change forms
- When energy changes forms, there is always some loss of heat or light; no conversion
is 100% efficient
✔✔2nd Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔Energy will change from a more orderly state to a
less orderly state unless some force is applied to counteract that
✔✔Energy input to Earth's living systems - ✔✔- Sun
, - Gravitational pull from the moon causing tides
- Geothermal heating
- Sunlight energy is captured by plants through photosynthesis and converted to energy
in chemical bonds
- Some bacteria can capture geothermal energy through chemosynthesis
✔✔Plate Tectonics - ✔✔- 15 major plates moving a few inches per year
- It's plate boundaries that have major consequences on environment
- Plate movements and collisions give rise to mountain ranges and cause earthquakes
and volcanoes
✔✔Species - ✔✔One particular type of organism; members of a species share many
characteristics and can interbreed with each other to produce fertile offspring.
- Given a 2-part scientific name (genus + specific epithet) e.g., Mimus polyglottos
✔✔Population - ✔✔Group of individuals of a given species living in an area at a given
time
✔✔Evolution - ✔✔Change in population over time due to changes in genes which
change appearance or behavior
✔✔Natural Selection - ✔✔Individuals with traits best adapted to their environment will
survive and reproduce to pass those traits on to future generations
✔✔What causes genetic variation in a population? - ✔✔- Mutations
- Sexual reproduction
- Immigration or emigration can change genetics in a population
- Non-random mating within a population can change genetic makeup
✔✔Mutations - ✔✔Random changes in DNA; if present in egg or sperm, can be passed
down
✔✔Sexual reproduction - ✔✔Offspring has a combination of genes that are a mix of the
parents and not the same as either parent
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Organic compounds - ✔✔- Contain Carbon (and other atoms) covalently bonded
- Present in living things
✔✔Hydrocarbons - ✔✔Organic compounds with only C and H
✔✔Macromolecules - ✔✔- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Nucleic Acids
- Lipids
- Polymers
✔✔Proteins - ✔✔Polymers of amino acids
✔✔Carbohydrates - ✔✔Polymers of simple sugars
✔✔Nucleic acids - ✔✔Polymers of nucleotides
(sugar, phosphate, N base)
✔✔Lipids - ✔✔Have many structures, not necessarily polymers
✔✔Polymers - ✔✔Long chains of repeated units
✔✔Energy - ✔✔The capacity to accomplish work
✔✔Two major forms of energy - ✔✔- Kinetic
- Potential
✔✔Kinetic - ✔✔Energy due to motion
✔✔Potential - ✔✔Energy due to composition or position
✔✔1st Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔Energy cannot be created or destroyed but can
change forms
- When energy changes forms, there is always some loss of heat or light; no conversion
is 100% efficient
✔✔2nd Law of Thermodynamics - ✔✔Energy will change from a more orderly state to a
less orderly state unless some force is applied to counteract that
✔✔Energy input to Earth's living systems - ✔✔- Sun
, - Gravitational pull from the moon causing tides
- Geothermal heating
- Sunlight energy is captured by plants through photosynthesis and converted to energy
in chemical bonds
- Some bacteria can capture geothermal energy through chemosynthesis
✔✔Plate Tectonics - ✔✔- 15 major plates moving a few inches per year
- It's plate boundaries that have major consequences on environment
- Plate movements and collisions give rise to mountain ranges and cause earthquakes
and volcanoes
✔✔Species - ✔✔One particular type of organism; members of a species share many
characteristics and can interbreed with each other to produce fertile offspring.
- Given a 2-part scientific name (genus + specific epithet) e.g., Mimus polyglottos
✔✔Population - ✔✔Group of individuals of a given species living in an area at a given
time
✔✔Evolution - ✔✔Change in population over time due to changes in genes which
change appearance or behavior
✔✔Natural Selection - ✔✔Individuals with traits best adapted to their environment will
survive and reproduce to pass those traits on to future generations
✔✔What causes genetic variation in a population? - ✔✔- Mutations
- Sexual reproduction
- Immigration or emigration can change genetics in a population
- Non-random mating within a population can change genetic makeup
✔✔Mutations - ✔✔Random changes in DNA; if present in egg or sperm, can be passed
down
✔✔Sexual reproduction - ✔✔Offspring has a combination of genes that are a mix of the
parents and not the same as either parent
