Key features of the Biology HL study guide:

• Guidance on tackling short answer and extended response questions with multiple examples and model answers.  

• Advice on interpreting command terms and maximising marks.   

• Self-test quizzes at the end of each chapter to test your understanding of the material.  

• Easy to learn and reproduce diagrams you can use in your exams.  

• Additional Information Boxes featuring helpful details for each chapter to enhance your understanding.  

• Need-to-Know Boxes highlighting essential information you must understand for exam success.  

• Call Out Symbols alerting you to critical information such as diagrams you need to be able to draw or identify, and labels you need to know how to annotate.  

• Question Boxes throughout each chapter providing you with a chance to apply your learning.  

• Exam-style problems for Genetics with worked examples.  

• Glossaries at the end of each chapter to help you make note of key terms.  

• Advice on how to prepare for exam day, including what to bring with you.  

Contents of the Biology HL study guide:

Mathematical Requirements  

• Size units in Biology  

• Relative sizes 

• Scale bars 

• Calculating magnification 

• Averages 

• Variables 

• Standard deviation 

• Graphs 

• Error bars 

• Hypotheses and significance testing 

• Statistics – chi-squared test 

• Nomograms 

Molecular Biology Part 1 

• Molecules 

• Carbon 

• Water 

• Carbohydrates 

• Lipids 

• Condensation and hydrolysis 

• Body mass index (BMI) 

• Molecular visulisation software 

Molecular Biology Part 2 

• Amino acids 

• Proteins 

• Nucleic acids 

• Transcription 

• Translation and prokaryotes 

• The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 

• DNA profiling 

• Molecular visualisation of a nucleosome 

Cell Biology 

• Cell theory 

• Surface area to volume ratio 

• Functions of life 

• Cell differentiation 

• Emergent properties 

• Stem cells 

• Electron microscopes 

• Prokaryotic cells 

• Eukaryotic cells 

• Plant cells 

• Comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells 

• Comparing plant and animal cells 

• Membranes 

• Transmembrane transport 

• The origin of cells 

• Cell division 

• Mitosis 

• Cell division and cancer 

• The correlation between smoking and the incidence of cancer 

• Meiosis 

• Genetic variety 

• Non-disjunction 

• Age and non-disjunction 

• Karyotyping 

Cell Metabolism 

• Metabolism 

• Enzymes 

• Oxidation and reduction 

• Photosynthesis 

• Respiration 

• Comparing chemiosmosis in photosynthesis and respiration 

• Summary and energy balance 

Animal Physiology 

• The human gut 

• Gas exchange 

• The blood system 

• Defence against infectious disease 

• The nervous system 

• The endocrine system 

• Osmoregulation and excretion 

• Movement 

• Reproduction 

Plant Biology 

• Transport in plants 

• Water conservation  

• Phloem transport – translocation 

• Micropropagation 

• Flowering plants 

Ecology 

• Species, communities and ecosystems 

• Energy flow 

• Ecosystems 

• Carbon cycling 

• Climate change 

• Carbon fluxes 

Genetics 

• Chromosomes 

• Human genome project 

• Sickle cell anaemia – a base substitution mutation 

• Comparing diploid chromosome numbers of different species 

• Comparing chromosome and gene numbers of different species 

• Comparing genome size of different species 

• Cairn’s technique for measuring DNA molecules 

• Radiation and gene mutation  

• Genetic modification and biotechnology 

• Theoretical genetics 

Evolution and Biodiversity 

• Evolution 

• Classification of biodiversity 

• Clades, cladistics and cladograms 

Appendix 1: Answers to Self-test Quizzes 

Appendix 2: Answers to Ch8 (Genetics) Test Problems 

Appendix 3 External Assessment Specifications 

Appendix 4 Command Terms 

Appendix 5 Extended Response – Maximising Your Marks 

Appendix 6 Exam Equipment Kit