lOMoAR cPSD| 6861666
UTSC BIOA11 Final Exam Review - Comprehensive Study
Notes with Complete Solutions | New Update 2026/27
BIOA11 Exam Review
I would say focus on the viruses, bacteria's and how it comes up as an application question.
Also, there were questions straight from midterm 1 and 2, if you remember, it might help
Lecture week 1: Methods in biology
• The process of science:
- The discovery of something new and unknown
- A body of knowledge collected using the scientific method
- The scientific method: observations, proposing ideas, testing ideas, discarding or
modifying ideas based on results
- Testable and falsifiable
• Hypothesis testing:
- Variables: independent are those manipulated by the researcher, dependent are those not
changed by the researcher but may change during experiment and is being measured in
the experiment
- Controlled experiments: test the effect of a single variable, limit possible alternate
hypothesis, difference in results should be due to treatment
- Control or control group: similar to experimental subjects expect they do not receive the
experimental treatment (change in the independent variable)
- Steps for controlled experiments
1. Random assignment to control or experimental group
2. Identical participation for both groups except for the testing treatment
- Proposed explanations for observations
- Minimizing bias in experimental design: technician blind, subject blind
- Double blind, placebo-controlled and randomized are gold standard, some controlled
experiments can be impossible, dangerous, unethical
- Model systems: used to avoid unethical or impractical tests on humans
- Relationships between factors: correlation
• Understanding statistics:
, lOMoAR cPSD| 6861666
- Statistical tests: evaluate and compare data, necessary because of the effect of chance
- Examine variability
- Results from sample may extend to entire population
- Statistically significant: Results show a true difference between groups, Low probability
that difference between groups is due to random chance, Researchers may infer that
treatment had an effect The Process of Science
- Everyday use of fact: a thing that is known to be true
- Scientific use of fact: a direct and repeatable observation about our natural world
- Everyday use of theory: Untested ideas based on little information or unproven
explanation
- Scientific use of theory: Powerful, broad explanation for a set of related observations
- Based on well-supported hypotheses
- Supported by diverse, independent lines of research
Some terms
• White matter and gray matter:
- White: Nervous system tissue, especially in the brain and spinal cord, made of myelinated
cells.
- Gray: Unmyelinated axons, combined with dendrites and cell bodies of other neurons that
appear gray in cross section.
• Pleiotropy: “multiple functions of the same gene within a single organism” Lecture week 2:
Metabolism and disorders
• Chemistry of cells:
- Smallest, basic unit of life
- microscopic, self-contained units enclosed by a water-repelling membrane
, lOMoAR cPSD| 6861666
- Human body has approx. 100 trillion cells
• Water, Carbon:
- Water: polar molecule, polar structure: dissolves salts and other polar molecules,
hydrophilic (water loving) hydrophobic (water fearing), cohesive, moderating
temperature,
- Carbon: Able to form four bonds, Up to four different elements, Combinations of single
and double bonds, E.g. methane (CH4) = gas
• What is life?: composed of cells, metabolism, common set of biological molecules
• Macromolecules: Large organic molecules - Made of monomer subunits - Found in
living organisms:
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Lipids
- Nucleic acids
• Carbohydrates: Molecules of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen (CHO
- Major source of energy
- Major structural roles in cells
- Made of sugar subunits = monomers
- Monosaccharide: 1 sugar
- Disaccharides: 2 sugars
- Polysaccharide: many sugars
• Proteins: Made of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen
- Many important functions in cells: catalyze reaction, serve as transport channels
or chemical messengers - Amino acid subunits
- 20 different amino acids
- Joined by peptide bonds
- Different amino acid combinations = different properties for proteins
• Lipids: composed mostly of carbon and hydrogen, hydrophobic molecules
- Fats: glycerol and 3 fatty acid tails (store energy)
- Steroids: four fused carbon rings (cholesterol and sex hormones)
- Phospholipids: glycerol molecule, 2 fatty acid tails, phosphate group, component of cell
membranes
• Nucleic acids: Made of nucleotide monomer subunits
- Nucleotide: sugar + phosphate + nitrogenous base
- Types: RNA (protein synthesis, ribose sugar) DNA (stores genetic information,
deoxyribose sugar, double helix, sugar-phosphate backbone, rungs of nitrogen base pairs)
• An introduction to evolutionary theory:
- Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells contain similar macromolecules and cell structures
UTSC BIOA11 Final Exam Review - Comprehensive Study
Notes with Complete Solutions | New Update 2026/27
BIOA11 Exam Review
I would say focus on the viruses, bacteria's and how it comes up as an application question.
Also, there were questions straight from midterm 1 and 2, if you remember, it might help
Lecture week 1: Methods in biology
• The process of science:
- The discovery of something new and unknown
- A body of knowledge collected using the scientific method
- The scientific method: observations, proposing ideas, testing ideas, discarding or
modifying ideas based on results
- Testable and falsifiable
• Hypothesis testing:
- Variables: independent are those manipulated by the researcher, dependent are those not
changed by the researcher but may change during experiment and is being measured in
the experiment
- Controlled experiments: test the effect of a single variable, limit possible alternate
hypothesis, difference in results should be due to treatment
- Control or control group: similar to experimental subjects expect they do not receive the
experimental treatment (change in the independent variable)
- Steps for controlled experiments
1. Random assignment to control or experimental group
2. Identical participation for both groups except for the testing treatment
- Proposed explanations for observations
- Minimizing bias in experimental design: technician blind, subject blind
- Double blind, placebo-controlled and randomized are gold standard, some controlled
experiments can be impossible, dangerous, unethical
- Model systems: used to avoid unethical or impractical tests on humans
- Relationships between factors: correlation
• Understanding statistics:
, lOMoAR cPSD| 6861666
- Statistical tests: evaluate and compare data, necessary because of the effect of chance
- Examine variability
- Results from sample may extend to entire population
- Statistically significant: Results show a true difference between groups, Low probability
that difference between groups is due to random chance, Researchers may infer that
treatment had an effect The Process of Science
- Everyday use of fact: a thing that is known to be true
- Scientific use of fact: a direct and repeatable observation about our natural world
- Everyday use of theory: Untested ideas based on little information or unproven
explanation
- Scientific use of theory: Powerful, broad explanation for a set of related observations
- Based on well-supported hypotheses
- Supported by diverse, independent lines of research
Some terms
• White matter and gray matter:
- White: Nervous system tissue, especially in the brain and spinal cord, made of myelinated
cells.
- Gray: Unmyelinated axons, combined with dendrites and cell bodies of other neurons that
appear gray in cross section.
• Pleiotropy: “multiple functions of the same gene within a single organism” Lecture week 2:
Metabolism and disorders
• Chemistry of cells:
- Smallest, basic unit of life
- microscopic, self-contained units enclosed by a water-repelling membrane
, lOMoAR cPSD| 6861666
- Human body has approx. 100 trillion cells
• Water, Carbon:
- Water: polar molecule, polar structure: dissolves salts and other polar molecules,
hydrophilic (water loving) hydrophobic (water fearing), cohesive, moderating
temperature,
- Carbon: Able to form four bonds, Up to four different elements, Combinations of single
and double bonds, E.g. methane (CH4) = gas
• What is life?: composed of cells, metabolism, common set of biological molecules
• Macromolecules: Large organic molecules - Made of monomer subunits - Found in
living organisms:
- Carbohydrates
- Proteins
- Lipids
- Nucleic acids
• Carbohydrates: Molecules of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen (CHO
- Major source of energy
- Major structural roles in cells
- Made of sugar subunits = monomers
- Monosaccharide: 1 sugar
- Disaccharides: 2 sugars
- Polysaccharide: many sugars
• Proteins: Made of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen
- Many important functions in cells: catalyze reaction, serve as transport channels
or chemical messengers - Amino acid subunits
- 20 different amino acids
- Joined by peptide bonds
- Different amino acid combinations = different properties for proteins
• Lipids: composed mostly of carbon and hydrogen, hydrophobic molecules
- Fats: glycerol and 3 fatty acid tails (store energy)
- Steroids: four fused carbon rings (cholesterol and sex hormones)
- Phospholipids: glycerol molecule, 2 fatty acid tails, phosphate group, component of cell
membranes
• Nucleic acids: Made of nucleotide monomer subunits
- Nucleotide: sugar + phosphate + nitrogenous base
- Types: RNA (protein synthesis, ribose sugar) DNA (stores genetic information,
deoxyribose sugar, double helix, sugar-phosphate backbone, rungs of nitrogen base pairs)
• An introduction to evolutionary theory:
- Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells contain similar macromolecules and cell structures
