REGENTS REVIEW DOCUMENTS 

REGENTS REVIEW WEBSITES

Regents Prep and Review <-- GREAT comprehensive WEBSITE! 

NYS Regents <---Practice Regents Exams with Answer Keys

STATE LAB REVIEW DOCUMENTS 

REVIEW TIDBITS AND FACTS 

1. All life uses these functions: Cellular Organization, Reproduction, Response, Growth, Nutrition, Response, Interdependence

2. We use science to answer questions about the world around us. We follow a specific procedure called the scientific method.

3. When we conduct experiments, we change only one variable and keep everything else the same (constants).

4. The variable is compared to a “control”. The control is the standard for comparison.

5. Dependent variable = what you measure = y-axis

6. Independent variable = what you change = x-axis

7. Experiments are more accurate when you run them several times and continue to have the same result, and when you test them on LARGE populations.

8. Organic = Carbon and Hydrogen TOGETHER

9. Inorganic = Carbon and Hydrogen NOT together

10. All life is made of 4 organic compounds. Proteins, Carbohydrates, Lipids, Nucleic Acids.

11. Simple sugars (monosaccharide) are the building blocks of carbohydrates (polysaccharides). Contains elements CHO.

12. If something is a carb, it usually ends in –ose.

13. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Contains elements CHON.

14. If something is a protein, it usually ends in –in, -ine.

15. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions. If something is an enzyme, it usually ends in –ase.

16. Enzymes can denature because of pH, temp, etc. They work best in specific conditions.

17. Fatty acids are the building blocks on lipids. Contains elements CHO.

18. Nucleotides (A, T, C, G, U) are the building blocks of nucleic acids. Contains elements CHONPS.

19. pH: Acids (1-6)  Neutral (7) Basic (8-14)

20. All life is organized. Organelle à Cell à Tissue à Organ à Organ System à Organism.

21. Unicellular organism – single celled organisms (protists, amoeba, etc).

22. Multicellar organism – many celled organisms (plants and animals)

23. Prokaryote = No membrane bound organelles. Example: bacteria

24. Eukaryote = Contains membrane bound organelles. Example: plant cell, animal cell

25. Organelles are the “tiny organs” of a cell. They help it function and keep homeostasis.

26. Nucleus: Organelle that is the “control center”. Contains the cells DNA.

27. Cell Membrane: Organelle that regulates what goes in and out of the cell. Made up a “phospholipid bilayer”.

28. Ribosome: Organelle responsible for protein synthesis.

29. Cell Wall: Organelle in PLANT CELLS ONLY. Responsible for structural support.

30. Chloroplast: Organelle in PLANT CELLS ONLY. Responsible for photosynthesis

31. Mitochondria: Organelle where cellular respiration occurs. Gives organism energy.

32. The cell membrane contains proteins in it, which can either: identify the cell, allows for movement of large molecule, receive chemical signals, etc.

33. Diffusion: movement of material from a high to low concentration. NO ENERGY

34. Osmosis: movement of water from a high to low concentration. NO ENERGY

35. Active Transport: movement of material from low to high concentration. NEEDS ENERGY.

36. All life requires energy. The energy must come from somewhere. Chemical energy = chemosynthesis. Sunlight energy = photosynthesis.

37. Photosynthesis Equation: CO2 + H2O + Sunlight à C6H12O6 + O2

38. Stomates/Guard cells maintain homeostasis in leaves by regulating gas exchange and water loss. 

39. Chlorophyll molecules in chloroplasts capture light energy from the sun to power the process of photosynthesis. 

40. AUTOTROPH (producers) = organisms that produce their own food. Plants make a sugar molecule in photosynthesis. They use that sugar as their food.

41. The chloroplast in a plant cell contains chlorophyll. This is where photosynthesis occurs.

42. HETEROTROPH (consumers) = organisms that consume their own food. They eat other organisms, like plants and animals.

43. We consume food to get energy. How do we get energy? Through cellular respiration!

44. Plants and animals both use cellular respiration. Respiration Equation: C6H12O6 + O2 à CO2 + H2O + ATP

45. ATP is EN-ER-GY! (energy…)

46. Cellular respiration occurs in the mitochondria of a cell.

47. Organisms need to move! Unicelluar organisms move via cilia or flagellum. Humans can move using bones and muscles.

48. Three types of muscle tissue: skeletal, smooth, cardiac.

49. When organisms consume food it must be ingested and digested. Digestion can be chemical or mechanical.

50. Digestive tract: MouthàEsophagusàStomachàSmall IntestineàLarge IntestineàAnus

51. Accessory organs: Pancreas, Liver, Gall Bladder

52. Enzymes in our saliva, stomach acid, intestines, break down food into small simple units.

53. Enzymes can be denatured by factors such as pH and temperature.

54. The broken down food mainly gets absorbed in the small intestines. The villi and microvilli allow for diffusion of these molecules. (more surface area = more diffusion)

55. When the simple units of food get absorbed in the human body, they are moved throughout the system because of circulation.

56. Four components of blood: RBCs, WBC, platelets, plasma.

57. Important blood vessels: Arteries = away from heart. Veins = back to heart. Capillaries (one cell think) = Diffusion occurs, brings cells oxygen and glucose needed for respiration.

58. Human heart. Four chambers. Pumps blood on a pulmonary and systemic circuit.

59. Respiratory System: Allows for breathing to occur. The path of air is as follows: Nasal Cavity à Pharynx à Larynx à Trachea à Bronchi à Bronchioles à Alveoli.

60. Alveoli are one cell thick and allow for diffusion of oxygen into capillaries. Brings oxygen rich blood back to heart to be delivered to body cells.

61. Nervous system is split into two parts. The CNS and PNS.

62. The cerebrum is responsible for higher level thinking.

63. In the human body that attach to invading pathogens and clump them together in an antigen-antibody complex.

64. When a person gets an organ transplant, the cells of the implanted organ are recognized as foreign invading cells by the recipient’s immune system. 

65. Vaccines are weakened forms of pathogen or a protein from the pathogen’s surface. 

66. The nervous system and endocrine system allow cells within multicellular organisms to communicate and coordinate their actions. 

67. Hormones are specific chemical messenger molecules that travel through the blood and attach to receptor proteins on the surface of target cells. 

68. The hormone insulin is secreted from the pancreas and lowers the glucose level in the blood. 

69. Hormonal feedback mechanisms maintain homeostasis in the human body. 

70. The kidneys regulate urine composition and water balance in the blood by filtering and reabsorbing molecules. 

71. Many of the cells inside the human body are differentiated to carry out specific functions.  While all cells have the same DNA, some genes are activated and others inactivated, causing cells and tissues to differentiate.

72. Mitosis involves a diploid cell dividing into two identical daughter cells. 

73. Mitosis is Interphase à Prophase à Metaphase à Anaphase à Telophase

74. Cancer involves body cells dividing uncontrollably by mitosis. 

75. Meiosis is the process of producing monoploid (haploid) cells. They have half the chromosome number. 

76. Meiosis is one of the factors responsible for producing variation among the gametes produced by an organism. 

77. New individuals of an existing species are produced through the process of reproduction. 

78. Asexual reproduction produces offspring that are genetically identical to the parent organism. 

79. Modern cell biology techniques allow complex organisms such as mammals to be clones. 

80. DNA mutations and chromosomal abnormalities may be passed on to the next generation if they are located in cells that produce gametes. 

81. Testosterone is the hormone that stimulates gamete (sperm) production and the formation of secondary sex characteristics in males. 

82. Estrogen is the hormone that stimulates egg production in females. Egg development is celled ovulation. When ovulation occurs and the egg is not fertilized menstruation will occur.

83. Fertilization is the process that involves the fusion of a monoploid sperm cell with a monoploid egg cell to form a diploid cell called a zygote. 

84. A fertilized egg is called a zygote. It divides though mitosis and becomes a blastula. The blastula will burrow in the uterus and differentiation/development will occur.

85. Drugs effect the fetus the most dramatically in the earlier stages of development.

86. During intrauterine development in humans, the placenta is necessary to maintain homeostasis. 

87. If parents with desirable characteristics are selected to mate, the chance that their offspring will possess the allelles for these characteristics is high. 

88. Genetic diseases are inherited through DNA codes and are transmitted from parents to offspring during sexual reproduction. 

89. XX chromosomes are female, XY are male. The sex is determined by the sperm - It will either carry a X or a Y. The egg will always carry an X. 

90. Environmental factors such as temperature and light can turn-on and turn-off genes in organisms. 

91. DNA replication involves making an identical copy of a cell’s DNA. 

92. DNA replication involves matching nucleotide bases together using the law of complementary base pairing. A-T and C-G.

93. During DNA replication, the double strand of DNA unzips, as weak H bonds between the base pairs are broken. 

94. DNA —> RNA —> Protein 

95. DNA mutations may result in the production of abnormal proteins that do not function correctly, or in the stopping of protein production. 

96. Insertion of recombinant plasmids into bacterial cells by transformation will allow them to produce new proteins. 

97. Electrophoresis is a technique used to separate fragments of cut DNA according to size. 

98. Organisms have different structural, behavioral or chemical adaptations to carry out essential life functions. 

99. Natural selection is the process that may lead to the evolution of new species.

100. The fossil record provides evidence that evolution has occurred. 

101. The rate at which evolution occurs varies from organism to organism. 

102. The allele frequency in a population is the percentage of alleles for a specific characteristic. 

103. When a small group of individuals is separated from the main population, they may evolve into a new species that is specialized for a different environment or become extinct. 

104. Changes in genes result in variation that lead to the formation of new species. 

105. Changes in genes make evolution possible. 

106. If a population has a wide range of variation due to genetic diversity, it gives the population an increased ability to adapt if the environment ever changes drastically. 

107. Speciation (the formation of a new species from an old one) is driven any isolating mechanism because it stops populations form mating and mixing genes.  They therefore adapt independent of each other and, eventually can’t mate with each other.

108. Energy is transferred from one organism to another within a food web. 

109. Decomposers are responsible for recycling materials when they breakdown organic molecules from dead organisms. 

110. Food chains always begin with a producer, progress with a series of consumers, and end with decomposers. 

111. Herbivore = eats plants. Carnivore = eats meat. Omnivore = eats both. Scavenger = eats carrion.

112. Only 10% of the energy progresses from one level of the food chain to the next level because energy is used in metabolism. 

113. Plants hold most of the energy in the ecosystem and are at the base of an ecosystem’s energy pyramid. 

114. If the population of one organism in a food web increases or decreases, it will affect all the other organisms in the food web with which it is linked. 

115. Symbiotic relationships…Mutualism (+,+) Commensalism (+,0) Parasitiam (-,+)

116. Stable ecosystems have a complex food web and high biodiversity. 

117. Biomes are the regions of the Earth with similar climatic conditions, plants, and animals. Ex: Taiga, Rainforest, Arctic, etc

118. Climax communities develop in ecosystems over thousands of years through the process of ecological succession. 

119. The human population on Earth has exponentially increased in the past 60 years due to a decrease in disease. 

120. An increase in human population has caused a depletion of the world finite (limited) resources and an increase in environmental damage. 

121. Pollution by humans has disrupted the balance in many ecosystems and subsequently has endangered many species. 

122. Acid rain is a major environmental problem caused by factory emissions containing nitrogen and sulfur. 

123. Chemical pesticides and wastes that enter into the environment affect wildlife and may cause a decrease in biodiversity. 

124. Destruction of the ozone layer by pollution (CFC”S) results in more ultraviolet rays reaching the surface. 

125. Increased levels of greenhouse gases (CO₂ and methane CH₄) in the troposphere have led to global warming. 

126. Importing species from other ecosystems (invasive species) into an area may cause an imbalance in the food web and environmental destruction. 

127. When a population’s size is too large, competition for resources increases between members of the species. 

128. The carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals that can survive on the resources that are present in an area. 

129. Biological controls are better than chemical controls for regulating the size of populations. 

130. Chemical pesticides permanently damage the environment but only provide a short-term solution to insect population problems. 

131. A food chain is just that - a chain. A food web is a bunch of chains linked together by all the organisms in an ecosystem. Everything is interconnected. I suggest watching the Disney movie "The Lion King". When Mufasa explains the prideland to Simba - he does a better job than any textbook ever could - watch it below now!