Biology SAT Subject Test CONTENT

[asta]

I did a search for this but didn't come up with anything...

DS just finished biology and is now studying for his SAT Subject test. I have a friend who teaches biology and AP biology, so I thought "hey, I'll ask her if there is something he should concentrate on". I received the following message back:

I reviewed the College board's site and the Spark Notes practice exam questions. The material looks mostly like what I teach in my regular courses. Students generally have a very easy time with the ecology aspect (the test you have chosen). In a broad perspective, the most difficult concepts for students is:

biochemistry: proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates
Cell environment: movement across membranes
Endocrine system: hormones; origination, target, and action

There is SOOOOO much information in such a broad variety, that you should not expect to do well in every aspect of it. Biology is not like any of the other sciences; one rule does not apply to all systems.

You can also expect to see MANY questions that explain experiments and ask you to identify variables, hypotheses, errors, etc.

OK. Beyond the snark that she doesn't appear to believe he will do well, or think that I have given him any lab training...

Why on earth is there stuff on the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM on a biology test? Shouldn't that be in Anatomy/Physiology?

I mean, I understand quite a bit about the endocrine system, but that is because I was forced to learn about it due to health issues as an adult. Why would a high school biology course / exam aimed at high schoolers be testing on the endocrine system?

Does anyone have any insight into this? DS used a college level text for biology, and there were 2 pages in it about the endocrine system.

Thanks in advance,


asta

[HollyinNNV]

I did a search for this but didn't come up with anything...

DS just finished biology and is now studying for his SAT Subject test. I have a friend who teaches biology and AP biology, so I thought "hey, I'll ask her if there is something he should concentrate on". I received the following message back:



OK. Beyond the snark that she doesn't appear to believe he will do well, or think that I have given him any lab training...

Why on earth is there stuff on the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM on a biology test? Shouldn't that be in Anatomy/Physiology?

I mean, I understand quite a bit about the endocrine system, but that is because I was forced to learn about it due to health issues as an adult. Why would a high school biology course / exam aimed at high schoolers be testing on the endocrine system?

Does anyone have any insight into this? DS used a college level text for biology, and there were 2 pages in it about the endocrine system.

Thanks in advance,


asta

The last unit (I think 6 chapters) of the PH Bio book is on human body.


We are also studying for the SAT bio and my dd thinks the lab questions are very hard. And she has had labs once a week all year. They are just hard questions because of the application component.

Reading up on the exam, I learned that most students who do AP bio do have to study specifically for the SAT bio because it is much wider in content focus than a typical college bio which is deeper.

Back to your endocrine question-I'm not sure there is a focus on endocrine. Endocrine is just harder than some of the other body function/systems. So, you might want to focus on it-or not.:D
Holly

[asta]

Reading up on the exam, I learned that most students who do AP bio do have to study specifically for the SAT bio because it is much wider in content focus than a typical college bio which is deeper.

Ah... that makes sense. We ended up looking up the Krebs cycle in his chemistry book to get a better handle on it. I'm sitting there thinking "why is biochemistry on a HS biology exam?" Mine is not to reason why, mine is to prepare kid for the test. I hate teaching to a test.

Back to your endocrine question-I'm not sure there is a focus on endocrine. Endocrine is just harder than some of the other body function/systems. So, you might want to focus on it-or not.:D
Holly

Yeah, I don't know if he'll wrap his noggin around it or not - I'm more biology minded than he is - he's a little physics prof.

Thanks for your input.


asta