Plant Physiology (Biology 327)  - Dr. Stephen G. Saupe;  College of St. Benedict/ St. John's University;  Biology Department; Collegeville, MN  56321; (320) 363 - 2782; (320) 363 - 3202, fax;    ssaupe@csbsju.edu

Review Guide - Exam 1- S'09

General:
     The exam will be a mixture of objective (e.g., multiple choice, matching, definitions, fill-in-blank) and subjective (non-objective) questions.  The subjective questions could include completing/analyzing diagrams or experiments, short answers (require a few sentences) and essays (longer).  I recommend that you use a pencil.  The exam is designed to last one hour.  In general, the exam could include:  (1) anything covered in class; (2) lecture notes on-line pertaining to material covered in class; (3) study sheets, handouts or other materials used/assigned in class; and (4) questions from videos or AV materials seen in lecture.  The exam will be similar in format to the quiz questions posted online.  The quiz questions for each unit should provide a good overview of each unit.  The essay questions that are posted are excellent overall reviews for the exam.

Study Hints:
    Since the exam will focus on material covered in class, it is imperative that you take good notes.  You should write down EVERYTHING that was said/done in class.  Be sure to record everything - not just what was written on the blackboard.  The reason for this is because sometimes we will discuss important things - that are testable items - that are not written on the board.  By having it in your notes then you will be less likely to forget studying it for the exam.  You may want to check out the study tips I wrote for intro biol; they are also applicable for us.   In general, about 50% of the exam questions will be "concrete" while the other 50% will require higher level thought skills.  As an example....a concrete, lower level question might be:  Water is moved through a plant by:  (a) transpiration; (b) root pressure; (c) capillary action.  This should be easy; a. transpiration is the answer.  Now, based on the same concept I could ask the following question:  If the roots of a plant are placed in boiling water, which of the following would most likely stop first?  (a) transpiration; (b) root pressure; (c) capillary action.  I won't tell you the answer, but as you can see, the question is now assuming that you know what each of these three processes are, and looking at what happens under different circumstances.

    The take-home-message is to not just memorize your notes, but strive to understand them.  Could you explain your notes to someone else?  One way you quickly realize how much you know is to try and teach someone else.  And from a practical perspective, remember that for the multiple choice questions you have the answer in front of you.  You simply need to sort it out from the incorrect answers.  Thinking skills will serve you better than memorizing.

    Some people say that if you have no clue about the answer on a multiple choice test, choose A.  This  sometime works because when writing a question the writer usually writes the correct answer first.  However, be careful using this strategy on my exams because I usually alphabetize my choices and/or list them according to length.  It is a good strategy when taking a test to scratch off the answers that you know are not correct.   Sometime there is a joke or goofy answer that you can immediately delete.  It is usually the last choice in the list.  Hopefully once you've eliminated any jokes and answers you know aren't correct, this will leave only two or three answers from which to choose.

    I find that making concept maps can be very helpful, also.  To make a concept map, prepare a list of the topics/ideas from a given section of material.  Then, create an organizational-type diagram, draw lines interconnecting the different ideas.  On the connecting line, indicate how the ideas relate.  Start with the broadest, most general concept first and work from there.  This can be a nice way of visualizing relationships between concepts.  See me or the web sites indicated in the study tips for more details.

    Don't forget to check out the textbook website. 

    Below is a brief summary of the main topics that are "fair game" for the exam.

Introduction to Plant Physiology:

• The main questions we want to answer in this unit are:  What is plant physiology? Why should we study plant physiology? What is a plant?

• Check out my on line notes

• There are some questions to consider in the study guide

• A quiz is posted in Moodle (esp. pp 1-4)

Plant Way of Life

• The main question that we want to answer in this unit is:  How has the plant lifestyle been evolutionarily shaped by their phylogeny?
• Check out my on line notes and study guide
• If you need a review of S/V ratios, click here (previous lab from Plant Phys) or here (lecture notes from Biol221)
• We discussed  Concepts Maps in this unit
• Check out the foraging case study
• A quiz is available online as are some potential essay questions to consider.
• We also discussed whether plants are intelligent. What do you think and why?

Seeds & Dormancy

• The main questions that we answered in this unit were:  How do seeds form and how do they germinate?
• Check out the online notes that are posted.
• Seed study guide
• Don't forget the GA/seed germination diagram/process.  This would make a nice essay question.
• I've posted in Moodle a PPT with some images, etc.

Plant Cells

• The main questions that we answered in this unit were: How do plant cells function; Why do plant cells have plastids, vacuoles and cell walls? What is the function/structure of these special structures?
• Check out the online notes for Plant Cells; Study Guide
• For Biol121 I created a Cell Concept Map - you might want to try to complete it (answers)
• Cells (incl. wall) essay questions
• In Moodle there are three relevant PPT's that summarize cellular structures
• Walls, other than what we discussed in class, are not included on this exam

Last updated:  01/29/2009     � Copyright  by SG Saupe