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MCAT Prep Biology

Subjects : mcat, science
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Something that increases the rate of a chemical reaction by reducing the activation energy for that reaction. The free energy of reaction remains unchanged.






2. The tube that carries urine from the bladder to the to outside of the body. In males it also carries semen and sperm during ejaculation.






3. The tendency of certain factors to stablize the hemoglobin in the tense conformation - thus reducing its affinity for oxygen and enhancing the relase of oxygen to the tissues. The factors include increased PCO2 - increase temperature - increased bisp






4. A hole in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the eyeball. The diameter of pupil is controlled by the iris in response to the brightness of the light.






5. A structure composed of a ring of nine microtube triplets - found in pairs in the MTOC (microtubule organizing center) of a cell. The centrioles duplicate during the cell division - and serve as the organizing center for the mitotic spindle.






6. A receptor that responds to changes in body position - such as stretch on a tendon - or contraction of a muscle. These receptor allow us to be consciously aware of the position of our body parts.






7. A long projection off the cell body of a neruon down which an action potential can be propagated.






8. A cyoplasmic Ca2+- binding protein. Calmodulin is particularly important in smooth muscle cells - where binding of Ca2+ allows calmodulin to activate myosin light - chian kinase - the first step in smooth muscle cell contraction.






9. A group of sensory neuron cell bodies found just posterior to the spinal cord on either side. A pair of root ganglia exists for each spinal nerve that expands from the spinal cord. The ganglia are part of the peripheral nervous system (PNS).






10. The percentage of individuals with a particular genotype that actually displays the phenotype associated with the genotype.






11. A green fluid made from cholesterol and secreted by teh liver. It is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder. Bile isn an amphipathic molecule that is secreted itno the small intestine when fats are present - adn serves to emulsify the fats for be






12. Connective tissue with large amounts of either collagen fibers (making them strong) or elastic fibers - or both. Dense tissues are typically strong (e.g. bone - cartilage - tendons - etc.)






13. The cerebral hemispheres.






14. The first phase of the ovarian cycle - during which a follicle (an oocyte and its surroudning cells) enlarges and matures. This phase is under the control of FSH from the anterior pituitary - and typically lasts from day 1 to day 14 of the menstrual






15. A neuron that carries information (action potentials) away from the central nervous system; a motor neuron.






16. An organism that lacks a nucleus or any other memrane - bound organelles. All prokaytes belong to the Kingdom Monera (not protista!)






17. A physiological catalyst. Enzymes are usually proteins - although some RNAs have catalytic activity.






18. A hormone produced and secreted by teh adrenal medulla that prolongs and increases teh effects of the sympathetic nervous system.






19. A large multinucleate cell - typically formed by the fusion of many smaller cells during development (e.g. a skeletal muscle cell) - or formed by nuclear division in the absence of cellular division.






20. The stage of human development during which the organs are formed. Organogenesis begins after gastrulation and is completed by the eight week of gestation.






21. Anterior pituitary gland






22. A thin (4 mm) layer of gray matter on the surface of the cerebral hemispheres. The cerebral cortex is the conscious mind - and is functionally divided into four pairs of lobes: the frontal lobes - the parietal lobes - the temporal lobes - and the occ






23. The burrowing of a blastocyst (a developing embryo) into the endometrium of the uterus - typically occuring about a week after fertilizaiton.






24. A gland that secretes a waxy product - found in the external ear canal.






25. The primary androgen (male sex steroid). Testosterone is a steroid hormone produced and secreted by the interstitial cells of the testes. It triggers the development of secondary male sex characteristics during puberty (including spermatogenesis) and






26. The pressure measured in the arteries while the ventricles are relaxed (during diastole).






27. The uptake of material into a cell - usually by invagination. See also 'phagocytosis' - pinocytosis - and receptor - mediated endocytosis..






28. The newly forming daughter strand of DNA that is replicated in a continuous fasion; the daughter strand that is replicated in thes aem direction that parental DNA is unwinding.






29. The mechanism of contraction in skeletal and cardiac muscl cells. It is a series of four repeated steps: (1) myosin binds actin - (2) myosin pull actin toward the center of the sarcomere (3) myosin releases actin - and (4) myosin resets to its high -






30. A trop hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gand that targets the adrenal cortex - stimulating it to relase corisol and aldosterone.






31. The plasma membrane of a muscle cell.






32. The small artery that carries blood away from the capillaries of the glomerulus.






33. An organism that cannot make its own food - and thus must ingest other organisms.






34. A pair of similar chromosomes that have the same genes in the same order - but may have different versions (alleles) of those genes. One of the pair of chromosomes came from Mom in an ovum - and the other came from Dad in a sperm. Humans have 23 pair






35. Also known as the adenohypophysis - the anterior pituitary is made of gland tissue and makes and secretes six different homrones: FSH - LH - ACTH - prolactin - TSH - and growth hormone. The anterior pituitary is controlled b yreleasing and inhibiting






36. The environment in which or upon Which bacteria grow. It typically contains a sugar source and any other nutrients that bacteria may require. 'Minimal medium' contain nothing but glucose.






37. Also known as the neurohyophysis - the posterior pituitary is made of nervous tisssue and stores and secretes two hormones made by the hypothlamus; oxtytocin and ADH. The posterior pituitary is controlled by action potentials from the hypothalamus.






38. A structure near the middle of eukaryotic chromosomes to which the fibers of the mitotic spindle attach during cell division.






39. An ion channel that is oepend or closed based on the electrical potential across the plasma membrane. Once opened - the channel allows ions to cross the membrane according to their concentration gradients. Examples are the Na+ and K+ voltage - gated






40. The specific molecule that binds to a receptor.






41. An organism that utilizes light as its primary energy source.






42. Integration by a postsynaptic neuron of inputs (EPSPs and IPSPs) from multiple sources.






43. A type of mutation in DNa where a single base is substituted for another.






44. A kinase in smooth muscle cells activated by calmodulin the presence of Ca2+. As its name implies - this kinase phosphorylates myosin - activating it so that muscle contraction can occur.






45. The neurotransmitter used by the sympathetic division of the ANS at the postganglionic (organ - level ) synapse.






46. A long - whip - like filament that helps in cell motility. Many bacteria are flagellated - and sperm are flagellated.






47. A generic connective tissue cell that produces fibers; the progenitor of all other connective tissue cell types.






48. A cytoplasmic protein that recognizes the signal sequences of proteins destined to be translated at the rough ER. It binds first to the ribosome translating the protein with the signal sequence then to an SRP receptor on the rough ER>






49. An enzyme present in erythrocytes (as well as in other places) that catalyzes the conversion of CO2 and H2O into carbonic acid (H2CO3).






50. Identical copies of a chromosome - produced during DNA replication and held together at the centromere Sister chromatids are separated during anaphase of mitosis.