* You do not need a "lockdown" or exam browser for this quiz.
* The quiz will consist of only 15 multiple-choice questions.
You will have 30 minutes to take the quiz, so you should not feel
pressured for time (this is twice the amount of time students would
have if we were meeting in person).
* This is an "open-book exam" - you may use your own notes, the class notes,
the class lectures, the textbook, other textbooks, and a calculator.
However you may not ask anyone for assistance from anyone other than the
professor (me), use copies of old quizzes, nor search the internet for
answers to the questions.
Cheating will results in automatic failure of this exam, a letter dediuction
in the course grade, and will be reported to the Center for Student Rights
and Responsibilities for additional penalties.
Please review the "Academic Honesty" and "Statement on Cheating and
Plagiarism" sections of the syllabus document
and also the page "Plagiarism Reminder" next to Homework #1 in Module 1,
or ask if you have any questions.
Some example exam questions:
Some "be-sure-to-know-these" hints. There are a lot, but if you
know these, you are in great shape.
More questions to help you prepare:
Quiz-taking strategy:
* You may start at any time between 6am and 10pm (Pacific time),
but once started, you must complete the exam within 30 minutes.
To limit any potential cheating, you can only see one question at a
time and you will not be able to skip ahead or go back to an earlier
question. (For just 15 questions, this won't be so bad.)
* There will be significant late penalty if the quiz is finshed
any time after 10:30 pm,
even just one minute late. So do not
risk any internet glitches; begin taking the quiz well before 10pm.
A deduction of over 50% of the score is possible for any quiz that is
late.
General quiz-taking tips and info:
- The format will be identical to Quiz 1.
- If possible, use a computer that has an ethernet cable connection,
as these are generally more stable and faster than wifi.
- Close any other programs that might interfere with your internet
connection.
- Prepare a quiet area where you wont be distracted. Have some desk space
available for your notes and textbook
- If you are using a laptop, consider using a plug-in mouse to make it
quicker and easier to click on the answers than a touch pad. But do what you
are most comfortable with - don't switch hardware for the quiz.
- You won't need a calculator for this exam.
- Expect questions that may refer to figures in the textbook or from the lectures.
- If you miss the quiz, in order to take a make-up quiz you will need to provide
written documentation explaning the reason you could not take the quiz
anytime between 6am and 10pm.
- This study guide is to help you focus your efforts when you study. It is a tool
to help guide you; it is not a set of notes or questions you will see on the quiz.
You should not study the study guide.
This quiz covers all material presented in Module 2
(Lectures 17 through 25, and the Overview), and the relevant sections
of the textbook. If any webpages were assigned as required reading,
that material may also be convered on the quiz.
The quiz will be based on:
+ Lectures
+ Reading assignments in the textbook
+ Reading assignments from web pages mentioned in the preable to the lectures
or in any of the announcements
+ Lecture notes
+ Written homework assignments
The follow chapters in the textbook relevant for this quiz:
Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7.1
The topics discussed in the class lectures are the most important.
The textbook material is less important than the lectures, but the book is
a lot more detailed than the notes in some areas and will really help
you understand the topics better. The on-line notes are helpful, but very
incomplete. We covered much, much more than just the on-line lecture notes,
so be sure to study the lecture material, not just the abbreviated class
notes.
While the quiz will focus on material in Module 2, of course
certain concepts from Module 1 will carry over
(spectroscopy, speed of light, temperature, AU, stellar evolution,
Doppler effect, stellar evolution and the origin of elements,
habitable zones, color and temperature, Occam's razor,
subjective vs physical evidence, etc.).
Be sure to know these:
- "Key Biological Definitions" on page 143 of the book.
- don't forget about the "Key Astronomical Definitions" on page 49
(5th edition)
- most of the "Key Geological Definitions" (the ones we discussed in
class, like "heavy bombardment") on page 111.
Here is a list of some material that you
will NOT be responsible for knowing
for this quiz:
- Skip all of the "Movie Madness" sections
- You do not need to know any molecular structures. For example, you
will not be asked to know the molecular difference between adenine and
guanine. You do need to know what these molecules do though!
- You do not need to know the location of the elements in the periodic
table, or their chemical bonding properties, except for carbon.
- You don't need to know the names of specific bacteria species
[such as Streptococcus mitis (the bacteria that survived on the
Moon) or Helicobacter pylori (the ulcer-causing bacteria that
dwells in the stomachs of half of the people on Earth), or
Thiomargarita namibiensis ("the sulfur pearl of Namibia"),
with the exception of that particular bacteria that can withstand huge
doses of radiation....
- Do not confuse specific species with the types of
extremophiles; you should know the different types (classes) of
extremophiles e.g. thermophilic, halophilic, etc..
- You do not need to know anything specific about Darwin's finches (Fig 5.3)
- You will not need to know the values of any physical constants except
the speed of light "c" and Wien's law constant.
- You will not need to know exactly how many meters are in a parsec or how
many meters in an AU, or how many meters in a light year. But you need to
know the definition of an AU, light year, parsec (the definition, not
the actual numbers!). You also need to know the meaning of moon, star,
galaxy, isotope, principles of spectroscopy, Doppler effect,
themonuclear fusion, Wien's law, etc..
- Skip the K-T (K-Pg) extinction event (for now).
- You do NOT need to memorize the genetic code! If this information is
needed, I will put a copy of the table in the quiz itself.
We expect amino acids found on meteorites to
A) contain more of the isotope C-13 than C-12
B) be almost all right-handed
C) have equal amounts of the left-handed and right-handed enatiomers
D) have at most 20 different varieties
E) to have more silicon than amino acids found on Earth
F) to have more iron than the amino acids found on Earth
Which of the following is TRUE?
A) all tardigrades have circular DNA
B) tardigrades can survive the vacuum of space for a short time
C) like fish, tardigrades are seen in the fossil record dating back to
3.5 billion years ago
D) organic molecules are molecules that are produced only by
living organisms
E) tardigrades are in the domain archaea
F) organic molecules must contain the element oxygen
G) the words "evolution" and "origin" mean the same thing
Suppose an astrobiology new website reports the discovery of
"a 4.378119104 billion year-old fossil of a bacterium."
You are highly skeptical. Why?
A) This is older than the Earth.
B) Dating of rocks is nowhere near that precise.
C) Rocks that old are practically non-existent on Earth due to crust
recycling by plate tectonics (subduction).
D) choices B) and C)
E) choices A), B), and C)
How many different types of nitrogenous bases (or nucleotides) are used
in DNA? How many of these bases are in a single codon (the fundamental unit
of the genetic code)?
A) 2; 2
B) 4; 2
C) 4; 3
D) 20; 3
E) 20; 4
F) 24; 5
Amino acids are the chemical building blocks (monomers) of what type
of molecule?
A) cellulose, starch, and/or glycogen
B) nucleotides
C) DNA and RNA
D) proteins
E) ATP
F) lipids (fats)
Which of the following is true about the isotope carbon-13?
A) It has 13 protons in its nucleus.
B) It is radioactive and has a half-life of about 5730 years.
C) It is formed by collisions between cosmic rays and gases in the
Earth's atmosphere.
D) It has 13 neutrons in its nucleus.
E) It can be used to help deduce when life started on Earth.
F) Like everthing, it was formed in the big bang.
For the following question, the name of a person and the work they are
related to are paired together. Choose the pair in which the person is
*NOT* logically related to the topic that follows after the arrow.
A) Rosalind Franklin -- the double-helix structure of DNA
B) Carl Sagan -- "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"
C) Lynn Margulis -- the endosymbiosis hypothesis
D) Carl Woese -- the domain archaea
E) Elizabeth Loftus -- false memories
F) Jeffrey Bennett -- the genetic code
- What is "The Principle of Occam's Razor"?
- What is so special about tardigrades?
- Why does "organic" mean?
- Why is liquid water thought to be necessary for life?
- What is "CHONPS" (or SPONCH or SCHNOPS)?
- What does it mean when we say "all terrestrial life is carbon-based"?
- What are monomers and polymers?
- Why are amino acids important?
- Why are proteins important? What do they do?
- What is cellulose?
- What is a chloroplast? What is a mitochondrion?
- Why do we think all life on Earth had a common ancestor?
- What are the key things essential for life (as we know it)?
- What are extremophiles?
- What makes a hypothesis a scientific hypothesis and not
just an idea?
- Approximately what is age of the Earth? How do we know?
- What are three largest divisions (domains) of terrestrial life?
- What is the difference between infrared, ultraviolet, radio and
X-rays?
- What is the difference in meaning between the words "galaxy", "solar
system", and "universe"?
- Who is Carl Woese?
- Why won't deep-sea water boil if its temperature is 400 degrees C?
- What does it mean to say, "It has been, and always will be, the Age of
the Bacteria"?
- What are the 3 major pieces of evidence telling us when life originated
on Earth?
- What is DNA?
- How does RNA differ from DNA?
- What is the "RNA World" hypothesis?
- What are proteins used for, and how are they made?
- What is a codon?
- What is a gene?
- What does the word "archaea" signify?
- What is evolution and what is natural selection?
- What is molecular handedness?
- What is a stromatolite?
- What is the C-12 / C-13 isotopic signature of life?
- What is a "domain"?
- What is a procaryote? What is a eucaryote?
- What is the "LUCA", and what is its significance?
- What is a thermophile? A halophile?
- What is a spore?
- What is the "Tree of Life"?
- What is a mutation?
- What is a "lithautotrophe"?
- What chirality are biological amino acids?
- What is ATP?
- What is endosymbiosis?
What is the central dogma of molecular biology?
Why are ribosomes so important?
How does a procaryote differ from a eukaryote?
What is an enzyme?
What does "terraforming" mean?
What are carbonaceous chondrites? Why are they so important in
astrobiology?
What are the three key ingredients necessary for life as we know it?
What are the complementary DNA bases for the DNA codon ATG?
What are the complementary RNA bases for the DNA codon ATG?
What are lichens, and why are they important for astrobiology?
Why is it important that life seems to have started relatively
quickly after the Earth formed?
What evidence gives us clues about when life started on Earth?
What is the Miller-Urey experiment?
Why are the spectacular results of the Miller-Urey experiment not
as important as they initially were thought to be?
What is the Cambrian Explosion?
What does NASA's astrobiolgy motto "follow the water" mean?
Just because this is an open-book quiz, don't fool yourself into thinking
you don't need to study much. Experience has shown that if you don't
have a good idea of what the correct answer is, having the notes and
textbook available won't help as much as you might hope. It takes too long
to hunt through all the notes and chapters to find the answers.
So with that in mind, here are some tips:
(i) Study for this quiz as if it is not open-book. This will help you
learn the material better.
(ii) Be sure to be able to access your notes and the textbook quickly.
Know in advance where things are.
(iii) Do not rely too heavily on being able to access your notes or textbook.
It can take a long time to look up an answer if you can't limit the
answer down to just two choices. While you have plenty of time to complete
this quiz, you don't have all day; you don't even have 1 hour.
So be judicious with your time and don't try to look everything up.
If you have studied and understand the topic, then most of the time
you should trust yourself.
(iv) If you study and are prepared, you might not even need your notes.
Have them ready and at your side, but don't let the fact that this is an
open-book quiz make it harder than if it were closed-book. What I mean is,
if you need to look through your notes and the textbook for every
choice of every quesion, you may do worse than if you had no notes at all
since you may not finish the quiz.
You have plenty of time (2 minutes per question), but that is not enough
time to look everything up.
(v) The best use of the notes is to use them to confirm what you know, or,
on just a few occasions to look something up.
And lastly, please keep in mind that this is a short, low-stakes quiz.
It counts for only 5% of your grade. It is not an exam.
You have plenty of time to take the quiz, and you can begin the
quiz anytime you want
(between 6am and 10pm).
And it is open-book.
You should feel no need to cheat. It just isn't worth it.
Please don't look up the answers on the internet and don't ask anyone
for help.
[If you have ever had to use lock-down browsers (like Respondus)
or had the professor and TAs watching and recording you on Zoom
as you take an exam, you know what a miserable experience that is.
We are better than that - we don't need to descend to that level of
mistrust.]