MCQ practice

Research has shown that testing is more effective in improving student learning and retention than additional time spent studying the material.

A few days after studying the material, you should try to answer some multiple choice questions on the topic. It is important to learn as much as you can from these practice questions.

Here are three questions for you to try, based on the material you studied earlier. In your exams you have 1¼ minutes per question. Take no more than 4 minutes to answer these questions.

1. On the biochemical level, life is a constant struggle to avoid the tendency in nature for all things to decay to their lowest possible energy state and highest state of disorder or entropy. This truth is most poignantly seen in the fact that:

A.  living organisms are open systems
B.  the chemical composition of a living organism remains essentially constant
C.  the death and decay of a living organism restores equilibrium with the environment
D. dead organisms extract and use energy from their environment and surroundings
E. living cells drive exergonic processes by coupling them to endergonic ones
 

  2. One of the most distinguishing features of living organisms is their ability to self-replicate and self-assemble with near perfect fidelity. Which of the following processes demonstrates this principle at work in a living organism?

A. The linear sequence of DNA is replicated to make molecules of RNA
B. Somatic cells, with a 2N amount of DNA, undergo meiosis to form two new diploid daughter cells
C. Organogenesis within a developing embryo occurs independently of any biochemical / genetic factors or events
D. Four haploid daughter cells are produced through the process of mitosis
E. A protein binds mRNA molecules and facilitates their translation into proteins
 

  3. Digestive enzymes work perfectly well in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, where no energy sources are available. These reactions most likely involve:

A. release of water and release of energy
B. addition of water and release of energy
C. release of water and addition of energy
D. bond cleavage and release of water
E. bond formation and additon of water
 

• When your time is up, give each question a confidence mark. How sure are you of your answers?
  (1 = uncertain    2 = fairly sure    3 = 100% sure)
• Before you check the answers, think about what you would need to know to change your confidence mark to a 3. Go back and see if it’s in your study product. If not, go back to the text and try to find the information you need, add it to your study product (in the appropriate place), and then return to the question to decide if you are now happy with your answer. If you need to change the answer, do so.
• Now check your answers.
• If you got a question wrong, think carefully about why. What did you need to know to get the right answer and to eliminate the wrong answers? Make sure you look up anything that you are not certain of. For each answer choice, make sure that you can explain clearly why it is either right or wrong.
• Anything you needed to look up should be added to your study product in the appropriate place.