Free Practice Questions for Bagrut Biology 5 Units

The Living Cell

Prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic cell architecture, structure and fluidity of the phospholipid bilayer, selective permeability, passive transport (simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis, turgor pressure, plasmolysis), active transport (pumps, endocytosis, exocytosis), enzyme structure, kinetics, factors affecting enzymatic reaction rates (pH, temperature, substrate concentration, competitive/non-competitive inhibitors), cellular respiration (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, fermentation), photosynthesis (light-dependent reactions, Calvin cycle, limiting factors), and cell division cycles (phases of mitosis and meiosis, cytokinesis, regulation).

Human Physiology and Anatomy

Homeostatic mechanisms and dynamic equilibrium (negative and positive feedback loops), the digestive system (mechanical/chemical digestion, digestive enzymes, bile, nutrient absorption in villi, liver functions), the cardiovascular system (heart structure and cardiac cycle, blood vessels, systemic and pulmonary circulation, blood components, regulation of blood pressure and heart rate), the respiratory system (gas exchange in alveoli, transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide, hemoglobin saturation, respiratory control centers), excretion and osmoregulation (nephron structure, ultrafiltration, selective reabsorption, ADH secretion, water and salt balance), the nervous and endocrine systems (action potential transmission, synaptic transmission, neurotransmitters, sensory receptors, autonomic nervous system, major hormones: insulin, glucagon, adrenaline, thyroxine), and the immune system (innate vs. adaptive immunity, phagocytes, B and T lymphocytes, antibodies, antigen-antibody specificity, active vs. passive immunization, autoimmune reactions, allergies).

Ecology

Abiotic factors (temperature, light, water availability, soil, pH) and biotic factors, adaptations of organisms to desert and Mediterranean habitats, trophic interactions and food webs, ecological pyramids (numbers, biomass, energy, 10% rule), biogeochemical cycles (carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle including nitrogen fixation and denitrification), interspecific interactions (competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, competitive exclusion principle), population dynamics (exponential vs. logistic growth, carrying capacity, density-dependent and density-independent factors), ecological succession (primary and secondary), and human environmental impact (greenhouse effect, climate change, eutrophication, invasive species, desertification, habitat fragmentation, and conservation biology).

Heredity and Molecular Genetics

Mendelian genetics (monohybrid and dihybrid crosses, dominant and recessive alleles, incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles such as ABO blood types), sex-linked inheritance (X-linked genes, hemophilia, red-green color blindness), chromosome theory of inheritance and linkage, DNA molecular structure (double helix, complementary base pairing, nucleotides), DNA replication (helicase, DNA polymerase, leading/lagging strand synthesis), RNA types (mRNA, tRNA, rRNA), transcription and translation (genetic code, codon-anticodon pairing, ribosome function), gene mutations (point mutations, frameshifts, deletions, insertions, chromosomal aberrations), gene expression regulation (lac operon in prokaryotes, epigenetic and transcriptional control in eukaryotes), and modern biotechnology (recombinant DNA, restriction enzymes, PCR, gel electrophoresis, plasmids, bacterial transformation, CRISPR-Cas9 basics, and ethical considerations in genetic engineering).

Evolution and Adaptation

Darwinian natural selection (genetic variation within populations, overproduction of offspring, struggle for existence, differential reproductive success, adaptation to changing environments), evidence for evolution (fossil record, comparative anatomy, homologous vs. analogous structures, vestigial organs, molecular homology, embryology), types of adaptations (morphological, physiological/biochemical, behavioral), microevolution vs. macroevolution (allele frequency shifts, genetic drift, bottleneck and founder effects, gene flow), speciation mechanisms (allopatric and sympatric speciation, reproductive isolation barriers), and evolutionary arms races (antibiotic resistance in bacteria, pesticide resistance in insects).