Bio 241 Lab Exam Guidelines

You will complete the lab final exam in your scheduled laboratory period during the
week of November 30. The exam will cover material learned in Labs 1­10 as well as
information in Appendices 1 & 2, and the reading material related to each laboratory
exercise. You will have 2 hours to write the exam, which consists of ~10 written
factual and application questions; you will also need to draw and/or interpret graphs.
You may use a pen or pencil and a non­programmable calculator. You
may not bring personal electronic devices (phones, iPods, iPads, etc.), nor can you
have a pencil case at your bench. You will not require a lab coat for the exam.

What should you study?

Focus on the objectives listed at the start of each lab (e.g., for Lab 1, be able to
explain the steps of the scientific method of investigation, etc.). Make sure you can
answer all of the questions provided throughout the lab manual.

Terminology: know how to use the proper terms at the proper

times, e.g., spectrophotometers measure absorbance, not absorbency. Pay particular
attention to terms in bold throughout the manual.

Procedures and theory: know how to identify key elements of a scientific

investigation, how a spectrophotometer works, how the microcosms modelled
terrestrial/aquatic ecosystems, how you measured fermentation, etc.

"Simple" formulas: You should know the formula for, and be able to calculate:
means, SEMs, dilutions and other simple operations.

General results: Know the overall results for the major experiments that you
performed, e.g. which carbon source produced the least ethanol, how eutrophication
affected Elodea, etc.

Data summary and conclusions: know how to summarize data, display data in tables
and figures, draw conclusions from results, etc.

Assigned readings: In writing the exam, we will assume that you have read the the
lab manual and assigned articles relating to the labs

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 What should you not study?

Specific procedures: You will not be asked how many grams of yeast were added to
the yeast solution in Lab 5.

"Complex" formulas: You will not be asked for the formula, nor be asked to
calculate: Tetrahymena population density or total chlorophyll content of plants etc.

Specific results: For example, you will not be asked what volume of ethanol (CO 2)
the wheat sample produced.

Lab final writing tips

Read the question carefully and be sure you are answering the question that was
asked. If you are unclear about what the question is asking, ask your TA to clarify it
for you.
Your answer will earn you full marks only if it is concise, specific (i.e. answers the
question asked rather than a related question), and completely accurate (i.e., does not
include extraneous or incorrect information). One of the biggest mistakes students
make on written exams is to write down everything they know about a topic: this
approach means that your answer likely won't address the question that was actually
asked, and may contain some misinformation. An example of student answers that
would, and would not, earn full marks is shown below:

You have been hired as a lab technician and your boss has directed you to develop a quantitative
method for determining sugar concentrations in beverages. You remember the Benedict’s test that
you used in BIOL 241, and that it is based on a colour change when reducing sugars react with a
reagent to form a pigmented molecule (copper oxide). You perform the Benedict’s test on
samples of beverages and record the absorbance for each beverage. You proudly show your boss
your results but she says that this is not a quantitative method!

a) Is she correct? Explain why or why not. (2 marks)

b) Your boss tells you that you need to convert the absorbance values to concentrations. Briefly
explain how you would make this conversion. (3 marks)

The following answer would not earn full marks because it is not specific enough:

Your boss is correct because absorbance does not tell you the amount of sugar. (This
would earn 1 mark at most).

The following answer would earn full marks:

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 Absorbance values can only tell us if one solution contains more or less of a certain
pigment than another solution (1) but it does not tell us the amount or
concentration of that pigment so your boss is correct that absorbance is not
quantitative (1).

Again, the following answer would not earn full marks because it is not specific
enough, and does not explain how to make a standard curve or how it can be used to
determine concentration:

You would make this conversion by first making a standard curve (0.5) then using the
standard curve to find the concentration (0.5).

The following answer would earn full marks:

To convert absorbance values to concentrations, you measure the absorbance of solutions of

known concentrations by preparing a series of dilutions of a stock solution (1). You then plot
the absorbance values as a function of concentration to obtain a standard curve (1), which
can be used to convert absorbance of sample solutions to concentration. (1)

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