The SAT II Biology covers the biology topics taught in any standard American high school biology course, with particular emphasis on either ecology or molecular biology. ETS breaks the test down into five basic categories:
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
| Cellular and Molecular Biology |
8–11 |
| Ecology |
8–11 |
| Classical Genetics |
7–9 |
| Organismal Biology |
22–26 |
| Evolution and Diversity |
7–10 |
As we said, depending on which specialty section you elect to take, you will also face 20 questions (25 percent of the total questions you will see) in either ecology/evolution or molecular biology/evolution.
While these categories are helpful, they are also very broad. For example, you may have cell structure down pat, but biochemistry throws you for a loop, and you would like to get a sense of how much of the test is devoted to these two topics. To help you out, we’ve broken the core of the test down even further, so that you’ll know exactly where to expect to feel the squeeze.
| Topic |
Number of Questions |
| Cellular and Molecular Biology |
8–12 |
| The Cell and Cell Structure |
4–6 |
| Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry |
3–5 |
| Cell Processes |
1–3 |
| Mendelian and Molecular Genetics |
8–10 |
| Evolution and Diversity |
8–10 |
| Evolution |
2–4 |
| Diversity |
4–6 |
| Organismal Biology |
20–26 |
| Animal Structure, Function, and Behavior |
9–13 |
| Plant Structure and Function |
9–13 |
| Ecology |
7–9 |
This book is organized according to these categories, allowing you to focus on each topic to whatever degree you feel necessary. Also, each question in the practice tests at the back of this book has been sorted into these categories, so that when you study your practice tests, you can very precisely identify your weaknesses and use this book to address them.
