Praxis II Biology Content Knowledge, Part 2 Exam

The Biology: Content Knowledge, Part 2 exam is administered to future high school biology teachers to evaluate their ability to teach biology. This is a one hour exam consisting of 75 multiple choice questions. The subjects covered in this exam are indicative of topics that are taught in beginning biology courses in college. There are four areas of subject matter that the questions cover, and they are divided as follows:

• 28 questions covering Diversity of Life, Plants, and Animals
• 18 questions covering Classical Genetics and Evolution
• 16 questions covering Molecular and Cellular Biology
• 13 questions covering Ecology

In the category of Diversity of Life, questions will cover the subjects of classifications and kingdoms. Questions pertaining to Plants will cover the evolution of plants, anatomy and physiology of plants, and the features of reproduction for plants. For Animals, questions will be asked about evolution, organ systems and functions, reproduction, and behavior, both inherent and learned.

Classical Genetics and Evolution is composed of topics such as Mendelian inheritance, genetic disorders, and population genetics and various aspects of evolution.

The topics that are questioned in Molecular and Cellular Biology include structures and characteristics of cells and chemicals associated with life forms, such as meiosis and enzymes, and the subject of molecular genetics which includes topics such as DNA and nucleic acids.

The areas of questioning under the category of Ecology include energy flow, ecosystems, communities of species, niches, and factors associated with various aspects of populations.