Biology I SOL Practice Test — Set 4 of 6
Set 4 of 6 — 50 more free Biology I SOL practice questions from official VDOE released tests.
1. Which molecule carries coded information from the nucleus?
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Answer: C — mRNA
2. Field data show duckweed growth at different pH levels: pH 4 (80 plants), pH 6 (150 plants), pH 8 (500 plants), pH 12 (300 plants). Duckweed has optimum growth at a pH of —
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Answer: C — 8
3. Which question cannot be answered scientifically because the quantity cannot be measured?
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Answer: C — How happy is a chimpanzee when it finds food?
4. The chances of developing certain diseases are higher if family members also have them because they are —
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Answer: C — genetically based
5. Unlike plants, fungi cannot make their own food because they do not have —
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Answer: D — chlorophyll
6. Data comparing disinfectants show varying bacterial colony sizes after treatment. Which conclusion is best supported?
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Answer: C — Some disinfectants are more effective than others.
7. Himalayan rabbits are white with black fur on their ears and the tips of their feet. If an ice pack is placed on a rabbit’s back, the fur in that area grows in black. In this case, hair color is determined by —
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Answer: C — environmental conditions
8. The following describes a life cycle that includes the stages egg → larva → pupa → adult. Which animal develops in a cycle most similar to this one?
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Answer: G — A moth
9. DNA that is derived from the DNA of two or more different species is called —
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Answer: A — recombinant DNA
10. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered that the bacterium Staphylococcus would not grow in the presence of a mold called Penicillium. In 1939, Ernst Chain and Howard Florey purified penicillin, and in 1941 it was first used to treat bacterial diseases. In 1945, Fleming, Chain, and Florey received the Nobel Prize in medicine. These facts show that —
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Answer: H — scientific progress often requires the efforts of many people working together
11. Long ago, people believed smallpox was spread through the air. Families moved from crowded cities to rural areas, carrying family members who were infected but not yet showing symptoms. When symptoms appeared, other family members soon became sick. This led to the discovery that smallpox is transmitted by —
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Answer: B — direct contact with an infected person
12. An X-ray diffraction image of DNA showed a repeating, twisted structure. This led scientists to conclude that DNA —
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Answer: F — is a double helix
13. Which statement best describes natural selection?
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Answer: C — Individuals with inherited traits better adapted to the environment survive.
14. The cucumber plant has long trailing vines, fuzzy three- to five-lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and long spiny fruit. Based on the following plant characteristics, which plant is most closely related to the cucumber? Eggplant: erect bushy growth, fuzzy ovate leaves, violet flowers, large berry fruit Pumpkin: sprawling vines, large fuzzy lobed leaves, yellow flowers, large oblate to oblong fruit Pepper: erect growth, slick leaves, white flowers, berry pods Okra: erect shrub-like growth, heart-shaped lobed leaves, yellow flowers, hairy tapering capsules
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Answer: G — Pumpkin
15. Which of these does not depend on muscle contraction?
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Answer: D — Pain perception
16. An animal is observed to have short legs, a compact body, and strong claws adapted for digging. Which hypothesis is best supported by these observations?
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Answer: F — This animal spends much of its time digging.
17. In rabbits, short fur (F) is dominant to long fur (f). Two heterozygous short-haired rabbits (Ff × Ff) are crossed. What is the probability that their offspring will have short fur?
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Answer: C — Three in four
18. If a student is researching heredity for a science project, which source is most reliable?
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Answer: J — A professional journal
19. The Aldabra Rail is a flightless bird found only on Aldabra Island, located 400 kilometers off the coast of Africa. It differs greatly from mainland rails. This species most likely formed through —
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Answer: D — geographic isolation
20. An organism has jointed appendages and an external skeleton. It is most closely related to animals in the phylum Arthropoda because it has —
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Answer: H — jointed appendages
21. In 1665, Robert Hooke observed cork under a microscope and described small boxlike structures. These structures were actually —
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Answer: A — cell walls
22. Wheat plants were exposed to ultraviolet light of wavelength 357.6 nm at different intensities. At 0–8 joules/m², crop yield was about 110 g/m². At 20 joules/m², yield dropped to 30 g/m², and at 25 joules/m² it dropped to 20 g/m². These data best support which statement?
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Answer: F — High-intensity ultraviolet light reduces wheat yield.
23. An unknown animal has the amino acid sequence: Met–Gly–Ser–Tyr–Tyr–Arg–His–His–Glu–Lys–Asp Which animal has the most similar sequence?
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Answer: B — Dog: Met–Gly–Ser–Tyr–Tyr–Arg–His–Asp–Glu–Lys–Asp
24. A prokaryotic bacterium contains cytoplasm with ribosomes, DNA not enclosed in a nucleus, a cell membrane, and a cell wall. How does it differ from a eukaryotic cell?
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Answer: C — It lacks a membrane-bound nucleus.
25. A cell is placed in solutions of different salt concentrations. Which solution would cause no change in cell size? A solution with the same salt concentration as the cell (isotonic).
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Answer: G — 1% salt outside, 1% inside
26. Cells form tissues, and tissues then form —
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Answer: G — organs
27. Maintaining blood glucose within a narrow range in vertebrates is an example of —
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Answer: A — homeostasis
28. Peroxidase breaks down hydrogen peroxide because of its —
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Answer: H — active site
29. Which process occurs in the same way in both plants and animals?
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Answer: A — cellular respiration
30. Fish kills in rivers polluted by fertilizers are mainly caused by —
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Answer: G — decreased oxygen levels
31. DNA fingerprints from a puppy and four possible sires were compared. The sire whose DNA banding pattern matched the puppy’s most closely was —
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Answer: C — C
32. Unicellular organisms cannot grow very large because —
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Answer: H — diffusion of nutrients would be too slow
33. In a forest ecosystem, which organism is a decomposer?
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Answer: B — Mushroom
34. In cows, long hair is dominant to short hair. In a heterozygous cow, what percentage of cells undergoing meiosis carry the dominant allele?
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Answer: G — 50%
35. Around deep-ocean hydrothermal vents, bacteria convert hydrogen sulfide into sugars and support other organisms. Compared to land food chains, these bacteria play the same role as —
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Answer: C — green plants
36. An organism with moist skin, no hair, an internal skeleton, and eggs laid under logs is most likely a —
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Answer: G — amphibian
37. In insects, the tracheal system consists of long tubes that branch throughout the body. The shape of the trachea is best described as —
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Answer: C — a long branched tube
38. Two bean plants were grown with four fertilizers. Including which variable would improve validity?
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Answer: J — Including a control with no fertilizer
39. Which factor would least affect how long it takes farmland to return to forest?
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Answer: C — Density of the original forest
40. Red blood cells lacking hemoglobin would have low levels of —
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Answer: J — oxygen
41. The forelimb bones of a bat and a prehistoric pterosaur include scapula, humerus, radius, ulna, and carpals. Which pterosaur bone corresponds to the bat humerus?
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Answer: B — B
42. A marble is pushed through a plastic tube by squeezing fingers along the tube. This models digestion. The fingers represent —
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Answer: H — muscle contractions in the GI tract
43. Increased resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to streptomycin is most likely due to increased —
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Answer: A — use of streptomycin
44. Euglena has a long whip-like structure called a flagellum. Its function is —
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Answer: H — movement
45. Viruses share which trait with living cells?
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Answer: C — Nucleic acids such as DNA or RNA
46. To study algae levels versus temperature in a stream, which tools are best for collecting and communicating data?
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Answer: J — Test tubes, thermometers, and graphs
47. A valid test of the hypothesis “More pine seeds germinate after a forest fire” must include seeds recovered from a fire area and seeds that were —
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Answer: C — found before a fire
48. Which triplet cannot represent RNA?
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Answer: F — CGT
49. Which trait of a red cardinal supports that it spends much time in trees and shrubs?
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Answer: C — Shape of its feet
50. Mutations caused by radiation that occur only in somatic cells may —
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Answer: G — increase cancer risk
Biology I SOL practice test — FAQ
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How many Biology I SOL practice questions are there?
Across all sets, there are 395 Biology I practice questions drawn from official Virginia Department of Education released SOL tests. This set has 50.
Are these real Virginia SOL questions?
The questions are adapted from official VDOE released SOL tests for Biology I. SOL Prep is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Virginia Department of Education.
Practice items adapted from Virginia Department of Education released SOL tests. Practice items are provided for study purposes and are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Virginia Department of Education.