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FTCE Biology 6-12 Online Center
This FTCE Biology 6-12 Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
2 free pop-up tests · 108 flashcards · 10 weighted competencies
2 pop-up practice tests110 connected lessons1 complete flashcard deck
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FTCE Biology 6-12 Practice Center
Take a full 150-minute form, then read the explanation under every question you missed. Score the ten competencies separately. Competency 1 is almost a fifth of the test and it is not content recall, so keep those misses in their own pile.
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FTCE Biology 6-12 at a glance
This is the Florida subject area examination for Biology coverage in grades six through twelve. It is one 80-question form with a two and a half hour clock, and it spans the whole discipline: biochemistry, cells, genetics, microbes, plants, animals, ecology, and evolution. What surprises most candidates is the first competency. Lab technique, experimental design, data interpretation, and the nature of science together carry 18 percent of the test, more than any single content area, and none of it is memorized biology.
| Test code | 002 (Biology 6-12) |
|---|---|
| Status | Current. The competencies and skills document published for 002 carries no testing-until cutoff label, and the vendor’s Test Information Guide for this test is published under the same test code. |
| Who takes it | Candidates seeking Florida certification coverage in Biology, grades 6 through 12. |
| Number of questions | Approximately 80 multiple-choice questions |
| Answer options | Four per question, A through D |
| Time limit | 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Format | Computer-based. The Test Information Guide describes two item formats: direct questions asking for the best response, and scenario items built on a situation, problem, or case study. |
| Calculator | Not confirmed. The word calculator does not appear in the Test Information Guide for this test, and no calculator is described as furnished. Plan on doing metric conversions and Hardy-Weinberg arithmetic by hand. |
| Passing score | A scaled score of at least 200. Results come back as PASS or NOT PASS, with a numerical scaled score reported to candidates who do not pass. |
| Competency weighting | Published. See the blueprint below. |
Florida publishes an approximate percentage for each of the ten competencies, and the figures sum to 100. Investigative processes of science is 18 percent, chemical processes of living things 14 percent, animal diversity 13 percent, genetics 11 percent, ecology 11 percent, evolutionary mechanisms 10 percent, protists, fungi, and plants 8 percent, cell structure and function 7 percent, and science, technology, and society and the viruses and prokaryotes competency 4 percent each. On an 80-question form that is roughly 14, 11, 10, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6, 3, and 3 questions, which is exactly how both practice forms here are built.
The ten competencies, in plain language
Florida lists the skills under each competency. Here is what each one asks of you, heaviest first.
Competency 1. Investigative processes of science (18 percent, about 14 questions)
How biologists work: instruments, procedures, data, and the logic that separates science from everything else.
- Light microscope parts, use, and care, and when scanning electron, transmission electron, or phase contrast microscopy is the right tool
- Lab procedures from dissection and staining to chromatography, gel electrophoresis, PCR, spectrophotometry, and centrifugation, and what each one is for
- Field study design: site selection, sampling, transects, and environmental measurement
- Metric measurement and calculation in appropriate units
- Telling apart observation, inference, assumption, hypothesis, conclusion, theory, and law
- Reading data out of charts, graphs, tables, and diagrams
- Identifying variables, controls, and the features of a well-designed experiment
- Validity and reliability: reproducibility, statistical significance, bias, and types of error
- Natural patterns such as circadian rhythms, migration, succession, and cycles
Competency 3. Chemical processes of living things (14 percent, about 11 questions)
Biochemistry and energy, plus the immune chemistry Florida files under this heading.
- Water, mineral salts, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, and what each does in a cell
- Thermodynamics in living systems and how enzymes change reaction rates
- Effects of pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and enzyme concentration on rate
- Glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, electron transport, and both fermentation pathways, with their energy yields
- Light-dependent reactions, the Calvin cycle, and the differences among C3, C4, and CAM plants
- Chemiosmosis in both photosynthesis and respiration, and the ATP to ADP cycle
- Autotrophy, heterotrophy, and chemosynthesis, and the ecosystem roles that follow
- Antigen and antibody reactions, active against passive immunity, and vaccine responses
- Cell recognition and signaling in autoimmune disease, tissue rejection, and cancer
Competency 8. Structural and functional diversity of animals (13 percent, about 10 questions)
Animal tissues, body plans, development, organ systems, and behavior.
- Epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous tissue and what each is built to do
- Body plans by symmetry, coelomic character, and embryonic origin
- Stages and sequence of embryological development across representative phyla
- Circulatory, lymphatic, excretory, digestive, endocrine, nervous, integumentary, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and respiratory systems
- How systems connect, including the body systems behind the human immune response
- Positive and negative feedback loops, hormones, and the fight-or-flight response
- Animal behavior: signals, dominance hierarchy, territoriality, courtship, innate against learned
Competency 5. Genetic principles, processes, and applications (11 percent, about 9 questions)
Molecular genetics, inheritance patterns, and the arithmetic that goes with them.
- Nucleic acid structure and function, DNA replication, and protein synthesis in order
- Differences between DNA and RNA, and between prokaryotic and eukaryotic gene regulation
- Recombinant DNA work: Southern blotting, gene splicing, transgenic organisms, mitochondrial DNA isolation
- Environmental and genetic influences on expression, including viruses, oncogenes, carcinogens, mutagens, and epigenetic factors
- Meiosis in plants, animals, and fungi, and the products it yields
- Mendelian laws, Punnett squares, probability, and chi-square analysis
- Sex-linked, sex-influenced, sex-limited, incomplete dominance, codominance, linkage, multiple alleles, and polygenic patterns
- Causes of genetic disorders and the protein-level effect of a change in a DNA sequence
Competency 9. Ecological principles and processes (11 percent, about 9 questions)
Energy, matter, populations, and the Florida systems Florida asks about by name.
- Levels of organization from individual to biosphere
- Producers, consumers, decomposers, trophic levels, and energy flow
- Hydrologic, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles
- Population growth, size, composition, and distribution, and what limits them
- Competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism
- Primary against secondary succession
- Resource management, human population pressure, and loss of biodiversity
- Biotic and abiotic components of Florida freshwater, marine, estuary, and terrestrial systems
Competency 10. Evolutionary mechanisms (10 percent, about 8 questions)
How populations change, how we know, and how organisms are classified.
- Natural selection against earlier accounts, including Lamarck
- The biological species concept and where it breaks down
- Classical taxonomy, phenetics, and cladistics, and using a dichotomous key
- Mutation, recombination, isolation, sexual selection, genetic drift, plate tectonics, and geography as factors in speciation
- Punctuated equilibrium against gradualism
- Molecular, morphological, embryological, and paleontological evidence
- Origin of life theories, including precell and endosymbiotic accounts
- Coevolution and convergent, divergent, and parallel evolution
- Hardy-Weinberg calculations and the assumptions behind them
- Basic trends in hominid evolution
Competency 7. Structural and functional diversity of protists, fungi, and plants (8 percent, about 7 questions)
Plant anatomy and physiology, with protists and fungi alongside.
- Major types of protists, fungi, and plants, and their effects on other living things
- Specialized plant tissues and the jobs they do
- Vascular against nonvascular plants and the niches each can occupy
- Organs of angiosperms and gymnosperms, and monocot against dicot structure
- Transport, storage, water conservation, transpiration, and responses to stimuli
- Auxins, gibberellins, ethylene, and what each regulates
- Plant reproduction and alternation of generations in plants, fungi, and algae
Competency 4. Interactions between cell structure and cell function (7 percent, about 6 questions)
Cell theory, organelles, membranes, and division.
- Scientists and experiments behind cell theory
- Prokaryotic against eukaryotic structure, and the cellular traits of major taxa
- Organelle structure matched to organelle function
- G1, S, G2, and M phases and how the cycle is regulated
- Nuclear division and cytokinesis in plant against animal cells
- Membrane components, and active against passive transport
Competency 2. Interactions between science, technology, and society (4 percent, about 3 questions)
The consequences side of biology, plus laboratory safety rules.
- Ethical, legal, economic, and social questions raised by cloning, genomics, genetic engineering, and reproductive technology
- Environmental challenges such as ozone depletion, pollution, and climate change
- Globalization, pathogen spread, invasive species, and multidrug resistance
- Laboratory safety law and guidance, including OSHA chemical safety guidelines and safety data sheets, and the handling of organisms in a classroom
Competency 6. Structural and functional diversity of viruses and prokaryotic organisms (4 percent, about 3 questions)
Viruses and bacteria, their biology and their effects.
- Viral against prokaryotic structure and function
- Diseases caused by viruses and prokaryotes, from influenza and measles to tuberculosis, plague, and cholera
- Prokaryotic morphology, motility, growth, and metabolic diversity as identification tools
- Transduction, transformation, and conjugation
- Microbial processes and products in biotechnology
A study routine for a 150-minute exam
Eighty questions in two and a half hours leaves under two minutes each. That is enough time if the vocabulary is automatic and you can read a graph without rereading it. It is not enough time to reconstruct the Krebs cycle from scratch.
DiagnoseTake Practice Test 1 cold, all 80 questions in 150 minutes. Score the ten competencies separately and write the numbers down.
Work Competency 1 as its own subjectFourteen questions come from lab technique, experimental design, data interpretation, and the nature of science. Practice naming the independent variable, the control, and the flaw in a described setup, and practice reading a graph for the one trend the question wants.
Get the energy pathways exactRespiration and photosynthesis carry the biggest content competency. Know inputs, outputs, location, and yield for each stage, and know where chemiosmosis happens in both.
Drill genetics on paperSet up the Punnett square, run the chi-square, apply Hardy-Weinberg. These are the items where candidates who understand the biology still lose points to arithmetic done in their head.
Sweep the organismal competenciesAnimals, plants, microbes, and ecology are 38 percent between them. Use the deck for breadth here rather than deep reading, since the items ask for one function or one relationship at a time.
Learn the Florida pieceCompetency 9 names Florida freshwater, marine, estuary, and terrestrial systems outright. Know the characteristic organisms and abiotic conditions of each.
Prove itTake Practice Test 2 under the same clock, with no calculator on the desk.
Complete competency map
All 110 skills Florida publishes across the ten competencies, reworded for study use and grouped as the vendor groups them. Work down a competency and mark the skills you cannot explain out loud.
Competency 1: Knowledge of the investigative processes of science (18 percent, about 14 questions)
- 01Identify the components, proper use, and care of light microscopes
- 02Distinguish among scanning electron, transmission electron, and phase contrast microscopy and their applications
- 03Identify proper technique for dissecting, preserving, staining, and mounting specimens, preparing solutions, chromatography, and gel electrophoresis
- 04Identify proper technique for field studies: site selection, sampling, transects, collecting, and environmental measurement
- 05Select appropriate uses of polymerase chain reaction, chromatography, spectrophotometry, centrifugation, and gel electrophoresis
- 06Calculate measurements in the appropriate metric units
- 07Differentiate assumptions, inferences, observations, hypotheses, conclusions, theories, and laws
- 08Interpret empirical data presented in charts, graphs, tables, and diagrams
- 09Differentiate the characteristics and methods of scientific and nonscientific knowledge
- 10Identify relationships between the variables and the possible outcomes of an experiment
- 11Relate validity and reliability to reproducibility, statistical significance, technological limits, bias, and types of error
- 12Identify how biological theory developed through historical events, the work of diverse individuals, and experimental evidence
- 13Differentiate qualitative from quantitative data in experimental, observational, and modeling research
- 14Determine the elements of a well-designed and controlled experiment
- 15Identify evidence of the dynamic nature of science when new information appears
- 16Identify patterns such as circadian rhythms, migration, succession, and cycles at the level of organisms, populations, or ecosystems
Competency 2: Knowledge of the interactions between science, technology, and society (4 percent, about 3 questions)
- 17Analyze ethical, legal, economic, and social implications of current research and practice, including reproductive and life-sustaining technology, population growth and control, cloning, genomics, and genetic engineering
- 18Analyze environmental challenges such as ozone depletion, pollution, climate change, and the health effects of technological advance
- 19Analyze the effects of globalization on the spread and treatment of pathogens and invasive species, including multidrug resistance and rapid transmission across borders
- 20Identify legislation and national guidance on laboratory safety, hazardous materials, experimentation, and the use and handling of organisms in the classroom, including OSHA chemical safety guidelines and safety data sheets
Competency 3: Knowledge of the chemical processes of living things (14 percent, about 11 questions)
- 21Identify the structure, function, and importance of water, mineral salts, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in cells
- 22Apply the laws of thermodynamics to living systems, including the role of enzymes in biological reactions
- 23Predict the effects of pH, temperature, substrate concentration, and enzyme concentration on reaction rate
- 24Identify substrates, products, and relationships in glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, electron transport, and alcoholic and lactic acid fermentation
- 25Compare the end products and energy yields of anaerobic and aerobic respiration
- 26Identify the raw materials and products of C3 photosynthesis and the factors affecting the light-dependent reactions and the Calvin cycle
- 27Identify key differences among C3, C4, and CAM photosynthesis and why those pathways matter ecologically and evolutionarily
- 28Analyze the role of chemiosmosis in photosynthesis and in respiration
- 29Compare heterotrophy and autotrophy and the role of each in the environment
- 30Evaluate the components and roles of the antigen-antibody reaction
- 31Compare active and passive immunity
- 32Evaluate cell recognition in normal and abnormal cell activity, including cell-to-cell signaling, autoimmune disease, tissue rejection, and cancer
- 33Identify effects of environmental factors on biochemistry, such as ultraviolet light on melanin and vitamin D production
- 34Identify the roles of ATP and ADP in cellular processes
- 35Compare chemosynthetic and photosynthetic processes and the ecosystem roles of the organisms that use them
- 36Identify electrical and chemical cell-to-cell communication in living things
- 37Identify specific and nonspecific immune responses to vaccines and inoculations
Competency 4: Knowledge of the interactions between cell structure and cell function (7 percent, about 6 questions)
- 38Identify the major scientists and events behind the cell theory
- 39Distinguish the major structural characteristics of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
- 40Relate the structure of cell organelles to their functions
- 41Differentiate the events of G1, S, G2, and M and the regulatory mechanisms of the cell cycle
- 42Compare the mechanisms and results of nuclear division and cytokinesis in plant and animal cells
- 43Compare the characteristics of major taxa, including domains, kingdoms, and phyla, and their cellular traits
- 44Evaluate the relationships between the structures and functions of cell membrane components
- 45Compare active and passive cellular transport
Competency 5: Knowledge of genetic principles, processes, and applications (11 percent, about 9 questions)
- 46Evaluate the relationship between structure and function in nucleic acids
- 47Sequence the principal events of DNA replication
- 48Sequence the principal events of protein synthesis
- 49Distinguish between the functions of DNA and RNA
- 50Distinguish the regulatory systems for prokaryotic and eukaryotic protein synthesis
- 51Identify proper technique for recombinant DNA work, including Southern blotting, transgenic organisms, gene splicing, and mitochondrial DNA isolation
- 52Evaluate environmental and genetic influences on gene structure and expression, including viruses, oncogenes, carcinogens, mutagens, and epigenetic factors
- 53Analyze the processes and products of meiosis in plants, animals, and fungi
- 54Identify Mendelian laws of inheritance, their relationship to chromosomes, and the related terminology
- 55Analyze applications of probability and statistics in genetics, including chi-square and Punnett squares
- 56Analyze sex-linked, sex-influenced, sex-limited, incomplete dominance, codominance, autosomal linkage, multiple allele, and polygenic inheritance
- 57Identify the causes of genetic disorders, including point mutation, nondisjunction, aneuploidy, translocation, deletion, insertion, inversion, and duplication
- 58Identify the effect of a mutation in a DNA sequence on the products of protein synthesis
Competency 6: Knowledge of the structural and functional diversity of viruses and prokaryotic organisms (4 percent, about 3 questions)
- 59Distinguish the structure and function of viruses and prokaryotic organisms
- 60Identify the effects of viruses and prokaryotes on organisms, including AIDS, influenza, measles, some human cancers, tuberculosis, plague, and cholera
- 61Relate prokaryotic morphology, motility, reproduction and growth, and metabolic diversity to behavior and identification
- 62Differentiate transduction, transformation, and conjugation
- 63Relate microbial processes and products to their uses in biotechnology
Competency 7: Knowledge of the structural and functional diversity of protists, fungi, and plants (8 percent, about 7 questions)
- 64Identify major types of protists, fungi, and plants
- 65Identify the positive and negative effects of protists, fungi, and plants on other living things
- 66Relate the structures of specialized plant tissues to their functions
- 67Relate the characteristics of vascular and nonvascular plants to adaptations that broaden their niches
- 68Identify the functions of the major organs of angiosperms and gymnosperms and the survival advantages that come with them
- 69Compare monocot and dicot structure, including seeds, vascular bundles, venation, and flower parts
- 70Relate transport, storage, water conservation, reproduction, and transpiration to environmental stimuli
- 71Analyze the role of plant growth regulators such as auxins, gibberellins, and ethylene
- 72Identify methods of reproduction in plants
- 73Analyze patterns of alternation of generations in plants, fungi, and algae
Competency 8: Knowledge of the structural and functional diversity of animals (13 percent, about 10 questions)
- 74Relate epithelial, connective, muscle, and nervous tissue to their functions
- 75Characterize major animal body plans by symmetry, coelomic character, and embryonic origin
- 76Identify the stages, sequence, and processes of differentiation in embryological development for representative phyla
- 77Relate the structures of the circulatory and lymphatic systems to their functions
- 78Relate the structures of the excretory and digestive systems to their functions
- 79Relate the structures of the endocrine and nervous systems to their functions
- 80Relate the structures of the integumentary and musculoskeletal systems to their functions
- 81Relate the structures of the reproductive systems to their functions
- 82Relate the structures of the respiratory systems to their functions
- 83Analyze how body systems contribute to the human immune response
- 84Analyze the interconnectedness of animal organ systems
- 85Analyze the effects of positive and negative feedback loops in human systems, such as vertebrate hormones and the fight-or-flight response
- 86Identify aspects of animal social behavior, including communication and signals, dominance hierarchy, territoriality, aggression, courtship, and innate and learned behavior
Competency 9: Knowledge of ecological principles and processes (11 percent, about 9 questions)
- 87Distinguish individuals, populations, communities, ecosystems, biomes, and the biosphere
- 88Analyze the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers and their trophic levels
- 89Identify the processes, components, and roles of organisms in the hydrologic, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles
- 90Analyze patterns of energy flow in an ecosystem
- 91Evaluate factors that affect population composition, growth, size, and geographic distribution
- 92Classify species interactions, including competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism
- 93Distinguish primary from secondary succession in biotic communities
- 94Analyze the costs and benefits of managing renewable and nonrenewable resources
- 95Evaluate the effects of human population size, resource use, and technology on environmental quality
- 96Evaluate the consequences of loss of biodiversity
- 97Characterize the biotic and abiotic components that define Florida freshwater, marine, estuary, and terrestrial ecosystems
Competency 10: Knowledge of evolutionary mechanisms (10 percent, about 8 questions)
- 98Compare evolution by natural selection with earlier theories of evolution such as those of Lamarck and Darwin
- 99Analyze exceptions to and limits of the biological species concept
- 100Compare classical taxonomy, phenetics, and cladistics
- 101Apply a taxonomic key such as a dichotomous key to a set of objects
- 102Analyze variation within a species along an environmental cline
- 103Identify factors affecting speciation, including mutation, recombination, types of isolation, sexual reproduction and selection, genetic drift, plate tectonics, and geographic distribution
- 104Evaluate the roles of mutation, recombination, isolation, sexual reproduction and selection, genetic drift, plate tectonics, and geographic distribution in evolution
- 105Compare punctuated equilibrium and gradualism
- 106Interpret molecular, morphological, embryological, and paleontological evidence for evolutionary theory
- 107Analyze modern theories on the origin and early evolution of life on Earth, including primitive precell and endosymbiotic theories
- 108Differentiate coevolution and convergent, divergent, and parallel evolution as they relate to major taxa
- 109Apply the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, with its formula and assumptions, to predict changes in genotypic frequencies
- 110Identify basic trends in hominid evolution from early ancestors to modern humans
Before test day
Three things decide this test. First, the process competency: treat it as a subject, not a warmup, because 14 questions is more than genetics gets. Second, the energy pathways, where partial knowledge reliably picks a distractor. Third, breadth. With ten competencies and 80 items, no single topic gets many questions, so a candidate who knows nine competencies well and skipped one still passes comfortably, while a candidate who studied only cells and genetics does not. Read every stem twice, answer what it asks, and leave nothing blank.
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FTCE Biology 6-12: study questions
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