General Science and Evolution for Nursing School Entrance Exam Practice Problems

The study guide for these practice questions can be found at:

General Science and Evolution for Nursing School Entrance Exam Study Guide

Questions

1. The four bases of DNA are
   1. ACEG.
   2. CMEP.
   3. TAGC.
   4. MGPA.
2. Considering the problem of the origin of life on Earth, which is NOT a possible source of organic molecules?
   1. dissolution of rocks
   2. lightning in the atmosphere
   3. deep sea vents
   4. meteorites from space
3. Which cell type has a nucleus?
   1. bikaryotic
   2. prokaryotic
   3. eukaryotic
   4. postkaryotic
4. For what fraction of the span of life's existence on Earth was life only microbial?
   1. 
   2. 
   3. 
   4. 
5. A lichen is a symbiosis between which two organisms?
   1. animal-plant
   2. algae-fungi
   3. plant-fungi
   4. animal-algae
6. What was the mass extinction that ended the reign of the dinosaurs?
   1. Cretaceous-Tertiary
   2. Permian-Triassic
   3. Triassic-Jurassic
   4. Carboniferous-Permian
7. The most direct ancestor of the mammals was a
   1. mammal-like amphibian.
   2. mammal-like reptile.
   3. mammal-like fish.
   4. mammal-like crocodile.
8. Which animal today is the direct descendant of the dinosaurs?
   1. ostrich
   2. white shark
   3. African lion
   4. humpback whale
9. About how many times larger are the brains of humans today, compared to our Australopithecine ancestors about three million years ago?
   1. 2–
   2. 5–
   3. 8–
   4. 3–
10. Which is the second oldest, in terms of evolution?
    1. Homo erectus
    2. Homo sapiens
    3. Neanderthal
    4. Australopithecus

Answers

1. c.   The four DNA bases are tyrosine, adenine, guanine, and cytosine.
2. a.   Dissolution of rocks creates ions in water, but this has nothing to do with actually forming organic molecules. All the other choices are definite possibilities.
3. c.   Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus in each cell. The word means "good (or true) kernel."
4. b.   Life became single celled nearly four billion years ago, but multicellular life did not evolve until about one billion years ago. Therefore, the time period over which life was only microbial was of the total time of life.
5. b.   A lichen on a rock (often flat) is a working partnership (a symbiosis) between a green algae and a nutrient-gathering fungi.
6. a.   The Cretaceous-Tertiary event caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, about 65 million years ago. (This is also called the K-T boundary—K for Cretaceous, in geologist's terminology.)
7. b.   Because fish evolved into amphibians, which evolved into reptiles, the ancestor of mammals was a mammal-like reptile. Crocodiles came much later.
8. a.   The ostrich, like all birds, is a descendent of the dinosaurs.
9. d.   3× is the amount that brain size increased during human evolution.
10. a.   Homo erectus came after Australopithecus but well before Neanderthal and Homo sapiens.