On the Biology test, content topics span the biology curriculum, including content related to (I) Nature and Impact of Science and Engineering, (II) Cell Biology: Cell Structure and Function, (III) Genetics and Evolution, (IV) Diversity of Life and Organismal Biology, (V) Ecology: Organisms and Environments.

The assessment is designed and developed through work with practicing biology teachers, teacher educators, and higher education biology specialists to reflect the science knowledge teachers need to teach the biology curriculum and to reflect state and national standards, including the National Science Teaching Association Preparation Standards for biology. Content and practices measured reflect the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) and Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) established by the National Research Council in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and included in the Next Generation Science Standards.

The 150 selected-response questions measure concepts, terms, phenomena, methods, applications, data analysis, and problem solving in science. Test takers can expect 40 percent or more of the questions on the test to integrate biology content knowledge with one or more of the SEPs, listed under Science and Engineering Practices. Test takers will also find that approximately 25 percent of questions call for application of biology content and processes within a teaching scenario or an instructional task. Such questions—designed to measure applications of biology knowledge to the kinds of decisions and evaluations a teacher must make during work with students, curriculum, and instruction— situate biology content questions in tasks critical for teaching. 

This test may contain some questions that will not count toward your score