The Biology JAMB UTME Syllabus is designed to assess your knowledge and understanding of fundamental biological concepts. It covers a wide range of topics, including cell biology, genetics, ecology, evolution, physiology, and reproduction. Each of these components is equally important and requires dedicated preparation. By familiarizing yourself with the syllabus, you can tailor your study plan to address each area effectively.
1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES
The aim of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus in BIOLOGY is to guide candidates in their preparation for the Board’s examination. It is designed to evaluate the candidates’ ability to:
- demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the concepts of diversity, interdependence and unity of life;
- 2. account for continuity of life through reorganization, inheritance and evolution;
- apply biological principles and concepts to everyday life, especially to matters affecting living things, individuals, society, the environment, community health and the economy.
2. The syllabus consists of FIVE sections as stated below:
- VARIETY OF ORGANISMS
- FORM AND FUNCTIONS
- ECOLOGY
- HEREDITY AND VARIATIONS
- EVOLUTION
3. DETAILED SYLLABUS/CONTENTS
SECTION 1: VARIETY OF ORGANISMS
TOPIC 1. Living organisms-
Subtopics:-
- a. Characteristics
- b. Cell structure and functions of cell Components
- c. Level of organization
i. Cell e.g. euglena and paramecium,
ii. Tissue, e.g. epithelial tissues and hydra
iii. Organ, e.g. onion bulb
iv. Systems, e.g. reproductive, digestive and excretory
v. Organisms e.g. Chlamydomonas
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. differentiate between the characteristics of living and non-living things.
ii. identify the structures of plants and animal cells.
iii. analyse the functions of the components of plants and animal cells.
iv. compare and contrast the structure of plant and animal cells.
v. trace the levels of organization among organisms in their logical sequence in relation to the five-level of organization of living organisms.
TOPIC 2. Evolution among the following-
Subtopics:-
- a. Monera (prokaryotes), e.g. bacteria and blue green algae.
- b. Protista (protozoans and protophyta), e.g. Amoeba, Euglena and Paramecium
- c. Fungi, e.g. mushroom and Rhizopus.
- d. Plantae (plants)
i. Thallophyta (e.g. Spirogyra)
ii. Bryophyta (mosses and liveworts) e.g. Brachmenium and Merchantia.
iii. Pteridophyta (ferns) e.g. Dryopteris.
iv. Spermatophyta (Gymnospermae and Angiospermae)
– Gymnosperms e.g. Cycads and conifers.
– Angiosperms (monocots, e.g. maize; dicots, e.g. water leaf) - e. Animalia (animals)
1. Invertebrates
– coelenterate (e.g. Hydra)
– Platyhelminthes (flatworms) e.g. Taenia
– Nematoda (roundworms)
– Annelida (e.g. earthworm)
– Arthropoda e.g. mosquito, cockroach, housefly, bee, butterfly
– Mollusca (e.g. snails)
2. Multicellular animals (vertebrates)
– Pisces (cartilaginous and bony fish)
– Amphibia (e.g. toads and frogs)
– Reptilia (e.g. lizards, snakes and turtles)
– Aves (birds)
– Mammalia (mammals)
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. analyse external features and characteristics of the listed organisms:
ii. apply the knowledge from (i) above to demonstrate an increase in structural complexity.
iii. trace the stages in the life histories of the listed organisms.
iv. apply the knowledge of the life histories to demonstrate the gradual transition from life in water to life on land.
v. Trace the evolution of the listed plants.
Also, Candidates should be able to:
i. trace the advancement of the invertebrate animals.
ii. determine the economic importance of the insects studied.
iii. asses their values to the environment.
i. trace the advancement of multi-cellular animals.
ii. determine their economic importance.
TOPIC 3. Variety of Organisms-
Subtopics:-
- a. Structural/functional and behavioural adaptations of organisms.
- b. Adaptive colouration and its functions
- c. Behavioural adaptations in social animals
- d. Structural adaptations in organisms.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. Describe how the various structures, functions and behaviour adapt these organisms to their environment, and way of life
Also, Candidates should be able to:
i. Categorize countershading in fish, toads and snakes and warning colouration in mushrooms.
Moreover, Candidates should be able to:
i. Differentiate various castes in social insects like termites and their functions in their colony hive.
ii. Account for basking in lizards, and territorial behaviour of other animals under unfavourable conditions (hibernation and aestivation).
Candidates should be able to account for adaptation in organisms with respect to the following:
i. Obtaining food (beaks and legs of birds, mouthparts of insects especially mosquito, butterfly and moth.)
ii. Protection and defence (stick insects, praying mantis and toad).
iii. Securing mates (redhead male and female Agama lizards, display of fathers by birds).
iv. Regulating body temperature (skin, feathers and hairs)
v. Conserving water (spines in plants and scales in mammals).
SECTION 2: FORM AND FUNCTIONS
TOPIC 1. Internal structure of a flowering plant-
Subtopics:-
- a. Internal structure of a flowering plant
i. Root
ii. Stem
iii. Leaf
b. Internal structure of a flowering plant
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. Identify the transverse sections of these organs.
ii. Relate the structure of these organs to their functions.
iii. Identify supporting tissues in plants (collenchyma) sclerenchyma, xylem and phloem fibres)
iv. Describe the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stem and leaf
Candidates should be able to:
i. Examine the arrangement of the mammalian internal organs.
ii. describe the appearance and position of the digestive, reproductive and excretory organs.
TOPIC 2. Nutrition-
a. Modes of nutrition
i. Autotrophic
ii. Heterotrophic
b. Types of Nutrition
c. Plant nutrition
i. Photosynthesis
ii. Mineral requirements (macro and micro-nutrients)
d. Animal Nutrition
i. Classes of food substances; carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, vitamins, mineral salts and water
ii. Food tests (e.g. starch, reducing sugar, protein, oil, fat etc.
iii. The mammalian tooth (structures, types and functions
iv. Mammalian alimentary canal
v. Nutrition process (ingestion, digestion, absorption, and assimilation of digested food.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. compare the photosynthetic and chemosynthetic modes of nutrition;
ii. provide examples from both flowering and non-flowering plants
iii. compare autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of nutrition.
Second part – Candidates should be able to:
i. Differentiate the following examples:
– holozoic (sheep and man)
– Parasitic (roundworm, tapeworm and Loranthus)
– saprophytic (Rhizopus and mushroom)
– carnivorous plants (sundew and bladderwort)
ii. determine their nutritional value.
Third part – Candidates should be able to:
i. Differentiate the light and dark reactions, and state conditions necessary for photosynthesis.
ii. determine the necessity of light, carbon (IV) oxide and chlorophyll in photosynthesis.
iii. detect the presence of starch in a leaf as an evidence of photosynthesis.
Fourth – Candidates should be able to:
i. Identify macro and micro-elements required by plants.
ii. recognise the deficiency symptoms of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
Fifth – Candidates should be able to:
i. indicate the sources of the various classes of food;
ii. relate the importance and deficiency e.g. scurvy, rickets, kwashiorkor etc. of each class;
iii. determine the importance of a balanced diet.
Candidates should be able to;
i. Detect the presence of the listed food items from the result of a given experiment.
Candidates should be able to:
i. describe the structure of a typical mammalian tooth;
ii. differentiate the types of mammalian tooth and relate their structures to their functions.
iii. compare the dental formulae of man, sheep, and dog.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the structure of the various components of the alimentary canal and its accessory organs (liver, pancreas, and gall bladder) to their functions.
Candidates should be able to:
i. identify the general characteristics of digestive enzymes;
ii. associate enzymes with digestion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats;
iii. determine the end products of these classes of food
TOPIC 3. Transport-
a. Need for transportation
b. Materials for transportation. (Excretory products, gases, manufactured food, digested food, nutrient, water and hormones)
c. Channels for transportation
i. Mammalian circulatory system (heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries)
ii Plant vascular system (phloem and xylem)
d. Media and processes of mechanism for transportation.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the relationship between the increase in size and complexity and the need for the development of a transport system in plants and animals.
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the sources of materials and the forms in which they are transported.
Candidates should be able to:
i. describe the general circulatory system;
ii. compare specific functions of the hepatic portal vein, the pulmonary vein and artery, the aorta, the renal artery and the vein
Candidates should be able to:
i. Identify the organs of the plant vascular system.
ii. understand the specific functions of the phloem and xylem.
Candidates should be able to:
i. identify media of transportation (e.g. cytoplasm, cell sap, body fluid, blood and lymph);
ii. know the composition and functions of blood and lymph;
iii. describe diffusion, osmosis, plasmolysis and turgidity as mechanism of transportation in organisms.
iv. compare the various mechanisms of open circulatory systems, in animal transpiration pull, root pressure and active transport as mechanism of transportation in plants.
TOPIC 4. Respiration-
a. Respiration
b. Respiratory organs and surfaces
c. The mechanism of gaseous exchange in:
i. Plants
ii. Mammals
d. Aerobic respiration
e. Anaerobic respiration
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the significance of respiration;
ii. describe a simplified outline of the chemical process involved in glycolysis and Kreb’s cycle with reference to the role ATP
iii deduce from an experimental setup, gaseous exchange and products, exchange and production of heat energy during respiration.
Candidates should be able to:
i. describe the following respiratory organs and surfaces with organisms in which they occur; body surface, gill, trachea, lungs, stomata and lenticel.
Candidates should be able to:
i. describe the mechanism for the opening and closing of the stomata;
ii. determine respiratory movements in these animals.
Candidates should be able to:
iii. examine the role of oxygen in the liberation of
energy for the activities of the living organisms;
iv. deduce the effect of insufficient supply of oxygen to the muscles.
Candidates should be able to:
i. use yeast cells and sugar solution to demonstrate the process of fermentation.
ii. know the economic importance of yeasts.
TOPIC 5. Excretion-
a. Types of excretory structures:
i. contractile vacuole
ii flamecell,
iii. nephridium
iv. Malpighian tubule
v. kidney
vi. stoma and lenticel.
b. Excretory mechanisms:
i. Kidneys
ii. lungs
ii. skin
c. Excretory products of plants
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
Candidates should be able to:
i. define the meaning and state the significance of excretion;
ii. relate the characteristics of each structure with functions.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the structure of the kidneys to the excretory and osmo-regulatory functions.
ii. identify the functions and excretory products of the lungs and the skin.
Candidates should be able to:
i. deduce the economic importance of the excretory products of plants, e.g carbon (IV) oxide, oxygen, tannins, resins, gums, mucilage, alkaloids etc.
TOPIC 6. Support and movement-
a. Tropic, tactic, nastic and sleep movements in plants
b. supporting tissues in animals
c. Types and functions of the skeleton
i. Exoskeleton
ii. Endoskeleton
iii. Functions of the skeleton in animals
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the need for support and movement in organisms;
ii. identify supporting tissues in plants (collenchyma, sclerenchyma, xylem and phloem fibres);
iii. describe the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stem, and leaf.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the response of plants to the stimuli of light, water, gravity and touch;
ii. identify the regions of growth in roots and shoots and the roles of auxins in tropism.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the location of chitin, cartilage and bone to their supporting function.
ii. relate the structure and the general layout of the mammalian skeleton to their supportive, locomotive and respiratory function.
iii. differentiate types of joints using appropriate examples.
Candidates should be able to:
i. apply the protective, supportive, locomotive and respiratory functions of the skeleton to the well being of the animal.
TOPIC 7. Reproduction-
a. Asexual reproduction
i. Fission as in Paramecium
ii. Budding as in yeast
iii. Natural vegetative propagation
iv. Artificial vegetative propagation.
b. sexual reproduction in flowering plants
i. Floral parts and their functions
ii. Pollination and fertilization
iii. products of sexual reproduction
c. Reproduction in mammals
i. structures and functions of the male and female reproductive organs
ii. Fertilization and development. (Fusion of gametes)
OBJECTIVES OF THIS TOPIC
Candidates should be able to:
i. differentiate between asexual and sexual reproduction
ii. apply natural vegetative propagation in crop production and multiplication.
iii. apply grafting, budding and layering in agricultural practices.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate parts of flower to their functions and reproductive process
ii. deduce the advantages of cross-pollination.
iii. deduce the different types of placentation that develop into simple, aggregate, multiple and succulent fruits.
Candidates should be able to:
i. differentiate between male and female reproductive organs
ii. relate their structure and function to the production of offspring.
Candidates should be able to:
i. describe the fusion of gametes as a process of fertilization.
ii. relate the effects of the mother’s health, nutrition and indiscriminate use of drugs on the developmental stages of the embryo up to birth.
iii. Modern methods of regulating reproduction on e.g. invitro-fertilization and birth control
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