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To all of you worrying about taxonomy on the DAT..
On my DAT, I had one question (unfortunately, it was the only taxonomy question I had) which specifically asked about taxonomy. This particular question, you would not get from memorizing any chart or table of phylums. It asked about a particular trait and how this was important phylogenetically.
I think it's important to try and learn how the phylogenetic tree of life actually works and get the main idea down. I fought this forever but finally took a 5 hour class on biological diversity last semester and got this stuff down. It's not too bad if you are willing to try and learn it.
A good place to learn this stuff is from www.thinkwell.com or if you don't feel like paying for a subscription, use this link: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=733830&highlight=thinkwell. Credit to Rlow04 for finding the free videos. It's a little hard having to go through and search for the specific video you need but it's worth it. I have the subscription and this instructor is great. Go to the main thinkwell site and look at the chapter 11 outline; find the video you need and search for it on the other site.
Anyways, I've preached this before but take the time to try and learn the main phylums and why each is important. Draw a phylogenetic tree and be able to label who comes next on it and what new feature came along.
I can't say for other exams, but mine asked about one general trait, along the main tree and then asked of specific phyla (and classes), which one of these did not have such trait. For my question, Cliff's AP Bio did not describe a class which was needed to answer the question. The only reason I knew it was from my biology course. Earlier in the year, I was working on a spreadsheet summarizing all the phyla, classes, and main orders in taxonomy. I will try to finish that this week and post it for everyone.
Again though, you need to learn the basics as opposed to memorizing a chart. Take an afternoon and try to learn why the tree is the way it is and you will never have to attempt to memorize a phylum again. I promise. 👍
I am critical of Cliffs AP Bio's teaching of biological diversity. They fail to stimulate your thinking in terms of evolution. I think they should have put a phylogenetic tree and labeled what happened where. Then they could describe the traits. They did a fairly good job of describing traits along the tree but they don't reflect on where these are inserted in the tree.
Here is a great tree for reference. The first figure doesn't list the all the phyla, and is more or less confusing with the way it shows the branching. Compare it with the second figure and then try to create your own (linear) tree by labeling the characteristics of figure 1 to the phyla of figure 2. I suggest watching those thinkwell videos if you really want to understand this stuff.
Note I am only focusing on animals here. We never really learn the phylogenetic diversity of prokaryotes.. at least I've never come across something like this. Plants are important but that tree is only 4 (main) branches long and can be learned very quickly by understanding 3 characteristics. Animals are not so easy. I love biological diversity and have an ongoing offer to anyone struggling in this stuff to PM me. I will do my best to help you learn it. Please try on your own first though.. I don't want to try teaching this information from step 1 but if you are genuinely having trouble or just need clarification between any phyla, classes, or orders, feel free to ask.
Figure 1
*Taken from Biology: Concepts and Applications (Cecie Starr)
Figure 2
*Taken from www.thinkwell.com
On my DAT, I had one question (unfortunately, it was the only taxonomy question I had) which specifically asked about taxonomy. This particular question, you would not get from memorizing any chart or table of phylums. It asked about a particular trait and how this was important phylogenetically.
I think it's important to try and learn how the phylogenetic tree of life actually works and get the main idea down. I fought this forever but finally took a 5 hour class on biological diversity last semester and got this stuff down. It's not too bad if you are willing to try and learn it.
A good place to learn this stuff is from www.thinkwell.com or if you don't feel like paying for a subscription, use this link: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=733830&highlight=thinkwell. Credit to Rlow04 for finding the free videos. It's a little hard having to go through and search for the specific video you need but it's worth it. I have the subscription and this instructor is great. Go to the main thinkwell site and look at the chapter 11 outline; find the video you need and search for it on the other site.
Anyways, I've preached this before but take the time to try and learn the main phylums and why each is important. Draw a phylogenetic tree and be able to label who comes next on it and what new feature came along.
I can't say for other exams, but mine asked about one general trait, along the main tree and then asked of specific phyla (and classes), which one of these did not have such trait. For my question, Cliff's AP Bio did not describe a class which was needed to answer the question. The only reason I knew it was from my biology course. Earlier in the year, I was working on a spreadsheet summarizing all the phyla, classes, and main orders in taxonomy. I will try to finish that this week and post it for everyone.
Again though, you need to learn the basics as opposed to memorizing a chart. Take an afternoon and try to learn why the tree is the way it is and you will never have to attempt to memorize a phylum again. I promise. 👍
I am critical of Cliffs AP Bio's teaching of biological diversity. They fail to stimulate your thinking in terms of evolution. I think they should have put a phylogenetic tree and labeled what happened where. Then they could describe the traits. They did a fairly good job of describing traits along the tree but they don't reflect on where these are inserted in the tree.
Here is a great tree for reference. The first figure doesn't list the all the phyla, and is more or less confusing with the way it shows the branching. Compare it with the second figure and then try to create your own (linear) tree by labeling the characteristics of figure 1 to the phyla of figure 2. I suggest watching those thinkwell videos if you really want to understand this stuff.
Note I am only focusing on animals here. We never really learn the phylogenetic diversity of prokaryotes.. at least I've never come across something like this. Plants are important but that tree is only 4 (main) branches long and can be learned very quickly by understanding 3 characteristics. Animals are not so easy. I love biological diversity and have an ongoing offer to anyone struggling in this stuff to PM me. I will do my best to help you learn it. Please try on your own first though.. I don't want to try teaching this information from step 1 but if you are genuinely having trouble or just need clarification between any phyla, classes, or orders, feel free to ask.
Figure 1
*Taken from Biology: Concepts and Applications (Cecie Starr)
Figure 2
*Taken from www.thinkwell.com
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