Are you planning to pursue graduate work in Biology? If you’re thinking of applying to master’s or PhD programs in Biology or closely-related fields, you may be required to take the GRE Subject Test in Biology as part of your graduate school applications. Because this exam is intended to measure the skills you have gained in your specific field during the entirety of your undergraduate education, the exam tests many topics in great detail and can appear extremely daunting at first glance; however, after seeing the topics it treats laid out and learning about some great resources you can use to study, you can formulate a reasonable plan of study for the GRE Subject Test in Biology that will allow you to treat every specific topic that can appear on the test in detail while feeling like it is completely manageable.

Let’s start with microscopic biological topics and work our way up to macroscopic concepts. One of the major areas covered on the GRE Subject Test in Biology is Genetics, DNA, and Molecular Biology. Expect DNA replication and repair to be covered in detail, as well as chromatin, karyotypes and chromosomes, introns and exons, operons and promoters, transcription factors, the processes of transcription and translation, mRNA and protein modifications, and genetic patterns. Don’t be surprised if you encounter questions about genetic regulation, including epigenetics and oncogenes.

Working our way up in scale, the GRE Subject Test in Biology also covers Cell Biology in great detail. Before taking the test, you should be familiar with the different types of macromolecules, such as nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. You should also have covered and reviewed cell metabolism in detail, including photosynthesis, glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, fermentation, and the storage of macromolecules. Other Cell Biology topics covered on the GRE Subject Test in Biology include the cell cycle and its regulation, and the cell membrane and organelles. You should be familiar with not only the function, but also the structure of cell organelles.

Again moving up in scale, the GRE Subject Test in Biology also expects test takers to be familiar with both plant biology and animal biology. When reviewing plant biology, focus on plant reproductive hormones and structures, plant development, microstructures and macrostructures, plant nutrition and hydration, as well as plant metabolism and photosynthesis. When studying animal biology, emphasize animal development, as well as the various biological systems found in animals: respiratory, musculoskeletal, digestive, circulatory, nervous, endocrine, and reproductive. Also give due diligence to reviewing immunobiological processes and cells, as well as antibodies and antigens.

Not only does the GRE Subject Test in Biology test your knowledge of animals’ bodily systems, but it also tests your knowledge of the way in which animals develop in great numbers over long periods of time by asking about evolution and mutations. When taking the GRE Subject Test in Biology, you should feel confident in answering questions about evolutionary history; speciation, including different types of speciation, different types of evolution, and phylogenetics; evolutionary factors like Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, genetic drift, natural selection and fitness; and mutations and variability, including different types of mutation and polymorphisms.

At the largest scale, the GRE Subject Test in Biology tests your knowledge of ecology, asking questions about organismal ecology, such as habitats, niches, mating and social interactions, food webs, and food chains. You should be familiar with population ecology, community ecology, and trophic ecology, as well as environmental ecology, which covers chemical cycles and environmental impacts. Also be well-versed in the different divisions of life and viruses: animalia, plantae, fungi, protista, bacteria, archaea, and viruses.

Finally, outside of the scale progression, the GRE Subject Test in Biology also tests your knowledge of lab techniques. Questions might concern microscopy (light microscopy or electron microscopy), chromatography (column chromatography or thin-layer chromatography, commonly abbreviated to “TLC”), electrophoresis and blots (Western blots, PAGE and SDS-PAGE) genetic manipulation (knockouts, RNAi, and recombinant DNA), DNA analysis (restriction endonucleases and RFLPs, DNA sequencing, cloning, and PCR), immunochemistry (immunological strains and FACS) and other lab techniques used for separation and identification.

Laid out all at once, all of this information may appear extremely imposing, and you may feel as if you can never keep it all fresh in mind at once; however, there’s no reason to feel nervous, though this is a normal reaction; just realize that you’ve covered all, if not the great majority, of this material before, so the process of preparing for the GRE Subject Test in Biology will be one of review, not of learning new material, and many of these concepts will seem familiar once you start looking over them one at a time. That is the trick to studying effectively for the GRE Subject Test in Biology: create a reasonable study plan that will allow you to focus on each concept as needed, without feeling as if you need to rush to be ready by your test date. Varsity Tutors’ free GRE Subject Test in Biology Practice Tests can help you figure out how best to spend your study time by helping you realize which topics you’ve mastered and which you need to spend extra time and attention reviewing. Each GRE Subject Test in Biology Practice Test consists of about twelve problems drawn from each of the biological topics enumerated above. After completing a Practice Test, you will receive detailed statistics analyzing your performance independently and in comparison to others who have answered the same problems. Each problem comes with a complete explanation, so if you miss one, you can learn from your mistake. If, after taking a number of Practice Tests, you realize that you need to review a broad topic like plant reproduction or a specific topic like PAGE-SDS, you can do this using Varsity Tutors’ free resources as well, because questions are also organized by concept.

To get a comprehensive idea of your current knowledge level, you can begin your review process by taking a free Full-Length GRE Subject Test in Biology Practice Test. The complete practice tests ask you questions spanning the entire range of topics that could be covered on the real test. The full-length format also offers a chance for you to fine-tune your testing pace to ensure you’ll have plenty of time to finish the whole test on exam day. Just as on the results pages for the concept-specific practice tests, the results for the complete practice tests offer helpful features like detailed explanations for each correct answer and additional information on key concepts. The comprehensive practice tests can also help you streamline your review plan by showing you which concepts you still need to review. Once you have done a full review using your favorite Learning Tools, you can evaluate your progress by taking another Full-Length GRE Subject Test in Biology Practice Test.

Varsity Tutors’ free GRE Subject Test in Biology resources let you study for your exam in an efficient, organized, and comprehensive manner, allowing you to channel any energy you might waste on worrying about your performance on the GRE Subject Test in Biology into productive studying efforts that will help you to do your very best on test day.