A complete breakdown of JAMB Biology Syllabus

Living Organisms

• Characteristics of living organisms
• Cell structure and functions of cell Components
• Level of organization
• Cell e.g. euglena and paramecium,
• Tissue, e.g. epithelial tissues and hydra
• Organ, e.g. onion bulb
• Systems, e.g. reproductive, digestive and excretory
• Organisms e.g. Chlamydomonas

Evolution

• Monera (prokaryotes), e.g. bacteria and blue green algae.
• Protista (protozoans and protophyta),
• e.g. Amoeba, Euglena and Paramecium
• Fungi, e.g. mushroom and Rhizopus.
• Plantae (plants) i. Thallophyta (e.g. Spirogyra), ii. Bryophyta (mosses and liveworts) e.g.
• Brachmenium and Merchantia, Pteridophyta (ferns) e.g. Dryopteris, Spermatophyta (Gymnospermae and Angiospermae) – Gymnosperms e.g. Cycads and conifers – Angiosperms (monocots, e.g. maize; dicots, e.g. water leaf)
• Animalia (animals) – 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). ii. 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)

Structural/functional and behavioural adaptations of organisms

• adaptive colouration and its functions
• Behavioural adaptations in social animals
• Structural adaptations in organisms.

Internal structure of a flowering plant

• Root
• Stem
• Leaf

Nutrition

• Modes of nutrition
  Autotrophic
  Heterotrophic
• Types of Nutrition
• Plant nutrition
  Photosynthesis
  Mineral requirements (macro and micro-nutrients)
• Animal nutrition
  Classes of food substances; carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, vitamins, mineral salts and
• water
• Food tests (e.g. starch, reducing sugar, protein, oil, fat etc.
• The mammalian tooth (structures, types and functions
• Mammalian alimentary canal
• Nutrition process (ingestion, digestion, absorption,
• assimilation of digested food.

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.

Respiration

• a. Respiratory organs and surfaces
• b. The mechanism of gaseous exchange in:
• i. Plants
• ii. Mammals
• c. Aerobic respiration
• d. Anaerobic respiration

Excretion

• a. Types of excretory structures:
• contractile vacuole, flame cell,
• nephridium, Malpighian tubule, kidney,
• stoma and lenticel.
• b. Excretory mechanisms:
• i. Kidneys
• ii. lungs
• ii. skin
• c. Excretory products of plants

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

Reproduction

• a. A sexual 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 gamates)

Growth

• a. meaning of growth
• b. Germination of seeds and condition
• necessary for germination of seeds.

Co-ordination and contro

• a. Nervous coordination:
• i. the components, structure and functions
• of the central nervous system;
• ii. The components and functions of the
• peripheral nervous systems;
• iii. Mechanism of transmission of impulses;
• iv. Reflex action
• b. The sense organs
• i. skin (tactile)
• ii. nose (olfactory)
• iii. tongue (taste)
• iv. eye (sight)
• v. ear (auditory)
• c. Hormonal control
• i. animal hormonal system
• – Pituitary
• – thyroid
• – parathyroid
• – adrenal gland
• – pancreas
• – gonads
• ii. Plant hormones (phytohormones)
• d. Homeostasis
• i. Body temperature regulation
• ii. Salt and water regulation

Factors affecting the distribution of Organisms

• i. Abiotic
• ii. Biotic

Symbiotic interactions of plants and animals

• (a) Energy flow in the ecosystem: food chains, food webs and trophic levels
• (b) Nutrient cycling in nature
• i. carbon cycle
• ii. water cycle
• iii. Nitrogen cycle

Natural Habitats

• (a) Aquatic (e.g. ponds, streams, lakes
• seashores and mangrove swamps)
• (b) Terrestrial/arboreal (e.g. tree-tops of oil palm, abandoned farmland or a dry grassy
• (savanna) field, and burrow or hole.

Local (Nigerian Biomes)

• a. Tropical rainforest
• b. Guinea savanna (southern and northern)
• c. Sudan Savanna
• d. Desert
• e. Highlands of montane forests and grasslands of the Obudu, Jos, Mambilla Plateau.

The Ecology of Populations

• (a) Population density and overcrowding.
• (b) Adaptation for survival
• i. Factors that bring about competition
• ii. Intra and inter-specific competition
• iii. Relationship between competition and succession.
• (c) Factors affecting population sizes:
• i. Biotic (e.g. food, pest, disease, predation, competition, reproductive ability).
• ii. Abiotic (e.g. temperature, space, light, rainfall, topography, pressure, pH, etc.
• (d) Ecological succession
• i. primary succession
• ii. secondary succession

Soil

• a) (i) characteristics of different types
• of soil (sandy, loamy, clayey)
• i. soil structure
• ii. porosity, capillarity and humus
• content
• iii. Components of the soil
• i. inorganic
• ii. organic
• iii. soil organisms
• iv. Soil air
• v. Soil water
• Soil fertility:
• i. loss of soil fertility
• ii. Renewal and maintenance of soil fertility

Humans and Environment

• (a) Diseases:
• (i) Common and endemic diseases.
• ii. Easily transmissible diseases and disease syndrome such as:
• – poliomyelitis
• – cholera
• – tuberculosis
• – sexually transmitted disease/syndrome (gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS, etc.
• b. Pollution and its control
• (i) sources, types, effects and methods of control.
• (ii) Sanitation and sewage
• (c) Conservation of Natural Resources
• (d) Game reserves and National parks

Variation in Population

• a. Morphological variations in the physical appearance of individuals.
• (i) size (height, weight)
• (ii) Colour (skin, eye, hair, coat of animals, scales and feathers.
• (iii) Fingerprints
• b. Physiological variation
• (i) Ability to roll tongue
• (ii) Ability to taste
• phenylthiocarbamide (PTC)
• (iii) Blood groups
• c. Application of discontinuous
• variation in crime detection,
• blood transfusion and
• determination of paternity

Heredity

• a) Inheritance of characters in organisms;
• i) Heritable and non-heritable characters.
• b) Chromosomes – the basis of heredity;
• (i) Structure
• (ii) Process of transmission of hereditary characters from parents to offspring.
• c) Probability in genetics and sex determination.
• a) Application of the principles of heredity in:
• i) Agriculture
• (ii) Medicine
• b. Sex–linked characters e.g. baldness, haemophilia, colour blindness, etc.

Evolution

• a) Lamarck’s theory
• b) Darwin’s theory
• c) organic theory

Evidence of evolution

Commonly asked question in Biology 2024

S/N	Topics	% Number of Questions
1	FUNCTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL ADAPTATION	8.83
2	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: NUTRITION	8.83
3	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: TRANSPORT	6.48
4	HEREDITY AND VARIATIONS: HEREDITY	6.37
5	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: REPRODUCTION	6.37
6	ECOLOGY: THE ECOLOGY OF POPULATION	6.37
7	VARIETY OF ORGANISMS: STRUCTURAL	5.92
8	VARIETY OF ORGANISMS: LIVING ORGANISMS	5.92
9	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: COORDINATION AND CONTROL	5.81
10	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: EXCRETION	4.25
11	VARIETY OF ORGANISMS: EVOLUTION	3.8
12	ECOLOGY: HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT	3.58
13	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: RESPIRATION	3.35
14	HEREDITY AND VARIATIONS : VARIATION IN POPULATION	3.35
15	ECOLOGY: SOIL	2.91
16	ECOLOGY: NATURAL HABITATS	2.68
17	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: SUPPORT AND MOVEMENT	2.68
18	ECOLOGY: LOCAL (NIGERIAN) BIOMES	2.57
19	ECOLOGY: SYMBIOTIC INTERACTION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS	1.9
20	EVOLUTION: THEORIES OF EVOLUTION	1.79
21	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: GROWTH	1.79
22	EVOLUTION: EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION	1.34
23	ECOLOGY: FACTORS AFFECTING THE DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANISMS	1.12
24	ECOLOGY: NUTRIENT CYCLING IN NATURE	1.01
25	FORMS AND FUNCTIONS: INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF A FLOWERING PLANT	1.01

JAMB recommended textbooks for Biology

• Ndu, F.O. C. Ndu, Abun A. and Aina J.O. (2001) Senior Secondary School Biology: Books 1 -3, Lagos: Longman
• Odunfa, S.A. (2001) Essential of Biology, Ibadan: Heinemann
• Ogunniyi M.B. Adebisi A.A. and Okojie J.A. (2000) Biology for Senior Secondary Schools: Books 1 – 3, Macmillan
• Ramalingam, S.T. (2005) Modern Biology, SS Science Series. New Edition, AFP
• Stan. (2004) Biology for Senior Secondary Schools. Revised Edition, Ibadan: Heinemann
• Stone R.H. and Cozens, A.B.C. (1982) Biology for West African Schools. Longman
• Usua, E.J. (1997) Handbook of practical Biology 2nd Edition, University Press, Limited

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