Life Has a History pre-post test key
Grades 9-12

Directions: Please answer the following questions as best you can. You will be given the same questions after you complete the tour so that you can see how much you have learned.

True or False:

1. True — Extinction is common.

2. True — Without variation, evolution cannot happen.

3. True — Millions of years passed between the extinction of dinosaurs and the appearance of the first humans.

4. True — A cladogram is a diagram that shows how a group of organisms might be related to each other.

Multiple Choice:

5.Which of the following statements is true?

b. Few species of organisms have survived compared to the total number that has ever existed.

6. Of all the species that have ever lived on this planet, how many have gone extinct?

a. More than 90%

7. Cladograms are diagrams that show us:

a. How organisms are related to one another.

8. Natural selection is an important mechanism for evolution. If there is a change in the environment, which of the following statements is correct:

b. Those organisms that have features that can take advantage of the environmental change will survive and reproduce.

Short Answer:

9. Name three kinds of fossils other than bones and teeth.

The answers will vary, but could include shells, tree trunks, leaves, footprints, burrows, pollen, tiny organisms, insects, eggs and nests, etc.

10. Name three kinds of evidence that scientists use to determine common ancestry.

Common ancestry is determined by comparing similarities and differences in morphology, behavior, embryology, DNA, and other molecular characteristics.