Official SAT Subject Test - Biology E/M - June 2015

The pine question was in the Western Hemisphere, there are mountains North and South facing. South facing slopes have more shrubs/sage bushes while the North has more pine trees. It asked why this occurred. The two most popular options seem to be.
1: The slopes are steeper on the Southern mountains, so Pine trees can’t grow there.
2: The water evaporates more quickly on Southern mountains so Pines can’t grow there.

Also for the fertilizer one, are you guys sure it was nucleic acids? I chose inorganic compounds :\

@Skarlo Actually, I think the answer was nitrogen after researching it. " Fertilisers provide plants with the essential chemical elements needed for growth particularly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium."

@Skarlo it’s definitely number two I believe. For the shrubs in the sun, the heating of water causes the water molecules to move exceedingly fast until they break free from the bonds that hold them in place as a liquid. The evaporation process happens faster which then causes the shrubbery to not grow as big and lush as pines.

I thought for sure it was inorganic compounds, but I’m not sure anymore

@CollageWhat So is the answer choice Nucleic acids?

And following that logic is it possible to get an 800 if you missed 3 (lol). I heard the curve is almost 99% of the time 77 raw, and with 3 wrong that brings me to 76.25.

nitrogen wasn’t an option on the fertilizer question…

@RybkaShredder That’s because nitrogen is a component of nucleic acids. In fact the answer would work perfectly by that logic as phosphate groups in nucleic acids also contain phosphorous, the two key limiting factors being accounted for (nitrogen and phosphorous).

But nitrogen, phosphorus, & potassium are all inorganic compounds?

@Skarlo I think the answer is inorganic compounds.

It has gotta be nucleic acids or proteins.

I put nucleic acids, but now I’m questioning it. Inorganic compounds seems kinda vague, does anyone remember how the question was worded?

@Boltingflame Yeah. I thought of nitrogen and phosphorous in fertilizer, which are both constituents of nucleic acids. But are nucleic acids responsible for growth? I guess they make up DNA which controls everything, including growth?

fukking cow manure determines if I get a 790 or 800… lmao

Don’t proteins also contain nitrogen?

@werewolf2016 yeah, but only in the amine group. Much more of the nucleic acid molecule has nitrogen and phosphorus.

@Skarlo Of off what scale are you basing this? I have no sense of the scale can you post it?

Nitrogen is an inorganic compound not a nucleic acid. The answer is inorganic compounds

I think the main problem is how perfectly nucleic acids fit because they contain both phosphorous (phosphate groups) and nitrogen (nitrogenous base). The main issue however is that plants (can/cannot) break down nucleic acids into these basic constituents.

On the other hand, phosphorous and nitrogen are both technically inorganic compounds as they do not contain carbon. The main issue is that the term is kind of vague I suppose and doesn’t specifically include phosphorous/nitrogen.

Stupid question in my opinion.

@foreverprongs yeah, but nitrogen and phosphorous are taken in and assimilated and used for DNA, obviously not all of it. It’s just whether that affects growth.

Can we also discuss the pine question. Who here put the faster water evaporation on the south results in no pine vs the slope answer?