JAMB 2025 BIOLOGY SYLLABUS
Introduction
The aim of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) 2025 syllabus in Biology is to prepare candidates for the Board’s examination. It is designed to test their achievement of the following course objectives:
- Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the concepts of the diversity, interdependence, and unity of life.
- Account for the continuity of life through reorganization, inheritance, and evolution.
- Apply biological principles and concepts to everyday life, especially to matters affecting living things, individuals, society, the environment, community health, and the economy.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
A. VARIETY OF ORGANISMS
1. Living Organisms:
Topics:
- Characteristics of living organisms.
- Cell structure and functions of cell components.
- Levels 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.
Objectives:
- Differentiate between the characteristics of living and non-living things.
- Identify the structures of plant and animal cells.
- Analyze the functions of the components of plant and animal cells.
- Compare and contrast the structure of plant and animal cells.
- Trace the levels of organization among organisms in their logical sequence.
2. Evolution Among Organisms:
Topics:
- Monera (Prokaryotes): e.g., bacteria and blue-green algae.
- Protista (Protozoans and Protophyta): e.g., Amoeba, Euglena, and Paramecium.
- Fungi: e.g., mushrooms and Rhizopus.
- Plantae (Plants):
- Thallophyta: e.g., Spirogyra.
- Bryophyta: e.g., Brachmenium and Merchantia.
- Pteridophyta: e.g., Dryopteris.
- Spermatophyta: Gymnospermae and Angiospermae.
- Animalia (Animals):
- Invertebrates: coelenterates, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Arthropoda, and mollusks.
- Vertebrates: pisces, amphibia, reptiles, aves, and mammalia.
Objectives:
- Analyze external features and characteristics of the listed organisms.
- Apply the knowledge from the previous point to demonstrate the increase in structural complexity.
- Trace the stages in the life histories of the listed organisms.
- Demonstrate the gradual transition from life in water to life on land.
- Trace the evolution of the listed plants and animals.
3. Variety of Organisms:
Topics:
- Structural/functional and behavioral adaptations of organisms.
- Adaptive coloration and its functions.
- Behavioral adaptations in social animals.
- Structural adaptations in organisms.
Objectives:
- Describe how various structures, functions, and behaviors adapt organisms to their environment.
- Categorize countershading in fish, toads, and snakes and warning coloration in mushrooms.
- Differentiate various castes in social insects like termites and their functions.
- Account for basking in lizards, territorial behavior, and hibernation/aestivation in other animals.
B. FORM AND FUNCTIONS
1. Internal Structure of a Flowering Plant:
Topics:
- Root, Stem, Leaf.
Objectives:
- Identify the transverse sections of these organs.
- Relate the structure of these organs to their functions.
- Identify supporting tissues in plants (collenchyma, sclerenchyma, xylem, and phloem fibers).
- Describe the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stems, and leaves.
2. Nutrition:
Topics:
- Modes of nutrition: Autotrophic and Heterotrophic.
- Plant nutrition: Photosynthesis and mineral requirements (macro and micro-nutrients).
- Animal nutrition: Classes of food substances, food tests, mammalian teeth, and alimentary canal.
Objectives:
- Compare photosynthesis and chemosynthesis in plants.
- Classify modes of nutrition (autotrophic vs heterotrophic).
- Identify macro and micro-elements required by plants and their deficiency symptoms.
- Determine the importance of a balanced diet in humans and detect food item presence through experiments.
3. Transport:
Topics:
- Need for transportation in organisms.
- Materials for transportation (excretory products, gases, manufactured food, hormones).
- Channels for transportation: Mammalian circulatory system (heart, arteries, veins, capillaries) and plant vascular system (phloem, xylem).
Objectives:
- Relate the need for a transport system to the increase in size and complexity of organisms.
- Identify organs involved in the plant and animal vascular systems.
- Understand media of transportation like cytoplasm, blood, lymph, and plant sap.
C. ECOLOGY
1. Factors Affecting the Distribution of Organisms:
Topics:
- Abiotic and Biotic factors.
Objectives:
- Understand how temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, altitude, and soil conditions affect the distribution of organisms.
2. Symbiotic Interactions of Plants and Animals:
Topics:
- Energy flow in ecosystems: Food chains, food webs, and trophic levels.
- Nutrient cycling in nature: Carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles.
Objectives:
- Analyze symbiotic relationships such as mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.
- Understand how food webs and chains impact organism distribution.
- Study the significance of nutrient cycling, especially the roles of bacteria and leguminous plants in the nitrogen cycle.
D. HEREDITY AND VARIATION
1. Variation in Population:
Topics:
- Morphological variations (size, color, fingerprints).
- Physiological variations (blood groups, ability to taste PTC).
- Application of discontinuous variation in crime detection and paternity.
Objectives:
- Differentiate between continuous and discontinuous variations.
- Understand how environmental and genetic factors influence variation.
2. Heredity:
Topics:
- Inheritance of characters in organisms (heritable and non-heritable).
- Chromosomes and the basis of heredity.
- Application of heredity principles in agriculture and medicine.
Objectives:
- Analyze Mendelian genetics and the inheritance of sex-linked traits (e.g., color blindness, hemophilia).
E. EVOLUTION
1. Theories of Evolution:
Topics:
- Lamarck’s theory, Darwin’s theory, Organic theory.
Objectives:
- Relate Lamarck’s and Darwin’s theories to the concept of evolution and the adaptation of organisms over time.
2. Evidence of Evolution:
Objectives:
- Provide evidence for evolution through fossil records, comparative anatomy, and genetic studies.
