7.1 Classification of vignettes
A. Physics
Forces
1. Newton’S first Law, Newton’s Second Law and Newton’s Third Law.
2. Vectors: vector addition , vector subtraction, vector components, vector trigonometry.
3. Resolving forces into perpendicular components.
4. Normal Forces, Friction, Static and Kinetic Forces.
5. Calculating forces on an inclined plane.
6. Laws of Universal Gravitation: mass and weight.
7. Calculating gravitational force between two masses.
Linear Motion
1. Distance, Time, Speed, Displacement, Velocity, Acceleration, Acceleration due to gravity (g), Friction and Air resistance.
2. Graphical representation of linear motion, including displacement-time and velocity-time graphs.
3. Kinematic relationship between displacement, time, velocity and acceleration assuming constant acceleration.
4. Analysis of graphs: calculating area under the curve.
5. Separating motion into horizontal and vertical components.
6. Understanding vertical motion.
7. Concepts and application of air resistance.
8. Calculating projectile motion.
Non-linear Motion
1. Concepts of angular displacement, velocity and acceleration.
2. Relationship between angular displacement, velocity and acceleration.
3. Graphing rotational motion:
calculation of radians and degrees.
Energy and Work
1. Concepts of work, power, kinetic and potential energy.
2. Concepts and application of concepts Law of
Conservation of Energy and Law of Conservation of Momentum.
3. Concepts of elastic and non-elastic collision.
4. Concepts of Elasticity and Hooke’s Law.
5. Calculation of elastic force and potential.
Fluids
1. Concepts of Density, Pressure, Hydrostatic Pressure, Atmospheric pressure, and Buoyancy.
2. Concepts of Archimedes Principle.
3. Concepts of surface tension.
4. Understanding the difference between cohesive and adhesive forces.
5. Patterns of liquid flow (streamline, laminar flow and turbulent flow).
6. Calculation of total hydrostatic pressure at depth.
7. Understanding effect of ice melting on water level.
8. Equation of continuity of liquid flow.
9. Understanding liquid flow through varying diameters.
10. Concepts of Bernoulli’s equation.
11. Application of Bernoulli’s equation.
Thermodynamics
1. Concepts of system, heat, temperature, specific heat capacity, conduction and thermal conductivity, convection and radiation.
2. First Law of Thermodynamics, and Second Law of Thermodynamics.
3. Calculating of specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity.
4. Understanding the relationship between pressure, volume and work.
5. Understanding work done by a system or work done on a system ...of varying volume and constant pressure.
Electrostatics
1. Concepts of Coulomb's Law, electric field and electric potential.
2. Calculating the magnitude of forces between two point charges.
3. Calculating the electric field strength around a point charge.
4. Calculating the electric potential of a charge in an electric field.
Current electricity and Circuits
1. Concepts of Ohm’s Law: relationship between current, voltage and resistance.
2. Understanding series and parallel circuits.
3. Concepts of electric power and energy.
4. Understanding the concepts of Kirchoff’s Law.
Magnetism
1. Concepts of magnets: permanent, induced and electromagnets.
2. Concepts of magnetism, magnetic force, magnetic field, magnetic induction and electromagnetism.
3. Understanding polarity of magnets and magnetic fields around a bar magnet.
4. Calculating the magnitude of force on a moving charge in an external magnetic field.
5. Understanding the mechanism of induction.
6. Calculating the direction and magnitude of force on a current carrying wire in an external magnetic field.
7. Calculating the magnetic field created by current carrying wires.
Waves
1. Concepts of Transverse waves: Peaks and Troughs, Longitudinal waves: Compression and Rarefactions, frequency, wavelength, period, amplitude, wave velocity, and node.
2. Concepts of superposition of waves: constructive and destructive interference.
3. Concepts of standing waves.
4. Concepts of sound intensity, timbre, beats, and Doppler effect.
5. Concepts of reflection, refraction, and Snell’s Law.
6. Concepts of simple harmonic motion, spring oscillator and pendulum.
7. Concepts of relative sound intensity scale.
8. Understanding reflection and refraction of waves: Snell’s Law.
9. Calculation of the time period and frequency of simple Harmonic Motion.
10. Understanding the mechanics of simple pendulum.
11. Understanding the Doppler effect and calculating the apparent frequency detected when the source is in relative motion.
Nuclear Physics
1. Concepts of atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, atomic number, mass number, isotopes, and Law of conservation of mass.
2. Concepts of radiation: alpha particle, beta particle and gamma radiation, half life, nuclear fission, fission chain reaction and nuclear fusion.
3. Understanding the forces within an atom and their effect on nuclear stability
4. Understanding the process of different types of
radioactive decay. Understanding the constituents, charge and penetrance of different types of radiation.
5. Understanding the rate of radioactive decay is dependent upon half-life.
6. Understanding nuclear fission and its role in generating nuclear power.
7. Understanding the process of nuclear fusion.
Basic Math
1. Concepts of basic exponentials and basic logarithms.
2. Understanding of linear graphs, exponential and inverse graphs
3. Understanding the concepts of interpolation and extrapolation in graphs.
B. Chemistry
1. Organic Chemistry
IUPAC nomenclature
Alkanes, Alkenes and Alkynes
1. Steric hinderance and Pi bond.
2. Understanding that cycloalkanes forms bonds at angles that minimise the energy state of the structure.
3. Conformations of cyclohexane (boat and chair conformations).
4. Conformations of alkenes and alkynes: understanding that steric hindrance results in cis isomers being less stable than trans isomer.
Alcohols, Ethers, Aldehyde and Ketones
1. Hydrophilic, Lipophilic and Resonance.
2. Understanding the role of pi electrons in resonance and the rules of resonance.
3. Understanding the role of H bonding in determining the boiling point of alcohol
4. Understanding the change in physical properties of alcohols as they get larger (e.g., solubility in certain media, boiling point etc.)
5. Understanding the chemical properties of alcohols (as Bronsted acids and bases, and as
nucleophiles)
6. Understanding the acidity of aldehyde due to resonance.
Carboxylic acid, Esters, Amines
1. Understanding the acidity of carboxylic acid.
Benzene compounds
Reaction mechanism:addition, substitution, elimination, redox, rearrangement
Isomer
1. Structural isomer, conformational isomer:
Newman projections
2. Isomers undergo inter-convertibility,
understanding that enantiomers have identical physical property but different chemical reactivity.
Stereochemistry
1. Chirality, Enantiomer, Fischer projection, Diastereomer, optical activity, Racemic compound and meso compounds.
2. Representing compounds containing chiral carbon with Fischer projections.
3. Understanding enantiomers polarise light towards different directions (D or L).
4. Understanding that meso compounds are not optically active.
5. Determining chiral configuration (determining R or S nomenclature).
Biochemistry
Carbohydrates
1. Determining the chirality (D or L) of carbohydrate.
2. Concepts of Glycosidic linkage.
3. Understanding polysaccharides.
Lipids
1. Concepts of Triglycerides.
2. Understanding saturated fatty acid vs unsaturated fatty acid.
3. Concepts of saponification.
4. Understanding the effect of double bonds on melting point and the typical phase of saturated and non-saturated fatty acids at room temperature.
Protein
1. Concepts of amino acids, peptide bonds, N-terminal and C-N-terminal residue.
2. Concepts of zwitterion and isoelectric point, and physical property of amino acids.
3. Understanding that the side chains determine the chemical property of amino acids.
4. Understanding peptide bonds and their role in protein formations.
5. Concepts of Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Quaternary structure of protein.
6. Understanding that secondary structure can be either alpha helix or beta sheet.
Other lab techniques and structure determining methods for organic compounds
1. Chromatography, Titration,
2. Basic understanding of IR-UV-visible spectroscopy 3. Basic understanding of NMR spectroscopy
4. Basic understanding of Mass spectroscopy
2. Physical Chemistry
Moles and Avogadro’s number, Stoichiometry
Bohr atom: speed of light, Planck’s constant
Atomic Structure
1. Concepts of wave mechanical atom, Principal quantum number, Angular momentum quantum number, Magnetic quantum number and Magnetic moment of the electron.
2. Understanding Bohr atom with respect to the hydrogen atom: concepts of the discrete atomic spectra of the hydrogen atom.
3. Understanding the wave-mechanical model, orbital shapes, rules of electron configuration.
4. Understanding the relationship between wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic radiation, and calculating the energy of a photon of a known frequency or wavelength.
Periodic Table
1. Understanding the structure of the periodic table with regards to electron configuration.
2. Understanding periodic trends with regards to atomic radius, ionic radius, ionisation energy and electronegativity
3. Understanding the process of ionisation and the direction with ionisation with regards to position on the periodic table
4. Understanding the effect of periodic trends on the strength of hydrogen halide acids
Chemical Bonding
1. Ionic bond, covalent bond (polar covalent bond), metallic bonding
2. Intramolecular bonding: Hydrogen bonding, permanent dipole attractions, temporary dipole-dipole attractions
3. Concepts on electrical conductivity in metals a. Understanding the geometrical arrangements of molecules.
Concepts of relative strengths of different types of intermolecular forces.
Chemical Kinetics and Chemical Equilibrium 1. Collision theory, Transition state theory, factors affecting the reaction rate
2. Understanding the factors that affect the rate of the reaction (i.e., orientation of the molecules and activation energy)
3. Understanding that reaction rate is equivalent
quantitatively to the change in concentration of reactants and products.
4. Rate Laws: Forward and Backward Reaction
5. Understanding the factors that affect the reaction rate (eg. concentration, surface area of the reactants, temperature of the reaction)
6. Chemical Equilibrium, Reaction quotient, equilibrium constant
7. Determining the reaction quotient and calculating the constant of equilibrium
8. Le Chatelier’s Principle
9. Applying Le Chatelier’s principle to determine the direction of a reaction when a change occurs at equilibrium:
change in temperature at equilibrium, change in pressure at equilibrium, change in volume at equilibrium, and change in concentration at equilibrium.
10. Catalyst
Concepts that catalysts decrease the time taken to reach equilibrium but does not change the equilibrium constant itself
Thermochemistry
1. Standard state, Enthalpy : Endothermic reaction, exothermic reaction, entropy, Free energy: Gibb’s Helmholtz reactioN
2. Understanding that enthalpy change determines the heat of the reaction
3. Understanding factors that influence entropy and entropy of reaction
4. Calculating free energy and determining the spontaneity of a reaction.
Gases
1. Ideal Gas, Boyle’s Law, Charles’s Law, Gay-Lusac’s Law, Avogadro’s Law
2. Graham’s Law of Effusion, Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures, Ideal Gas Law,
3. Universal Gas Constant, Real Gases
4. Understanding the differences between ideal gas and real gas
5. Understanding the impact of intermolecular forces and molecular size on the pressure and volume of real gases
6. Understanding the relationship between pressure, volume, temperature and quantity of gases
7. Understanding the relationship between temperature, kinetic energy and average speed
8. Understanding the factors that affect rate of effusion.
Phases
1. Solid, liquid and Gases, Melting/ freezing point, Evaporation and Condensation, Melting and Boiling Point, Sublimination, Specific heat capacity, Triple point and Critical Point
2. Factors that influence the phase of substances
(temperature, pressure, and strength of intermolecular forces).
3. Understanding the phases and changes of phases at a molecular level.
4. Enthalpy and entropy changes associated with phase changes
5. Calculating the energy requirements associated with temperature changes of substances with defined specific heat capacity
6. Understanding the temperature vs pressure diagrams in the context of phases
7. Understanding why evaporation occurs temperature is below boiling point
Solutions and Solubility
1. Solute, Solvent, Solubility
2. Molarity, Normality and Molality, Mole fraction 3. Solubility product, Common ion effect
4. Understanding that the polarity of the solvents determines the type of solute that dissolves
5. Understanding that the process of dissolving can be either an endothermic or exothermic process
6. Understanding the effect of temperature and pressure on the solubility of solids and gases
7. Calculating ionic concentrations of a solute with a defined solubility product
8. Concepts of the relationship between molality of a solution on the boiling and freezing points
Acids and Bases
1. Acid and Conjugate base, Base and conjugate acid 2. Dissociation constant of acid, base and water 3. Definition of pH: concepts of acidity and basicity 4. Strong and weak acid, Strong and weak base
5. Acid dissociation constant (Ka), pKa, Base dissociation constant Kb (pKb)
6. Buffer and Titration Curve
7. Understanding the dissociation of water and how it affects hydrogen and hydroxide ion concentrations
8. Calculate pH from the hydrogen ion concentration 9. Concepts of periodic trends on the strength of acids and base
10. Understanding factors that determine the strength of oxoacids
11. Understanding that metal hydroxides are strong bases while nitrogen bases are weak bases
12. Calculating the concentration of hydrogen ions (or pH) of weak acids with defined pKa
13. Relationship between base constant and acid constant 14. Calculating the pH of weak bases
Biology
Biomolecules
1. Understanding of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and Nucleic acids.
2. Understanding the difference in structure and function between carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
3. Understanding the role of biomolecule in cell biology.
Enzymes
1. Catalyst, Activation Energy, rate of reaction.
2. Lock-and-key model, Induced-fit model, Transition state.
3. Michaelis-Menten Equation, Lineweaver-Burk Equation.
4. Concepts of enzymes as biological catalyst and protein.
5. Concepts of enzymes increase the rate of chemical reaction by lowering the activation energy.
6. Understanding the induced-fit model used to explain the function of an enzyme.
7. Understanding how enzymes stabilize the transition state of reactants.
8. Understanding the Michaelis-Menten equation as a mathematical model for enzyme kinetics.
9. Concepts of Lineweaver-Burk equation as an alternate way to represent Michaelis-Menten equation and enzyme kinetics.
Cell
1. Concepts of phospholipid membrane, nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, golgi apparatus, cytoskeleton, intracellular signalling, and homeostasis.
2. Understanding the structure and function of cell components: organelles and membranes.
3. Understanding how cell communicates with each other via receptors, hormones and neurotransmitters.
4. Understanding cellular communication involves a cascade intracellularly via receptors.
5. Understanding homeostatsis at both cellular and systemic level.
Metabolism
1. Concepts of ATP, glucose, glycolysis, Kerbs cycle, anerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration.
2. Understanding the role of ATP as an energy molecule.
3. Understanding how the transfer of electrons allow for the transfer of energy and bonding.
4. Understanding how glycolysis produces energy for a cell.
5. Understanding how the Krebs cycle generates energy for a cell.
6. Understanding the differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
Cell Nucleus
1. Concepts of DNA, mRNA, tRNA, genes, introns, exons, promoters, methylation, and histone acetylation.
2. Understanding how a gene is transcripted into mRNA.
3. Understanding how the cell nucleus controls protein synthesis.
4. Understanding how mRNA is translated at ribosomes and used to synthesise proteins.
5. Understanding the mechanism of gene regulation to control a cell.
Mitosis
1. Understanding of G1 phase, S phase, G2 phase,
chromosomes, and mitosis: interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.
2. Understanding the stages of a cell cycle and the stages of mitosis.
Genetics
1. Concepts of traits, alleles, genotype, phenotype, Mendelian inheritance, Homozygous, Heterozygous, Dominant genes, recessive genes, and Co-dominance.
2. Understanding the concept of Mendelian inheritance, difference between genotype and phenotype, difference between homozygous and heterozygous.
3. Concepts of dominant and recessive genes and their pattern of inheritance.
4. Concepts of co-dominance of genes (eg. the ABO blood group system).
Meiosis
1. Concepts of haploid, diploid, gametes, fertilization, meiosis, and homologous chromosomal pairs.
2. Understand the gametes as formed through meiosis.
3. Concepts of chromosomal inheritance as related to meiosis.
4. Understanding ploidy in gamete production.
Nervous System
1. Understanding neurons, axons, dendrites, myelin sheaths, synapse, and action potential.
2. Understanding the structure and function of a neuron.
3. Understanding how action potentials are propagated through a nerve.
4. Understanding the difference and importance of myelinated versus unmyelinated nerve fibres.
5. Understanding that the nervous system can be divided anatomically into the central and peripheral nervous systems.
6. Understanding that the nervous system can be divided functionally into sensory and motor nervous system.
7. Understanding that the motor nervous system can be divided into voluntary and involuntary subsystems.
8. Understanding that the involuntary motor nervous system can be divided into the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system.
Gastrointestinal System
1. Mouth, Oesophagus, Stomach, Duodenum, Liver, Bile duct, Pancreas, Small intestine, Large intestine, rectum, digestion, Absorption, Villi, Microvilli, Hepatic Portal Vein, Appetite, Vitamins and Minerals.
2. Understanding the role and function of each part of the digestive system.
3. Understanding the importance of surface area for absorption.
4. Understanding that the hepatic portal vein carries absorbed nutrients from the intestinal system to the liver.
5. Understanding that fatty acids are absorbed via different mechanisms.
6. Understanding how apetite is an interaction between the brain and digestive system, facilitated by nerves and hormones.
7. Understanding the role of vitamins and minerals in body health.
Musculoskeletal System
1. Axial skeleton, Haversian system, PTH, Calcitonin, Smooth Muscle, SkeletaL system, Antagonistic muscles,
myofibrils, sarcomere, actin, myosin, troponin, length-tension relationship, Preload, Afterload, Isometric contractions, Isotonic Contractions
2. Concepts of the major bones of the body.
3. Understanding how bones are regulated by both PTH and calcitonin.
4. Identifying the major muscles of the body.
5. Understanding how muscles are grouped functionally.
6. Understanding the histological organisation of skeletal muscle.
7. Understanding that the sarcomere is smallest functional contractile unit.
8. Understanding how actin, myosin and troponin interact cyclically during sarcomere contraction.
9. Understanding the control of sarcomere contraction by nerves and calcium ions.
10. Understanding the role of preload and afterload on muscle contraction.
11. Distinguish between isometric and isotonic contractions.
Cardiovascular System
1. Atria, Ventricles, Valves, pulmonary Circulation, Systemic Circulation, Arterioles, Capillaries, Venules, Veins,
Cardiomyocytes, cardiac cycle, SA node, AV node, Purkinje fibres, Starling equation, Frank-Starling mechanism, Stroke volume, Blood pressure.
2. Understanding the functional anatomy of the heart.
3. Distinguish anatomically and functionally veins from arteries.
4. Understanding the importance of pulmonary circulation, and systemic circulation.
5. Understanding the intrinsic contractility of cardiomycetes.
6. Understanding how the heart rate is controlled and generated.
7. Understanding how the heart’s electrical signal is conducted.
8. Understanding the net flow of fluid across the capillary wall is governed by the Starling equation.
9. Understanding how changes in stroke volume can be accomplished by alterations in the venous return according to the Frank-Starling mechanism.
10. Understanding how blood pressure is regulated via baroreceptors neurally and hormones (ADH and RAAS).
Respiratory System
1. Trachea, Bronchi, Lungs, Bronchioles, Alveoli, Negative Pressure, and Pulmonary Circulation.
2. Concepts of lung volumes: tidal volume, functional residual capacity, inspiratory capacity, inspiratory reserve volume, expiratory reserve volume, residual volume, vital capacity, and total lung capacity.
3. Elastance, Surfactant, Dead Space, Alveolar Gas Equation, ventilation, perfusion, RBC, and Haemoglobin.
4. Concepts of haemoglobin-oxygen dissociation curve.
5. Understanding breathing mechanics and the way lungs work as negative pressure systems.
6. Understanding how lungs are designed for gas exchange.
7. Understanding how compliance and elastance of lung tissue affects ventilation.
8. Understanding the role of surfactant in the alveoli and its significance in respiratory distress syndrome.
9. Understanding the significance of the alveolar gas equation in terms of all the factors that affect alveolar pO2.
10. Understanding how the anatomy and the vertical position of the lung can affect both ventilation and perfusion.
11. Understanding the importance of RBCs in oxygen
transport and the properties of haemoglobin in both low and high oxygen environments.
12. Understanding that lungs are the primary means of getting rid of carbon dioxide from cellular metabolism.
13. Understanding the integration of neural, chemical and sensory information in the control of respiration.
Renal System
1. Ureters, Medullary pyramids, Renal artery and Renal vein, Nephron, Interstitial fluid and Extracellular fluid, Glomerular filtration, Counter-current system.
2. Understanding the functional structure of a kidney:
cortex, calyx, renal pelvis, ureters, medullary pyramids, renal artery and renal vein.
3. Understanding the function of nephron: the smallest functional renal unit.
4. Understanding the role of lymphatics in draining interstitial fluids.
5. Understanding the role of the kidneys in regulating the amount of fluid in the body.
6. Understanding that fluid accumulation in the body signals poor renal function, cardiac function and fluid balance.
7. Understanding the role of kidneys as an excretory system for waste products.
8. Understanding that glomerular filtration is the first step in the formation of urine and the role of Starling’s force.
9. Understand how the counter-current system of the
nephron allows for regulation of urine concentration and volume.
Miscellaneous
1. Understanding the lymphatic, immune and endocrine systems of animals
2. Understanding mechanisms governing behaviour in animals
3. Understanding the requirements for plant growth 4. Understanding photosynthesis
5. Recognising plant responses to environmental stimuli
5. Recognising plant responses to environmental stimuli