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Bio Tool #29 · Biology SOL · for students retaking the test

SOL Review Sessions: Biology, One Unit at a Time

The Biology SOL has 45 scored questions, and every unit of the course contributes some. Pick a unit, learn the few ideas its questions keep returning to, then practice on questions that explain every answer.

Choose a unit

Question counts are estimates from the state test blueprint, which sets 17 questions on molecules and cells, 11 on systems and organisms, and 17 on interactions.

The last two days before the test

• Spend your time on the units with the most questions where you feel weakest. One focused practice set beats rereading notes.
• When you miss a question, read the explanation and say the reason out loud. Then try the question again tomorrow.
• Practice in TestNav at least once so the tools feel familiar: Virginia posts its released Biology test on the SOL practice items page.
• Sleep. Recall works better rested than crammed.

For teachers

Each full session page runs in a 45-minute period: a three-question warm-up, five core ideas with a draw-along for each, independent practice on iPads, and a retry of the warm-up. Every session page prints a two-page paper version with drawing boxes, six questions and a study plan. All practice questions are original, written from the Virginia 2018 Biology Standards of Learning and the VDOE Instructional Guide, and the explanations work without a teacher, so students can keep practicing after the session. Link a unit directly, for example sol-review/evolution.html, or a practice set, sol-challenge-questions.html?set=practice&unit=7.