Biology Glossary

From NY Science Standards Wiki

This glossary is strictly limited to terms originating from official NYSED materials such as standards and released test questions. Every term links to its source: a performance expectation (for example HS-LS1-5) means the term, or the wording it is taken from, appears in that standard's text, clarification statement, assessment boundary, disciplinary core ideas or performance level descriptions; an exam cluster means the term appeared in that released question cluster, and the link opens the question. Sections: vocabulary from the standards, vocabulary from released exams, cells, tissues, organs and body systems, organisms named in the exams, molecules, substances and genes, units, and terms the standards and exams point to without naming.

Vocabulary from the standards

Terms used in the biology performance expectations and their supporting NYSED text. This is the core vocabulary; the science-practice and engineering words the standards use (claim, argument, criteria, constraint, trade-off) are included because the exams use them the same way.

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Vocabulary from released exams

Terms that do not appear in the standards' text but have appeared in a released Regents question cluster. The exam is noted after each term; the link opens the question. A term used on several exams is linked to one representative question.

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Cells, tissues, organs and body systems

Named parts of organisms, from organelles to body systems, with the standard or question that names them. Most come from the exams; the standards name only a few (the arteries, smooth muscle and elastic tissue of HS-LS1-2, the stomates of HS-LS1-3, the reproductive structures of HS-LS1-8 and the sex cells of HS-LS3-2), and HS-LS1-1 says assessment "does not include identification of specific cell or tissue types, whole body systems, specific protein structures and functions".

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Organisms named in the exams

Organisms the released clusters are built around, grouped by cluster so teachers can see the range of living things NYSED writes about. The standards themselves name no organisms beyond "plants or algae" (HS-LS2-4), "microorganisms" and "corals" (HS-ESS2-7).

2024 sample clusters

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

August 2026 exam

Molecules, substances and genes

Specific molecules, substances, elements and genes that the standards or exam clusters name, grouped by source. Gene names are in italics.

From the standards

2024 sample clusters

June 2025 exam

August 2025 exam

January 2026 exam

June 2026 exam

August 2026 exam

Units

Units used in the released exams (the standards use none).

Implied terms

These terms are not named in the standards or released exams, but the NYSED wording points to them so directly that teachers will want to use them. Each entry quotes the wording that implies it. Terms that could be argued either way are deliberately left out. Some familiar terms are explicitly excluded from assessment and are therefore not listed: HS-LS4-2 does "not include other mechanisms of evolution, such as genetic drift, gene flow through migration, and co-evolution"; HS-LS4-3 does "not include allele frequency calculations"; HS-LS3-3 does "not include Hardy-Weinberg calculations"; HS-LS3-2 does "not include the phases of meiosis"; HS-LS1-8 does "not include the details of hormonal regulation or stages of embryonic development"; and HS-LS1-6 does "not include the details of the specific chemical reactions or identification of structural and molecular formulas for macromolecules".

  • biomagnification – June 2026 Mercury Rising: mercury in each organism of the food chain is "ten times higher than their prey".
  • convergent evolution – Aug 2025 Evolutionary Relationships asks why sharks (fish) and marine mammals evolved similar body shapes, without naming the idea.
  • crossing over – HS-LS3-2: in sexual reproduction "chromosomes can sometimes swap sections during the process of meiosis".
  • decomposer – HS-LS2-5 names "decomposition"; Aug 2026 Humongous Fungus describes a fungus that "releases chemicals that break down dead organisms and then absorbs the resulting nutrients", and June 2025 Does It Matter? pictures a soil bacterium returning "nutrients added to soil".
  • fitness – HS-LS4-3: natural selection leads to organisms that are "anatomically, behaviorally, and physiologically well suited to survive and reproduce in a specific environment"; the exams keep the phrase "survive and reproduce" (for example June 2025 Organisms of the Tibetan Plateau) and never say fitness.
  • homologous structure – HS-LS4-1: evidence from "anatomical structures" and "anatomical and embryological evidence"; June 2025 Limb Evolution credits "a similar arrangement of bones, which provides evidence of common ancestry".
  • selection pressure (environmental pressure) – HS-LS4-2: "competition for an environment’s limited supply of the resources"; HS-LS4-4: "biotic and abiotic differences in ecosystems" that "contribute to a change in gene frequency over time". Neither standard uses the word pressure.
  • ten percent rule – Aug 2026 Humongous Fungus labels the levels of an ecological pyramid 100%, 10% and 1% of the energy; the June 2025 Organisms of the Tibetan Plateau rubric credits "energy is lost to heat as you move up trophic levels".
  • vestigial structure – Aug 2025 Evolutionary Relationships shows the non-functional pelvis and hind-limb bones of extinct whale ancestors without naming the idea.
Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Shirley Shameen
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