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JAMB Biology Syllabus 2026/2027
Complete official UTME Biology syllabus — all topics, sub-topics and JAMB learning objectives. Study what actually comes out, nothing extra.
5
Sections
40
Questions
JAMB Biology Syllabus PDF
Official JAMB document • Free download
A · Variety of Organisms
B · Form and Functions
C · Ecology
D · Heredity and Variations
E · Evolution
Section A
A
Variety of Organisms
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1. Living Organisms
- Characteristics of living organisms
- Cell structure and functions of cell components
- Levels of organisation: Cell → Tissue → Organ → Systems → Organisms
- Examples: Euglena, Paramecium, epithelial tissues, hydra, onion bulb
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Differentiate between living and non-living things
- Identify structures of plant and animal cells
- Analyse functions of cell components
- Compare and contrast plant vs animal cell structure
- Trace the 5 levels of organisation in logical sequence
2. Evolution Across Kingdom
- Monera (prokaryotes) — bacteria, blue-green algae
- Protista — Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium
- Fungi — mushroom, Rhizopus
- Plantae — Thallophyta (Spirogyra), Bryophyta (mosses, liverworts), Pteridophyta (ferns), Spermatophyta (Gymnosperms + Angiosperms)
- Animalia — Invertebrates: coelenterate, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Arthropoda, Mollusca
- Animalia — Vertebrates: Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Analyse external features and structural complexity across kingdoms
- Trace life histories of listed organisms
- Demonstrate gradual transition from aquatic to terrestrial life in plants
- Determine economic importance of insects
- Trace advancement of multicellular animals
3. Structural, Functional & Behavioural Adaptations
- Adaptive colouration and its functions
- Behavioural adaptations in social animals
- Structural adaptations in organisms
- Countershading in fish, toads, snakes; warning colouration in mushrooms
- Castes in termites; basking in lizards; hibernation; aestivation
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Describe how structures and behaviour adapt organisms to their environment
- Account for adaptations related to: obtaining food, protection, securing mates, regulating body temperature, conserving water
Section B
B
Form and Functions
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1. Internal Structure of Plants and Animals
- Internal structure of a flowering plant: Root, Stem, Leaf
- Internal structure of a mammal
- Supporting tissues: collenchyma, sclerenchyma, xylem and phloem fibres
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Identify transverse sections of plant organs and relate structure to function
- Describe distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stem, and leaf
- Examine arrangement of mammalian internal organs
2. Nutrition
- Modes: Autotrophic vs Heterotrophic (holozoic, parasitic, saprophytic, carnivorous plants)
- Plant nutrition: Photosynthesis, Chemosynthesis, Mineral requirements (macro/micro-nutrients)
- Animal nutrition: Classes of food (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, water)
- Food tests: starch, reducing sugar, protein, oil/fat
- Mammalian tooth: structures, types, functions; dental formulae of man, sheep and dog
- Mammalian alimentary canal and accessory organs (liver, pancreas, gall bladder)
- Nutrition processes: ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Differentiate light and dark reactions of photosynthesis
- Detect presence of starch in a leaf as evidence of photosynthesis
- Identify macro and micro-elements; recognise nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium deficiency symptoms
- Relate importance and deficiency of each food class (scurvy, rickets, kwashiorkor)
- Associate enzymes with digestion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats
- Determine end products of digestion
3. Transport
- Materials for transport: excretory products, gases, manufactured food, digested food, water, hormones
- Mammalian circulatory system: heart, arteries, veins, capillaries
- Plant vascular system: phloem and xylem
- Media of transportation: cytoplasm, cell sap, body fluid, blood, lymph
- Mechanisms: diffusion, osmosis, plasmolysis, turgidity, transpiration pull, root pressure, active transport
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Compare specific functions of hepatic portal vein, pulmonary vein/artery, aorta, renal artery and vein
- State composition and functions of blood and lymph
- Compare open circulatory systems, transpiration pull, root pressure and active transport
4. Respiration
- Respiratory organs: body surface, gill, trachea, lungs, stomata, lenticel
- Mechanism of gaseous exchange in plants and animals
- Aerobic respiration (glycolysis, Krebs cycle, ATP production)
- Anaerobic respiration / fermentation (yeast + sugar)
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Describe simplified outline of glycolysis and Krebs cycle with reference to ATP
- Explain the effect of insufficient oxygen supply to muscles
- Demonstrate fermentation using yeast cells and sugar solution
- State economic importance of yeast
5. Excretion
- Excretory structures: contractile vacuole, flame cell, nephridium, Malpighian tubule, kidney, stoma, lenticel
- Excretory mechanisms: kidneys, lungs, skin
- Excretory products of plants: CO₂, O₂, tannins, resins, gums, mucilage, alkaloids
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Relate structure of kidneys to excretory and osmo-regulatory functions
- Deduce economic importance of plant excretory products
6. Support and Movement
- Plant movements: tropic, tactic, nastic, sleep movements
- Supporting tissues in animals
- Types of skeleton: Exoskeleton, Endoskeleton
- Functions: protective, supportive, locomotive, respiratory
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Relate plant responses to stimuli of light, water, gravity and touch
- Identify regions of growth in roots/shoots and role of auxins in tropism
- Differentiate types of joints using appropriate examples
7. Reproduction
- Asexual: fission (Paramecium), budding (yeast), natural and artificial vegetative propagation
- Sexual reproduction in flowering plants: floral parts, pollination, fertilization, fruits
- Reproduction in mammals: male/female reproductive organs, fertilization, development
- Modern methods: in-vitro fertilization, birth control
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Apply grafting, budding and layering in agricultural practices
- State advantages of cross pollination
- Deduce types of placentation and fruit development
- Relate effects of mother's health, nutrition and drug use on embryo development
8. Growth
- Meaning of growth
- Germination of seeds: conditions necessary for germination
- Epigeal vs hypogeal germination
9. Co-ordination and Control
- Central and peripheral nervous system; mechanism of impulse transmission; reflex action
- Sense organs: Skin (tactile), Nose (olfactory), Tongue (taste), Eye (sight), Ear (auditory)
- Hormonal control: pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, gonads
- Phytohormones: auxins, gibberellin, cytokinin, ethylene
- Homeostasis: body temperature regulation, salt and water regulation
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Differentiate reflex, voluntary and conditioned reflexes
- Examine effects of phytohormones on growth, tropism, flowering, fruit ripening and leaf abscission
- Relate function of hormones in homeostasis
Section C
C
Ecology
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1. Factors Affecting Distribution of Organisms
- Abiotic factors: temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, altitude, salinity, turbidity, pH, edaphic conditions
- Biotic factors: activities of plants and animals, especially humans
- Measurement tools: Secchi disc, thermometer, rain gauge
2. Symbiotic Interactions & Energy Flow
- Symbiosis, parasitism, saprophytism, commensalism, mutualism, amensalism, competition, predation, cooperation
- Food chains, food webs, trophic levels
- Nutrient cycling: carbon cycle, water cycle, nitrogen cycle
- Roles of bacteria and leguminous plants in nitrogen cycling
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Describe carbon cycle significance including global warming and atmospheric balance
- Assess effects of water cycle on other nutrient cycles
3. Natural Habitats
- Aquatic: ponds, streams, lakes, seashores, mangrove swamps
- Terrestrial/arboreal: tree-tops, abandoned farmland, dry grassy savanna, burrows
4. Local (Nigerian) Biomes
- Tropical rainforest
- Guinea savanna (southern and northern)
- Sudan Savanna
- Desert
- Highlands — Obudu, Jos, Mambilla Plateaus (montane forests and grasslands)
5. Ecology of Populations
- Population density, overcrowding
- Intra- and inter-specific competition; niche differentiation
- Biotic factors: food, pest, disease, predation, competition, reproductive ability
- Abiotic factors: temperature, space, light, rainfall, topography, pressure, pH
- Ecological succession: primary and secondary
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Compute density as number of organisms per unit area
- Trace sequence in succession to the climax stage
6. Soil
- Soil types: sandy, loamy, clayey — structure, porosity, capillarity, humus content
- Soil components: inorganic, organic, soil organisms, soil air, soil water
- Soil fertility: loss (leaching, erosion, compaction), renewal (fertilizers, crop rotation, mulching, terracing)
7. Humans and Environment
- Common/endemic diseases: malaria, meningitis, typhoid, cholera, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis
- Transmissible diseases: poliomyelitis, cholera, tuberculosis, STDs (gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS)
- Pollution: air, water, soil — sources, types, effects, control
- Sanitation and sewage disposal
- Conservation: game reserves, national parks, renewable and non-renewable resources
- Organisations: WHO, UNICEF, IRCS, NCF, WWF, IUCN, UNEP, Nigerian National Parks
Section D
D
Heredity and Variations
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1. Variation in Population
- Morphological variations: size (height, weight), colour (skin, eye, hair), fingerprints
- Physiological variations: tongue-rolling, PTC tasting, blood groups (ABO system)
- Applications: crime detection, blood transfusion, paternity determination
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Differentiate continuous and discontinuous variations with examples
- Plot frequency distribution graphs of height/weight data
- Apply blood group knowledge in transfusion and paternity cases
2. Heredity
- Heritable vs non-heritable characters
- Chromosomes as basis of heredity: structure, transmission process
- DNA structure; meiosis and fertilization (gene segregation and recombination)
- Probability in genetics; sex determination
- Sex-linked characters: baldness, haemophilia, colour blindness
- Applications in agriculture (crop/livestock cross-breeding) and medicine
- GMOs, gene therapy, biosafety; recombinant DNA (insulin, interferon, enzymes)
- Sickle-cell anaemia, Rhesus factor in marriage counselling
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Illustrate simple structure of DNA
- Illustrate segregation at meiosis and recombination at fertilization
- Analyse data on cross-breeding experiments
- Deduce advantages and disadvantages of out-breeding and in-breeding
Section E
E
Evolution
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1. Theories of Evolution
- Lamarck's theory (use and disuse; inheritance of acquired characteristics)
- Darwin's theory (natural selection, survival of the fittest)
- Organic theory
2. Evidence of Evolution
- Fossil records
- Comparative anatomy
- Comparative physiology and embryology
- Modern evolutionary theories: genetic studies, role of mutation
What JAMB expects you to do:
- Explain contributions of Lamarck and Darwin to evolutionary theory
- State evidence supporting organic evolution
- Trace evolutionary trends in plants and animals
- State evidence from genetic studies and role of mutation
🚀
Now Practice JAMB Biology Past Questions
Reading the syllabus is step one. The fastest way to score high is to practice real past questions from every year — with instant answers and explanations.
Practice Biology Past Questions →📚 JAMB Recommended Textbooks
These are the official books listed by JAMB for Biology preparation:
📖 Ndu F.O. et al. — Senior Secondary School Biology: Books 1–3, Longman
📖 Odunfa S.A. — Essentials of Biology, Heinemann
📖 Ogunniyi M.B. et al. — Biology for Senior Secondary Schools: Books 1–3, Macmillan
📖 Ramalingam S.T. — Modern Biology, SS Science Series (2018), AFP
📖 Stan — Biology for Senior Secondary Schools, Revised Ed., Heinemann
📖 Stone R.H. & Cozens A.B.C. — Biology for West African Schools, Longman
📖 Idodo-Umeh G. — College Biology (2015), Idodo-Umeh Publishers
📖 Micheal M.C. — Essential Biology for Senior Secondary Schools (2018), TONAD Publishers
Common Questions 🤔
JAMB Biology has 5 sections: Variety of Organisms, Form and Functions, Ecology, Heredity and Variations, and Evolution. The heaviest sections by question count are Form and Functions (especially Nutrition, Reproduction and Respiration) and Ecology.
Based on past question patterns, Ecology, Genetics and Heredity, Nutrition, and Reproduction come up the most. Cell Biology and Respiration are also consistent. Cover these first before moving to Evolution and Adaptations.
JAMB sets 40 Biology questions per candidate. Each question is multiple choice with 4 options. You have a total of 2 hours for all 4 JAMB subjects combined, so pace yourself at roughly 1.5 minutes per question.
Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, Botany, Zoology, Public Health, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy and most Health Science courses require Biology as a JAMB subject.
The JAMB Biology syllabus has remained largely consistent for several years. The topics on this page reflect the current official JAMB document. JAMB occasionally adjusts emphasis within topics, which is why practicing recent past questions from 2023 onwards is important alongside reading the syllabus.