JAMB Biology Syllabus 2027: Full Topics, Objectives and Recommended Textbooks

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Last updated: October, 2026

Writing Biology in the 2027 UTME? The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) syllabus tells you exactly what the examiners can ask, so you can focus on what counts instead of reading everything.

This page lists every topic in the official JAMB Biology syllabus, the skills you are expected to show on each one, and the textbooks JAMB recommends. You will also find a six-week study plan, sample questions and answers to frequently asked questions.

Quick Facts

• Exam: Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), computer-based
• Subject: Biology
• Syllabus sections: 5 (Variety of Organisms, Form and Functions, Ecology, Heredity and Variations, Evolution)
• Total topics: 24 main topics across the five sections
• Biggest section: Form and Functions (9 topics)
• Source: Official JAMB syllabus

In This Guide

1. Aim and objectives of the syllabus
2. The five sections at a glance
3. Detailed syllabus (topics and what you should be able to do)
4. Recommended textbooks
5. Six-week study plan
6. Sample questions
7. Subject combinations
8. FAQs

Aim and Objectives

The aim of the UTME Biology syllabus is to prepare candidates for the Board’s examination and test how well they have achieved the course objectives. Candidates are expected to:

• 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, the individual, society, the environment, community health and the economy.

The Five Sections at a Glance

• Section A: Variety of Organisms (3 topics): living organisms, evolution among the five kingdoms, and adaptations
• Section B: Form and Functions (9 topics): internal structure, nutrition, transport, respiration, excretion, support and movement, reproduction, growth, and co-ordination and control
• Section C: Ecology (7 topics): distribution of organisms, symbiosis and nutrient cycles, habitats, Nigerian biomes, populations, soil, and humans and the environment
• Section D: Heredity and Variations (3 topics): variation in populations, heredity, and biotechnology
• Section E: Evolution (2 topics): theories and evidence of evolution

Detailed Syllabus

Section A: Variety of Organisms

1. Living Organisms
   • Characteristics, cell structure and functions of cell components
   • Levels of organization: cell (Euglena, Paramecium), tissue (epithelial tissue, Hydra), organ (onion bulb), system (reproductive, digestive, excretory) and organism (Chlamydomonas)
   • You should be able to: differentiate living from non-living things, identify and compare plant and animal cells, analyse the functions of cell components, and trace the levels of organization in order.
2. Evolution Among the Kingdoms
   • Monera (bacteria and blue-green algae), Protista (Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium), Fungi (mushroom, Rhizopus)
   • Plantae: Thallophyta (Spirogyra), Bryophyta (mosses and liverworts), Pteridophyta (ferns, Dryopteris), Spermatophyta (gymnosperms such as cycads and conifers, and angiosperms: monocots such as maize and dicots such as water leaf), and plants classified by life span (annuals, biennials, perennials)
   • Animalia, invertebrates: coelenterates (Hydra), flatworms (Taenia), roundworms, annelids (earthworm), arthropods (mosquito, cockroach, housefly, bee, butterfly) and molluscs (snails)
   • Animalia, vertebrates: Pisces (cartilaginous and bony fish), Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves and Mammalia
   • You should be able to: analyse external features, show increasing structural complexity, trace life histories and the transition from water to land, trace the advancement of invertebrates and vertebrates, and determine economic importance.
3. Structural, Functional and Behavioural Adaptations
   • Adaptive colouration, behavioural adaptations in social animals, structural adaptations
   • You should be able to: describe how structure, function and behaviour fit organisms to their environment. This covers countershading in fish, toads and snakes and warning colouration in mushrooms, castes in social insects such as termites, basking in lizards, hibernation and aestivation, and adaptations for getting food, protection and defence, securing mates, regulating body temperature and conserving water.

Section B: Form and Functions

1. Internal Structure of a Flowering Plant and a Mammal
   • Root, stem, leaf and the internal structure of a mammal
   • You should be able to: identify transverse sections of root, stem and leaf, relate structure to function, identify supporting tissues (collenchyma, sclerenchyma, xylem and phloem fibres), and describe the arrangement of the mammalian internal organs.
2. Nutrition
   • Autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of nutrition
   • Plant nutrition: photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, and mineral requirements (macro and micro-nutrients)
   • Animal nutrition: classes of food substances, food tests, the mammalian tooth, the alimentary canal, and the nutrition process (ingestion, digestion, absorption and assimilation)
   • You should be able to: compare modes of nutrition (holozoic, parasitic, saprophytic and carnivorous plants), differentiate the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis, show that light, carbon (IV) oxide and chlorophyll are needed, recognise nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium deficiency symptoms, relate food classes to deficiency diseases (scurvy, rickets, kwashiorkor), detect food types from experiments, compare the dental formulae of man, sheep and dog, and relate the alimentary canal and its accessory organs (liver, pancreas, gall bladder) and digestive enzymes to their functions.
3. Transport
   • Need for transport, materials transported, channels (mammalian circulatory system, plant vascular system), and media and mechanisms
   • You should be able to: describe the circulatory system, compare the hepatic portal vein, pulmonary vein and artery, aorta and renal artery and vein, state the composition and functions of blood and lymph, and describe diffusion, osmosis, plasmolysis, turgidity, transpiration pull, root pressure and active transport.
4. Respiration
   • Respiratory organs and surfaces, gaseous exchange in plants and animals, aerobic and anaerobic respiration
   • You should be able to: explain the significance of respiration, outline glycolysis and the Krebs cycle with reference to ATP, describe body surface, gills, trachea, lungs, stomata and lenticels, describe how stomata open and close, explain the effect of too little oxygen on muscles, demonstrate fermentation with yeast and sugar solution, and state the economic importance of yeasts.
5. Excretion
   • Excretory structures (contractile vacuole, flame cell, nephridium, Malpighian tubule, kidney, stoma, lenticel), excretory mechanisms (kidneys, lungs, skin) and excretory products of plants
   • You should be able to: relate each structure to its function, relate kidney structure to excretion and osmo-regulation, and deduce the economic importance of plant excretory products such as tannins, resins, gums, mucilage and alkaloids.
6. Support and Movement
   • Tropic, tactic, nastic and sleep movements in plants, supporting tissues in animals, and exoskeleton and endoskeleton
   • You should be able to: relate plant responses to light, water, gravity and touch, identify growth regions and the role of auxins in tropism, relate chitin, cartilage and bone to support, differentiate types of joints, and apply the functions of the skeleton to the wellbeing of the animal.
7. Reproduction
   • Asexual reproduction: fission (Paramecium), budding (yeast), and natural and artificial vegetative propagation
   • Sexual reproduction in flowering plants: floral parts, pollination, fertilization and products
   • Reproduction in mammals: male and female reproductive organs, fertilization and development
   • You should be able to: differentiate asexual from sexual reproduction, apply grafting, budding and layering, state the advantages of cross-pollination, relate placentation to the types of fruits, describe fertilization, relate the effects of the mother’s health, nutrition and drug use to the embryo, and explain modern methods of regulating reproduction such as in-vitro fertilization and birth control.
8. Growth
   • Meaning of growth, germination of seeds and the conditions for germination
   • You should be able to: apply the conditions for germination to plant growth, and differentiate epigeal from hypogeal germination.
9. Co-ordination and Control
   • Nervous co-ordination (central and peripheral nervous systems, transmission of impulses, reflex action)
   • Sense organs: skin, nose, tongue, eye and ear
   • Hormonal control: animal hormones (pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, gonads) and plant hormones
   • Homeostasis: body temperature, and salt and water regulation
   • You should be able to: illustrate reflex actions, differentiate reflex, voluntary and conditioned actions, relate sense organs to their functions and defects, locate the endocrine glands and relate each hormone to its function, examine the effects of auxins, gibberellin, cytokinin and ethylene, and relate hormones to homeostasis.

Section C: Ecology

1. Factors Affecting the Distribution of Organisms
   • Abiotic and biotic factors
   • You should be able to: relate temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind, altitude, salinity, turbidity, pH and soil conditions to distribution, use equipment such as the Secchi disc, thermometer and rain gauge, and describe how human activities affect distribution.
2. Symbiotic Interactions, Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycling
   • Energy flow: food chains, food webs and trophic levels
   • Nutrient cycles: carbon, water and nitrogen
   • You should be able to: give examples of symbiosis, parasitism, saprophytism, commensalism, mutualism, amensalism, competition, predation and cooperation, describe the carbon cycle and its link to global warming, and relate bacteria and leguminous plants to the nitrogen cycle.
3. Natural Habitats
   • Aquatic (ponds, streams, lakes, seashores, mangrove swamps) and terrestrial or arboreal (tree-tops, abandoned farmland, savanna, burrows)
4. Local (Nigerian) Biomes
   • Tropical rainforest, Guinea savanna (southern and northern), Sudan savanna, desert, and the highlands of the Obudu, Jos and Mambilla plateaus
   • You should be able to: locate the biomes and use their features to describe the regions of Nigeria.
5. The Ecology of Populations
   • Population density and overcrowding, adaptation for survival, intra- and inter-specific competition, factors affecting population size, and ecological succession (primary and secondary)
   • You should be able to: calculate density as the number of organisms per unit area, relate competition to succession, and trace the sequence of succession to the climax stage.
6. Soil
   • Sandy, loamy and clayey soils, soil structure, porosity, capillarity and humus, components of soil, soil fertility, loss of fertility, and renewal and maintenance
   • You should be able to: determine the air, water, humus and capillarity of different soils experimentally, relate soil type to plant growth, and apply conservation methods such as contour ridging, terracing, mulching, crop rotation and the use of fertilizers.
7. Humans and the Environment
   • Diseases: common and endemic diseases, and easily transmissible ones such as poliomyelitis, cholera, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhoea, syphilis, AIDS)
   • Drug abuse: addiction, commonly abused drugs and prevention
   • Pollution and its control, sanitation and sewage
   • Conservation of natural resources, game reserves and national parks
   • You should be able to: relate the biology of each disease vector or agent to its spread and control (malaria, meningitis, dracunculiasis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, typhoid, cholera), apply the principles of inoculation and vaccination, categorise pollution into air, water and soil, explain the importance of sanitation, assess the roles of WHO, UNICEF and the International Red Cross, and identify the bodies and parks involved in conservation (NCF, WWF, IUCN, UNEP and Nigerian National Parks).

Section D: Heredity and Variations

1. Variation in Population
   • Morphological variation (size, colour, fingerprints) and physiological variation (tongue rolling, tasting PTC, blood groups)
   • Applications of discontinuous variation in crime detection, blood transfusion and paternity determination
   • You should be able to: differentiate continuous from discontinuous variation, measure and plot heights and weights as frequency graphs, apply fingerprint classification, and use blood groups in transfusion and paternity cases.
2. Heredity
   • Heritable and non-heritable characters, chromosomes as the basis of heredity, probability in genetics and sex determination, applications in agriculture and medicine, and sex-linked characters (baldness, haemophilia, colour blindness)
   • You should be able to: illustrate the simple structure of DNA, show segregation of genes at meiosis and recombination at fertilization, analyse cross-breeding data, apply heredity to new crop and livestock varieties, weigh in-breeding against out-breeding, discuss genetically modified organisms, gene therapy and biosafety, apply heredity to marriage counselling (blood group, sickle-cell anaemia, Rhesus factor), and identify sex-linked characters.
3. Biotechnology
   • Applications in agriculture, medicine, pharmaceuticals and the food industry
   • You should be able to: define biotechnology, list its applications, and describe the use of recombinant DNA in making insulin, interferon and enzymes.

Section E: Evolution

1. Theories of Evolution
   • Lamarck’s theory, Darwin’s theory and the organic theory
2. Evidence of Evolution
   • Fossil records, comparative anatomy, physiology and embryology, genetic studies and the role of mutation
   • You should be able to: explain organic evolution as the sum of adaptive changes over a long period, explain the contributions of Lamarck and Darwin, state the evidence for evolution, and trace evolutionary trends in plants and animals.

Recommended Textbooks

JAMB lists these texts for Biology:

• Ndu, F. O. C., Abun, A. and Aina, J. O. (2001). Senior Secondary School Biology, Books 1 to 3. Lagos: Longman.
• Odunfa, S. A. (2001). Essentials of Biology. Ibadan: Heinemann.
• Ogunniyi, M. B., Adebisi, A. A. and Okojie, J. A. (2000). Biology for Senior Secondary Schools, Books 1 to 3. Macmillan.
• Ramalingam, S. T. (2018). Modern Biology, SS Science Series, New Edition. AFP.
• STAN (2004). Biology for Senior Secondary Schools, Revised Edition. Ibadan: Heinemann.
• Stone, R. H. and Cozens, A. B. C. (1982). Biology for West African Schools. Longman.
• Usua, E. J. (1997). Handbook of Practical Biology, 2nd Edition. University Press Limited.
• Idodo-Umeh, G. (2015). College Biology. Idodo-Umeh Publishers Ltd.
• Michael, M. C. (2018). Essential Biology for Senior Secondary Schools. TONAD Publishers Ltd.

Six-Week Study Plan

• Week 1: Section A. Learn the five kingdoms with their examples, and the adaptations.
• Week 2: Section B, topics 1 to 4 (internal structure, nutrition, transport, respiration).
• Week 3: Section B, topics 5 to 9 (excretion, support and movement, reproduction, growth, co-ordination and control).
• Week 4: Section C. Study the factors, cycles, biomes, populations, soil, diseases and conservation.
• Week 5: Sections D and E. Practise genetics problems and learn the evidence for evolution.
• Week 6: Revise weak topics and practise past questions under timed conditions.

Tips:

• Form and Functions has the most topics, so give it the most study time.
• Draw and label diagrams (cell, tooth, heart, kidney, flower, eye, ear). Biology questions often depend on recognising structures.
• Learn the practical experiments: food tests, the starch test on a leaf, abiotic measurements and fermentation with yeast.
• Practise genetics calculations until crosses and ratios feel easy.
• Make a table of each disease with its cause, vector, symptoms and control.
• Use the syllabus objectives as a checklist. If you cannot do what an objective says, you are not ready on that topic.

Sample Questions

1. Which of the following is a prokaryote? A. Amoeba B. Bacteria C. Mushroom D. Euglena Answer: B
2. Blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart are called A. veins B. capillaries C. arteries D. lymphatics Answer: C
3. In epigeal germination, the cotyledons A. remain underground B. are raised above the soil C. die before germination D. become roots Answer: B
4. The primary producers in an ecosystem are A. herbivores B. carnivores C. green plants D. decomposers Answer: C
5. Haemophilia is an example of a A. sex-linked character B. continuous variation C. acquired character D. non-heritable character Answer: A

Subject Combinations

Biology is commonly required for courses such as Medicine and Surgery, Nursing, Pharmacy, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Zoology, Botany, Agriculture and other health and life science courses. Always check your chosen course and university in the JAMB brochure for the exact combination.

Related: JAMB Subject Combination for Science Students | JAMB Brochure | JAMB Recommended Textbooks for All Subjects | JAMB UTME Registration Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the JAMB Biology syllabus?

It is the official JAMB document that lists the topics and learning objectives candidates must cover for Biology in the UTME.

How many sections are in the JAMB Biology syllabus?

Five: Variety of Organisms, Form and Functions, Ecology, Heredity and Variations, and Evolution.

Which section has the most topics?

Form and Functions, with nine topics covering nutrition, transport, respiration, excretion, reproduction, growth and co-ordination.

Does the syllabus include practical topics?

Yes. The objectives include food tests, the starch test on a leaf, measuring abiotic factors, testing soil, fermentation with yeast, and plotting frequency graphs of heights and weights.

Does the syllabus include genetics calculations?

Yes. Expect questions on gene segregation, recombination, probability, sex determination and cross-breeding data.

Where can I get past questions for Biology? Click here

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