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About MCB Practice

A study tool built for MCB 181R students at the University of Arizona.

01 · WHO BUILT THIS

The creator

Jontae Couzens

Jontae Couzens

Teaching assistant, MCB 181R · University of Arizona

I am a teaching assistant for MCB 181R at the University of Arizona. I built this app to solve a common problem: students work through past exams once and stop. The app makes each question come back until you can answer it two times in a row with confidence.

Reach me at couzens@arizona.edu.

02 · HOW MASTERY WORKS

The method: redo-and-refine

The problem. Most students work through past exams one time and stop. One pass tells you what you got right today. It does not tell you what you can recall next week under stress.

The loop. Answer a question. Rate how confident you feel (one to five). If you got the question right and you feel confident, the app tracks a point of mastery. If you got the question wrong, or you feel unsure, the app brings the question back. You need two correct high-confidence answers in a row to master the question. One wrong answer resets the count.

Why it works. Two research patterns back the loop. Active recall (pull the answer from memory) beats re-reading. Spaced retrieval (hit the same question at spaced intervals) beats one long study block. The confidence rating is the third piece: it forces you to notice when you got the answer right by luck.

03 · WHAT YOU CAN PRACTICE

Question banks

All banks come from past MCB 181R exams. Every question has written explanations for the correct answer and every incorrect answer. Free to use. No login required.

Exam 1

Fall 2025

40 Q

Cell membrane structure, transport, signaling

Spring 2025

42 Q

Cell membrane structure, transport, signaling

Exam 2

Fall 2025

41 Q

Amino acids, protein structure, nucleic acids, transcription, translation, gene regulation

Spring 2025

43 Q

Amino acids, protein structure & folding, nucleic acids, transcription, translation, gene regulation

Exam 3

Fall 2025

40 Q

Gene regulation, epigenetics, DNA replication, cell cycle, mitosis & meiosis

Spring 2025

43 Q

Gene regulation, epigenetics, DNA replication, cell cycle, mitosis, meiosis

Exam 4

Fall 2025

40 Q

Covers Mendelian genetics, linkage, pedigrees, X-linked inheritance, and cellular respiration.

Spring 2025

43 Q

Comprehensive final exam

Fall 2024

33 Q

Combined from the 2 exams this content used to be spread across (old Exam 3 + old Exam 4): Mendelian genetics & inheritance + cellular respiration

04 · COMMON QUESTIONS

FAQ

No. The app opens and runs without a login. Your progress saves to your browser.

05 · GET IN TOUCH

Contact

Something wrong? Something missing?

Send a message with a bug, a wrong answer, or a suggestion. I read every email.

couzens@arizona.edu