DOST-SEI Science Review: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Space

DOST-SEI Science Review: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth and Space

Part II of the DOST-SEI qualifying exam is Science, with 65 minutes. DOST-SEI's official primer lists five areas: biology, chemistry, earth science, physics and space science. It's multiple choice with four options, and your score is the number of correct answers — no deduction for wrong ones. DOST-SEI doesn't publish how many items come from each area, so cover all five.

This post is the Science plan that the DOST-SEI pillar guide hands off to.

Biology

• Cells — organelles and their functions, prokaryotes vs eukaryotes, membrane transport (diffusion, osmosis, active transport), mitosis and meiosis
• Energy in living things — photosynthesis and cellular respiration as inputs and outputs
• Genetics — Mendelian crosses and Punnett squares, DNA, transcription and translation, mutations
• Body systems — circulatory, respiratory, digestive, nervous, endocrine and immune systems at the level of what each does
• Ecology and evolution — food webs, energy flow, nutrient cycles, natural selection
• Classification — kingdoms and the main groups of plants and animals

Chemistry

• Matter — properties, mixtures and separation, measurement and significant figures
• Atoms and the periodic table — structure, isotopes, ions, periodic trends
• Bonding — ionic vs covalent, polarity, naming compounds
• Reactions and stoichiometry — balancing equations, the mole, limiting reactant, percent yield
• Gases — Boyle's, Charles's and the ideal gas law
• Solutions, acids and bases — concentration, pH, neutralisation
• Energy and rates — endothermic vs exothermic, factors that affect reaction rate

Knowing the first 20 elements and the main periodic trends makes many chemistry questions faster.

Physics

• Motion — displacement, velocity, acceleration, free fall and projectiles
• Forces — Newton's laws, friction, free-body diagrams
• Work, energy and momentum — conservation of energy, collisions, power
• Waves, sound and light — wave properties, reflection, refraction, lenses and mirrors
• Electricity and magnetism — charge, Ohm's law, series and parallel circuits, magnetism and induction

Physics intuition also helps with the mechanical-reasoning questions in Part I.

Earth science

• Layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes
• Rocks, minerals and the rock cycle
• The atmosphere, weather and climate
• The water cycle, oceans and tides

Space science

• The solar system: the Sun, planets, moons and other bodies
• Earth's motions: day and night, seasons, phases of the Moon, eclipses
• Stars and galaxies at an introductory level

Earth and space science have a finite scope that you can review in a few days — useful if you're short on time.

If you're not in the STEM strand

Non-STEM students can apply if they're in the upper 5% of their graduating class. Start with the areas that reward careful reading (biology, earth and space science), then build up chemistry and physics basics. Grade 9–10 science textbooks are a good starting point.

A four-week plan

Pacing in 65 minutes

Answer the recall questions quickly on a first pass, then return to the calculation questions. In the last minute, answer every remaining item — a wrong answer costs nothing. You can't carry time over from Part I or into Part III.

Where Super Tutor fits

Super Tutor's DOST-SEI reviewer has science chapters across biology, chemistry, physics and general science — including the universe, the solar system, the Earth, the atmosphere, weather and climate, and ecology — plus scholarship-level science and math chapters. Each chapter comes in 11 study formats, with practice quizzes at three difficulty levels and an AI tutor that explains answers step by step. It doesn't have full DOST-SEI mock exams. Start free — 5-day trial, no card needed.

What to read next

The DOST-SEI pillar guide anchors the full review. The other parts: Mathematics, Creative Reasoning, Language and Literature.