Official topics · annotated
Charles LF3 Entrance Exam 2027: Full Topic List (Syllabus)
LF3's written test is 60 questions, 30 Biology and 30 Chemistry, each with one correct answer of four. Everything it covers is on the faculty's own premedical syllabus, quoted here in full: 40 Biology topics, 16 in General Chemistry and 23 in Organic chemistry and biochemistry.
All 79 topics of Charles University, Third Faculty of Medicine's official topic list, in its own words, each with what to know, the IvyTest lessons that teach it and the questions of our free sample test that test it. Tick a topic off when you have it; your ticks stay in this browser.
Based on "Syllabus of Chemistry and Biology", dated 14 October 2024, the list Charles University, Third Faculty of Medicine's entrance-exam page still links (checked 30 October 2026). The official wording is quoted as printed; the notes and links are IvyTest's.
Before you start
How to use this list
LF3's Entrance exam page links this syllabus under "Sample questions", beside last year's sample test and its key. It lists topics only, with no weighting; the faculty gives the level as the Czech grammar-school framework. Every heading below is quoted as printed. Work through a group at a time: read the note, learn it from the lesson, then check yourself on the practice paper's questions before you tick it.
The lessons are part of the Charles University, Third Faculty of Medicine Complete Admissions System and open for students who have it; a lesson marked "members" links to the Charles University, Third Faculty of Medicine guide, which says what it includes.
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Charles University LF3 Entrance Exam
What's not on the test
Physics. The syllabus PDF's file name ends in "physics", but the document has only the Chemistry and Biology syllabuses, and LF3's Entrance exam page says the written test "includes 2 parts: Biology and Chemistry", 30 questions each. There is no logic, mathematics or general-knowledge section.
40 topics
Biology
Living Systems and Bioenergetics
What to know: What makes a system living, and how cells get energy: glycolysis in the cytoplasm, the Krebs cycle in the mitochondrial matrix, the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation (where most ATP is made), photosynthesis and fermentation.
Lesson (members): Levels of biological organization & homeostasisLesson (members): Glycolysis & cellular respirationLesson (members): PhotosynthesisSample question 1
Prokaryotes and Bacteria
What to know: Prokaryotic cell structure (nucleoid, 70S ribosomes, cell wall, plasmids, flagella), bacterial shapes, endospores, growth of a population, transformation, nitrogen fixation, symbiosis and pathogenicity.
Lesson (members): Bacteria, viruses & microorganismsSample question 2
Eukaryotic Cells and Membranes
What to know: The organelles and what each does, the cytoskeleton and cell junctions, the fluid mosaic model, and transport across membranes: diffusion, osmosis, carriers and the Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase.
Lesson (members): Cell structure & organellesLesson (members): Cell membranes & membrane transportSample question 4Sample question 5
Viruses and Non-Cellular Agents
What to know: Capsid and genome, viral classification and reproduction, the lytic and lysogenic cycles, reverse transcription in retroviruses such as HIV, tumour viruses and prions.
Lesson (members): Bacteria, viruses & microorganismsSample question 3
DNA, Chromosomes and Replication
What to know: Nucleotide structure, purines and pyrimidines, base pairing and Chargaff's rule, semi-conservative replication and DNA polymerase, and how DNA is packed into chromatin and chromosomes.
Lesson (members): DNA structure & replicationLesson (members): Nucleic acids & nucleotidesSample question 6
Gene Expression and Protein Synthesis
What to know: Transcription and RNA processing, the genetic code, translation on ribosomes with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and how gene expression is regulated in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Lesson (members): Transcription, RNA & translationLesson (members): Gene regulation, mutations & biotechnologySample question 7
Cell Cycle and Mitosis
What to know: The phases of the cell cycle and of mitosis, checkpoints, cyclins and CDKs, proto-oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, signal transduction, apoptosis and necrosis.
Lesson (members): Cell cycle & mitosisLesson (members): Cell signalling & receptorsSample question 8
Meiosis and Gametogenesis
What to know: The two meiotic divisions, synapsis and crossing over, how meiosis differs from mitosis, spermatogenesis and oogenesis (one egg per primary oocyte), and nondisjunction.
Evolution and Population Genetics
What to know: Early Earth and abiotic synthesis, the Miller and Urey experiment, the RNA world, the evolution of prokaryotic metabolism, endosymbiotic theory and the origin of eukaryotes.
Evolution and Population Genetics
What to know: Lamarck, Darwin and de Vries, the mechanisms of evolution (mutation, recombination, selection, drift), species and gene pools, homologous and analogous structures, radiometric dating and cladistics.
Lesson (members): Evolution & natural selectionLesson (members): Biodiversity & classificationSample question 16
Classical and Bacterial Genetics
What to know: Gene transfer between bacteria (transformation, transduction by phage, conjugation), F and R plasmids, transposons, and the operon as negative and positive gene regulation.
Lesson (members): Bacteria, viruses & microorganismsLesson (members): Gene regulation, mutations & biotechnologySample question 11
Classical and Bacterial Genetics
What to know: Mendel's laws, monohybrid and dihybrid crosses, the testcross and its ratios, and Morgan's gene linkage in Drosophila; mitochondrial DNA.
Human Genetics and Cytogenetics
What to know: Alleles, genotype and phenotype, complete and incomplete dominance, codominance, and the ABO and Rh blood groups: which antigens and antibodies each group carries.
Lesson (members): Non-Mendelian & human geneticsSample question 13Sample question 28
Human Genetics and Cytogenetics
What to know: Chromosome structure and classification, the human karyotype, sex determination and Barr bodies.
Genetic Disorders and DNA Technology
What to know: Point mutations, and pedigrees and probabilities for autosomal and X-linked dominant and recessive traits.
Lesson (members): Non-Mendelian & human geneticsSample question 12
Genetic Disorders and DNA Technology
What to know: Deletions, duplications, inversions and translocations; aneuploidy (trisomy, monosomy) and polyploidy, with the common syndromes.
Genetic Disorders and DNA Technology
What to know: Genetic counselling, carrier testing, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, and newborn screening.
Genetic Disorders and DNA Technology
What to know: PCR (and why it needs a heat-stable polymerase), sequencing, restriction enzymes, reverse transcription, blotting and cloning.
Lesson (members): Gene regulation, mutations & biotechnologySample question 14
Evolution and Population Genetics
What to know: The Hardy-Weinberg equation and its conditions; finding allele and carrier frequencies from the frequency of a recessive condition.
Lesson (members): Evolution & natural selectionSample question 15
Evolution and Population Genetics
What to know: The five causes of microevolution: genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, nonrandom mating and natural selection, and how each changes allele frequencies.
Human Development and Tissues
What to know: Diploblastic and triploblastic body plans, protostomes and deuterostomes, the coelom, morphogen gradients, and the three germ layers and what each forms.
Lesson (members): Reproductive system & human developmentLesson (members): Animal diversity, zoology & body plansSample question 17
Human Development and Tissues
What to know: The four tissue types: epithelial, connective (including cartilage, bone, adipose tissue and blood), skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle, and nervous tissue.
Skeletal and Muscular Systems
What to know: The bones of the trunk, limbs, pelvis and skull, the types of joint, and common diseases of the skeleton.
Skeletal and Muscular Systems
What to know: Muscle structure and the sliding-filament mechanism (calcium binding to troponin), the main muscle groups and common diseases.
Circulatory and Respiratory Systems
What to know: Body fluid compartments, the heart and the circulations (which vessels carry oxygenated blood), the cardiac cycle, blood pressure and the lymphatic system.
Lesson (members): Cardiovascular system & bloodSample question 19
Circulatory and Respiratory Systems
What to know: The airways, gas exchange in the alveoli, oxygen transport and the dissociation curve, breathing mechanics, and tidal, vital and residual volumes.
Lesson (members): Respiratory system & gas exchangeSample question 20
Digestive System and Nutrition
What to know: The digestive tract and its glands, what bile, pancreatic juice and each enzyme do, and where carbohydrates, proteins and fats are digested and absorbed.
Lesson (members): Digestive system & nutritionSample question 21
Excretory System and Internal Environment
What to know: The nephron: filtration at the glomerulus, reabsorption (glucose in the proximal tubule) and secretion, then the collecting duct, ureter, bladder and urethra.
Lesson (members): Urinary system, kidney & osmoregulationSample question 22
Skin and Reproductive Systems
What to know: The epidermis and dermis, skin receptors and sweat glands, and the skin's part in defence and thermoregulation.
Skin and Reproductive Systems
What to know: Male and female reproductive anatomy, the hormones of the menstrual cycle (the LH surge and ovulation), fertilisation and embryonic and fetal development.
Lesson (members): Reproductive system & human developmentSample question 23
Endocrine Control
What to know: The endocrine glands and their hormones, how hormones act, negative feedback (the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis), and the control of blood glucose and calcium.
Lesson (members): Endocrine system & hormonesSample question 24Sample question 25
Nervous Control and Sense Organs
What to know: The divisions of the nervous system, neurons and glia, reflexes, the resting and action potentials (sodium in, potassium out) and synapses.
Lesson (members): Nervous system & sensory physiologySample question 26
Nervous Control and Sense Organs
What to know: The parts of the brain and what each controls: medulla, pons, cerebellum, midbrain, thalamus and hypothalamus, the cortex and its areas, the limbic system.
Excretory System and Internal Environment
What to know: Thermoregulation, water and salt balance, osmolarity, blood pressure and volume control, and the nitrogenous wastes ammonia, urea and uric acid.
Lesson (members): Integrated physiology & homeostatic controlLesson (members): Urinary system, kidney & osmoregulation
Nervous Control and Sense Organs
What to know: The receptor types and where they are; the eye, its focusing and the correction of short and long sight; taste and smell.
Lesson (members): Nervous system & sensory physiologySample question 27
Blood and Immune System
What to know: Plasma and the blood cells, haematocrit, erythropoietin and blood formation, clotting and haemophilia.
Blood and Immune System
What to know: The organs of the immune system, the leucocytes, innate and adaptive defence, antibodies and cellular immunity, and active against passive immunity.
Lesson (members): Innate & adaptive immunitySample question 29
Digestive System and Nutrition
What to know: Energy and nutrient requirements, essential nutrients, leptin and appetite, over-, under- and malnourishment, the metabolism of the macronutrients, vitamins and minerals.
Evolution and Population Genetics
What to know: The hominid timeline from Australopithecus to Homo sapiens, the multiregional and out-of-Africa (monogenesis) models, and cultural evolution.
Man and the Environment
What to know: Human effects on ecosystems: nutrient run-off and eutrophication, biomagnification of toxins, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion; energy flow along a food chain.
Lesson (members): Ecology, populations & ecosystemsLesson (members): Earth & environmental systemsSample question 30
16 topics
General Chemistry
Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
What to know: Protons, neutrons and electrons from the atomic and mass numbers (for ions too), orbitals and electron configuration by the Aufbau principle, Pauli and Hund's rule.
Lesson (members): Atomic structure & electronic configurationSample question 31
Chemical Bonding and Inorganic Nomenclature
What to know: Naming and writing formulas for oxides, acids, bases and salts, including acid salts such as dihydrogen phosphates and the oxidation states of ions such as Fe(II) and Fe(III).
States of Matter and Energy
What to know: SI quantities and units, the amount of substance in moles, density and specific gravity.
States of Matter and Energy
What to know: Energy and its conservation, heat and heat capacity, exothermic and endothermic reactions, and enthalpy changes from enthalpies of formation.
Lesson (members): Thermochemistry & thermodynamicsSample question 35Sample question 36
Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
What to know: Groups and periods, trends in atomic and ionic radius and ionisation energy, metals and non-metals, the biologically important elements, and the octet rule.
Lesson (members): Periodic table & periodic trendsSample question 32
Chemical Bonding and Inorganic Nomenclature
What to know: Covalent, polar covalent and ionic bonds, electronegativity, molecular shape and polarity, and intermolecular forces.
Lesson (members): Chemical bonding & molecular structureLesson (members): Intermolecular forcesSample question 34
States of Matter and Energy
What to know: Boyle's and Charles's laws, the general gas law, Avogadro's principle and Dalton's law of partial pressures, with calculations.
States of Matter and Energy
What to know: Vapour pressure and boiling, hydrogen bonding and the properties of water, surface tension and surfactants.
Lesson (members): States of matter & gas lawsLesson (members): Intermolecular forces
States of Matter and Energy
What to know: Solids, melting point and sublimation.
Mixtures, Solutions and Transport
What to know: Solutions, colloids and suspensions, solubility and the solubility product, gas solubility and Henry's law, diffusion, osmosis and osmolarity, dialysis.
Lesson (members): Solutions, solubility & concentrationLesson (members): Hydrolysis, complexes & colloidsSample question 37Sample question 38
Stoichiometry and Concentration
What to know: Moles and molar mass, percentage and molar concentration and converting between them, dilution, and quantities from balanced equations (including gas volumes).
Lesson (members): Stoichiometry & chemical equationsLesson (members): Solutions, solubility & concentrationSample question 39Sample question 40Sample question 41
Equilibrium and Reaction Kinetics
What to know: The equilibrium constant and how concentration, pressure and temperature shift an equilibrium (Le Chatelier).
Acids, Bases and pH
What to know: Electrolytes, Arrhenius and Brønsted acids and bases, conjugate pairs, strong and weak acids, salts and the solubility product.
Acids, Bases and pH
What to know: pH and the ionic product of water, Ka and pKa, buffers and their pH, titration and the pH after mixing an acid and a base.
Lesson (members): Acids, bases, pH & buffersSample question 44Sample question 45Sample question 46
Equilibrium and Reaction Kinetics
What to know: Reaction rate and rate equations, the Guldberg-Waage law of mass action, and catalysts, which lower the activation energy without changing the equilibrium constant.
Redox Reactions
What to know: Oxidation numbers, which species is oxidised and which reduced, balancing redox equations (permanganate, dichromate) and reduction potentials.
Lesson (members): Redox & electrochemistrySample question 47Sample question 48
23 topics
Organic chemistry and biochemistry
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: Hydrocarbons and their derivatives, and how size and functional groups set boiling point and solubility.
Lesson (members): Organic chemistry foundations & nomenclature
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: The valence of each element, saturated and unsaturated, sigma and pi bonds, and primary, secondary and tertiary carbon.
Lesson (members): Organic chemistry foundations & nomenclature
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: Molecular, empirical and structural formulas, including structures written inline as text.
Lesson (members): Organic chemistry foundations & nomenclature
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: Structural isomers (counting them for a formula such as C₄H₁₀O), chiral carbons and optical isomers, and cis-trans isomers.
Lesson (members): Isomerism & stereochemistrySample question 49Sample question 50
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: Substitution, addition, elimination and rearrangement, and how to recognise each from an equation.
Lesson (members): Organic chemistry foundations & nomenclature
Foundations of Organic Chemistry
What to know: Systematic names from prefixes and suffixes, the common names, and the priority of functional groups.
Lesson (members): Organic chemistry foundations & nomenclature
Hydrocarbons and Arenes
What to know: Alkanes, alkenes and alkynes: properties and reactions, addition to alkenes (bromine water, Markovnikov's rule), polymerisation, and the common names.
Lesson (members): Hydrocarbons & aromatic compoundsSample question 51Sample question 52
Hydrocarbons and Arenes
What to know: Benzene and aromaticity, why arenes substitute rather than add, and the common names of the arenes listed.
Alcohols, Carbonyls and Sulfur Compounds
What to know: Primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols and what each oxidises to, dehydration and esterification, phenols and the common names.
Lesson (members): Alcohols, phenols, ethers & thiolsSample question 53
Alcohols, Carbonyls and Sulfur Compounds
What to know: Ethers and epoxides: naming, structure and properties.
Alcohols, Carbonyls and Sulfur Compounds
What to know: Thiols, sulfides and disulfides, and the disulfide bridge formed by oxidising two thiols (cysteine in proteins).
Lesson (members): Alcohols, phenols, ethers & thiolsSample question 54
Alcohols, Carbonyls and Sulfur Compounds
What to know: Aldehydes and ketones: oxidation, reduction, addition of water, alcohols and nitrogen compounds, keto-enol tautomerism, aldol condensation and the common names.
Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives
What to know: Naming and classifying carboxylic acids, their common names (C1-C4, C16, C18, the dicarboxylic acids, the unsaturated fatty acids), and what makes one acid stronger than another.
Lesson (members): Carboxylic acids & derivativesSample question 56
Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives
What to know: Hydroxy and oxo acids of metabolism (lactic, pyruvic, citric and the rest), and salts, anhydrides, esters (naming the ester from its acid and alcohol), amides, halides and nitriles.
Lesson (members): Carboxylic acids & derivativesSample question 55
Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives
What to know: Sulfonic acids: naming, structure and properties.
Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives
What to know: Urea, phosgene and guanidine as derivatives of carbonic acid.
Amines, Nitro Compounds and Heterocycles
What to know: The rings listed (pyrrole, indole, pyridine, pyrimidine, purine, imidazole, furan, pyran), and which bases of nucleic acids are purines and which pyrimidines.
Amines, Nitro Compounds and Heterocycles
What to know: Primary, secondary and tertiary amines and quaternary ammonium (classified by the nitrogen), basicity, diazotation, aniline and choline.
Lesson (members): Amines & nitrogen compoundsSample question 57
Amines, Nitro Compounds and Heterocycles
What to know: Nitro compounds: naming, structure and properties.
Biomolecules
What to know: Bases, nucleosides and nucleotides, the bonds in a nucleic acid (hydrogen, N-glycosidic, phosphodiester), the structure of DNA and RNA and the types of RNA.
Biomolecules
What to know: Amino acids, their charge at different pH and the isoelectric point, the peptide bond, the four levels of protein structure and denaturation.
Lesson (members): Biomolecules & biochemical chemistrySample question 60
Biomolecules
What to know: Fatty acids, triacylglycerols, phospholipids, sphingolipids, steroids and cholesterol, and terpenes from isoprene.
Biomolecules
What to know: Fischer and Haworth projections, aldoses and ketoses, anomers, epimers and D/L forms, reducing and non-reducing sugars, and the saccharides listed.
Lesson (members): Biomolecules & biochemical chemistrySample question 59
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Test yourself on the list
The free sample test sets 60 questions in the exam's own format, every one explained. The Charles University LF3 Entrance Exam guide has the format, dates and scoring in full.