You need to understand what is meant by a geologic column and a geologic cross section
You should be able to recognize any of the following unconformities (angular unconformity, disconformity, nonconformity), and be able to use diagnostic fossils or missing expected rock units to identify a disconformity.

You need to understand a transgression means sea level is rising and this will deposit sand (on the bottom), then shale, the limestone (on the top), while a regression is the opposite.

You will be asked to match one of the following terms to its defintion:  impact melt rock, impact breccia, stishovite, planar fractures in minerals, shatter cones, diaplectic glass.

You should know the major events of the major units of time:

At the level of an Eon:  Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Phanerozoic - know what are the major distinguishing geologic features/events

The Phanerozoic is when we have easily visible fossils and is divided into the following Eras:  Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic.

In broad terms, the Archean is the assembly of small bits into cratons, the Proterozoic is the time during which oxygen increases in the atmosphere and the supercontinent of Rodinia is both assembled and broken apart (you need to know what a Wilson cycle is); the Paleozoic can be divided into three distinct pieces (early-age of invertebrates; middle-age of fishes-Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia collide to form Laurasia); late-age of amphibians-final assembly of Pangea when Laurasa and Gondwana collide); the Mesozoic is the "age of reptiles" with dinosaurs and mammals (and hexacorals) appearing late in the Triassic and the big geologic thing is the break-up of Pangea accompanied by lots of subduction along the west coast (leading to the batholiths that make up the Sierra Nevadas today); the Cenozoic is "the age of mammals" and is characterized by the collision causing the alpine-himalayan orogeny.

Some terms you should be familiar with by now:  epeiric sea, craton, orogen, stromatolite, banded iron formation, pillow basalt, komatiite, benthic vs. planktonic organisms.

You should know some important fossils and when they exist
Reefs:  Stromatolites in the Precambrian; dominated by archeocyathids in early Paleozoic, dominated by Tabulate and Rugose corals in middle and late Paleozoic, then no corals in reefs for a short period of time following Permian extinction.  Since late Triassic - hexacorals

Trilobites appear during Cambrian (when they are most common), remain throughout the Paleozoic, and go extinct at the end of the Paleozoic

Reptiles, amphibians, fish all appear during Paleozoic - era ends with Great Permian extinction
Mammals, dinosaurs, birds all appear during Mesozoic - era ends with K-T extinction
hominids such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens all appear during Cenozoic

The first undisputed land plants appear in middle Paleozoic - we see nonvascular plants that spread by spores followed by gymnosperms (like a doug fir).  This is all we see until the late Mesozoic when angiosperms (flowering plants - think maple tree) appear.

Three kinds of mammals:  marsupials, monotremes, placentals (know the difference)

We talked about a bunch of events along the west coast during the Cenozoic (such as basin and range formation, Snake River/Yellowstone hot spot, San Andreas Fault, and Columbia River Basalts).  Much of these are continuing today (not the Columbia River Basalts).  Go back over these events.   Also note that Pleistocene ice ages very recent (in late Cenozoic).

Finally, there will be a relative dating exercise with a cross section.  You will need to justify your choices using one of the following principles:  original horizontality, lateral continuity, cross-cutting relationships, superposition, inclusions, fossil succession. And you really need to go back over you unconformities