Knowledge of basic concepts of paleontology (eg biostratigraphic units, main groups of organisms, such as benthic and planktonic foraminifera, radiolarians, corals, sponges and mollusks, especially rudists, etc.), stratigraphy (eg stratigraphic units, Walter's law and other principles of stratigraphy), sedimentology (concepts of facies and depositional environments, main types of deposits) and geology (eg Wilson's cycle and related processes)