Section A: choose one option per question — marked automatically when you submit, with an explanation of the option you chose.
Section B: answer in the boxes; after submitting, mark yourself against each scheme and tick the marks you earned.
Show all working, especially in the genetics questions — a genetic diagram earns marks even when the final probability is wrong.
Use appropriate scientific terminology.
Your answers will be automatically graded when you submit.
Question Navigation
This paper covers the four topics of your school Unit Assessment — Topic 14 Coordination and Response, Topic 16 Reproduction, Topic 17 Inheritance and Topic 18 Variation and Selection — and, like a real Cambridge paper, it mixes them inside single questions. It is deliberately set at Challenge level: expect to have to deduce, calculate and justify, not just recall. Section A is 20 multiple-choice questions (about 25 minutes); Section B is the 50-mark structured paper (about 55 minutes).
Section A — Multiple Choice
20 questions · 20 marks · about 25 minutes — Topics 14, 16, 17 and 18 mixed
Choose one option for each question. Section A is marked automatically when you submit the exam — and for every question you will be shown why the option you chose is right or wrong. An unanswered question scores 0.
1Where does most of the bending (refraction) of light entering the eye take place?
2Tara looks up from the far wall to a book close to her face. Which row describes her eyes focusing on the book?
3Tara steps out of a dark room into bright sunshine. What happens in the iris of each eye?
4A seedling is laid on its side in complete darkness. Why does its shoot bend and then grow upwards?
5Which row correctly compares nervous and hormonal communication?
6At the start of the menstrual cycle, which hormone from the pituitary gland stimulates an egg to start maturing?
7Where does fertilisation normally happen in humans?
8Which statement about the placenta is correct?
9Which set of conditions does a germinating seed need?
10Compared with self-pollination, what is the main advantage of cross-pollination?
11For a gene with alleles T and t, which of these is a genotype?
12In cattle the alleles for red coat (CR) and white coat (CW) are codominant; CRCW cattle are roan. Two roan cattle are crossed. What is the expected ratio in the calves?
13Which statement explains why about half of all babies are boys?
14Colour blindness is X-linked recessive (XN normal, Xn colour blind). A carrier woman (XNXn) and a man with normal vision (XNY) have children. Which child is NOT possible?
15A dominant allele is best described as one that ...
16Which process creates completely NEW alleles?
17Which is the best description of an adaptive feature?
19Why can many generations of selective breeding leave a crop badly placed against a NEW disease?
20Bacteria can evolve antibiotic resistance within a few years. Which property makes evolution so FAST in bacteria?
Section B — structured questions · 50 marks · about 55 minutes. After you submit, mark yourself against each scheme and tick the marks you earned.
Question 1 — Signals at Two Speeds
Total: 10 marks — the reflex arc, the iris, and hormones of the menstrual cycle
(a)[3]
Tara picks up a hot pan by mistake and drops it before she feels any pain. (i) Write out the full pathway of this reflex, from the structure that detects the stimulus to the structure that responds. [1] (ii) Explain why the response happens before she feels pain, and why a reflex like this does not have to be learned. [2]
Model Answer — 1(a)
pathway: (pain/heat) receptor in the skin → sensory neurone → relay neurone in the spinal cord → motor neurone → effector (arm muscle contracts, dropping the pan) [1]
the arc runs through the spinal cord with only two synapses — the muscle is triggered before the information has travelled on up to the conscious brain, which is why the pain arrives after the pan has already been dropped [1]
reflexes are innate, automatic protective responses — no conscious decision is involved, so nothing has to be learned [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The commonest error is writing “the brain decides very quickly” — the whole point of a spinal reflex is that the response does NOT wait for the brain to decide anything. The pathway mark needs all five structures in order; dropping the relay neurone, or swapping sensory and motor, loses it.
(b)[3]
Tara then walks out of the dark kitchen into bright sunshine. Name the two sets of muscles in her iris, state what each one does in the sunshine, and explain how this response protects the eye.
Model Answer — 1(b)
in bright light the circular muscles contract [1]
and the radial muscles relax — the two sets are antagonistic, so they can never usefully contract together [1]
the pupil narrows, so less light enters and the retina is protected from damage by too much light [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Both sets of muscles must be named AND given the correct action — “the iris contracts” names no muscle and scores nothing. If you wrote circular relax / radial contract, that is the dim-light response: you have described her walking back into the kitchen.
(c)[4]
Fig. 1.1 shows the concentrations of two hormones, labelled X and Y, in a woman’s blood during one 28-day menstrual cycle. Neither hormone has been named for you. (i) Identify X and Y, justifying each answer with figures read from the graph. [2] (ii) Name the event that hormone Y’s surge causes, and state on which day it happens here. [1] (iii) State the role of hormone X in the first half of the cycle. [1]
Model Answer — 1(c)
X is oestrogen: it climbs from about day 5 and peaks at about 80 units at about day 12 — before the middle of the cycle, which progesterone never does [1]
Y is LH: it stays near 5 units for most of the cycle, then shows a single sharp surge peaking at about 90 units on day 14 [1]
the LH surge triggers ovulation — release of the egg from the ovary — at about day 14 [1]
in the first half of the cycle oestrogen repairs and thickens the lining of the uterus after menstruation [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The tell is WHERE each curve peaks. A hormone peaking before day 14 is oestrogen; progesterone’s peak comes around day 21, in the second half — if you called X progesterone, that is the classic oestrogen/progesterone swap. Answers with no figures (“X rises then falls”) lose the justification marks: quote the numbers, e.g. “80 units at day 12”.
Question 2 — From Pollen Grain to Seedling
Total: 10 marks — fertilisation in plants, germination, and a response to gravity
(a)[3]
The flowers of a bean plant are insect-pollinated. A bee has just left pollen grains on a stigma. Describe what must happen next for an ovule to become a seed. Use the words pollen tube, male gamete nucleus, ovule and fertilisation in your answer.
Model Answer — 2(a)
the pollen grain grows a pollen tube down through the style towards the ovary [1]
the male gamete nucleus travels down the tube and fuses with the egg cell nucleus inside the ovule — this fusion is fertilisation [1]
the fertilised ovule then develops into the seed (and the ovary around it into the fruit) [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Pollination has already happened — describing the bee again earns nothing. The middle mark needs the fusion of NUCLEI: “the pollen reaches the ovule” is transport, not fertilisation. And it is the ovule that becomes the seed — ovule→fruit or ovary→seed both lose the last mark.
(b)[4]
A student set up four tubes of cress seeds on cotton wool, shown in Table 2.1. (i) Using the tubes in pairs, state the three conditions cress seeds need in order to germinate, giving the evidence for each from the table. [2] (ii) Explain why the germinating seeds need water, and why they need oxygen. [2]
tube
conditions
result after 5 days
1
moist cotton wool, air, 20 °C
all seeds germinated
2
dry cotton wool, air, 20 °C
no germination
3
moist cotton wool, nitrogen instead of air, 20 °C
no germination
4
moist cotton wool, air, 2 °C
no germination
Model Answer — 2(b)
water (tube 2 vs 1), oxygen (tube 3 vs 1) and a suitable/warm temperature (tube 4 vs 1) — each pair changes only ONE condition, with tube 1 as the comparison [2: all three conditions with their evidence 2, any two 1]
water: activates the enzymes (and is needed to break down and transport the stored food) [1]
oxygen: for aerobic respiration, releasing the energy needed for growth [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Name the tubes — “seeds need water, oxygen and warmth” with no evidence is recall, not use of the table, and the question says ‘using the tubes’. For (ii), “oxygen to breathe” is too loose at this level: the mark needs aerobic respiration releasing energy. Note light is deliberately absent from the table — seeds do not need it.
(c)[3]
A germinating bean is pinned on its side inside a dark box. Two days later its shoot has bent and is growing upwards. (i) Explain, in terms of auxin, how the bend is produced. [2] (ii) Explain why doing this experiment in darkness makes the conclusion trustworthy. [1]
Model Answer — 2(c)
auxin accumulates on the lower side of the horizontal shoot [1]
cells on the lower side elongate more, so the shoot bends upwards, away from gravity [1]
darkness removes light as a stimulus, so the bending cannot be phototropism — the only stimulus left is gravity [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Auxin gathers on the LOWER side — and in a shoot it speeds elongation, so the lower side outgrows the upper and the tip turns up. Writing “auxin flows to the top so the top grows” reverses the mechanism. The darkness mark is about controlling a variable: with light present you could not tell gravitropism from phototropism.
Question 3 — A Condition That Will Not Skip
Total: 10 marks — a dominant-allele pedigree, probability, and what a ratio really promises
(a)[4]
Fig. 3.1 shows a family with a rare condition caused by a dominant allele D. People with genotype dd are unaffected. Shaded symbols show people who have the condition. Deduce the genotypes of I-1, II-2 and III-1. For I-1 you must show why his genotype is forced by the pedigree — “could be DD or Dd” is not a deduction. [4]
Model Answer — 3(a)
I-1 is affected, so he has at least one D. His son II-3 is unaffected (dd) and received one allele from each parent — so I-1 must carry a d to give. I-1 is exactly Dd [2: genotype 1, forcing argument via II-3 1]
II-2 is affected, so she has a D; her mother I-2 is unaffected (dd) and could only give her a d. II-2 is Dd [1]
III-1 is affected, so she has a D; her father II-1 is unaffected (dd) and gave her a d. III-1 is Dd [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: With a DOMINANT condition the deduction runs through the unaffected relatives: every unaffected person is dd, full stop, and every d they hand to an affected child pins that child as Dd. If you treated shaded symbols as recessive (ff-style) out of habit, every deduction inverts — check which allele the question says is dominant before touching a pedigree.
(b)[3]
II-1 and II-2 plan another child. Draw a genetic diagram (Punnett square) for this cross and use it to state: (i) the probability that the child will have the condition [working + answer, 2] (ii) the probability that the child will be an affected daughter. [1]
Model Answer — 3(b)
gametes: II-2 (Dd) gives D or d; II-1 (dd) gives only d [1]
offspring 1 Dd : 1 dd, so the probability of an affected child is 1/2 [1]
P(affected daughter) = 1/2 × 1/2 = 1/4 [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The affected parent here is Dd, not DD — that came from part (a), and using DD gives every child the condition and no marks. For (ii), sex and genotype are independent events, so the two halves multiply; adding them (to get 1) or forgetting the sex factor (leaving 1/2) are the standard slips.
(c)[3]
In a different family, two affected people who are both Dd have children together. (i) Give the expected ratio of affected to unaffected children, showing the genotypes behind it. [2] (ii) The couple in fact have four children, and all four are affected. Does this prove the expected ratio wrong? Explain. [1]
Model Answer — 3(c)
Dd × Dd gives genotypes 1 DD : 2 Dd : 1 dd [1]
DD and Dd both show the condition, so the phenotype ratio is 3 affected : 1 unaffected [1]
no — each fertilisation is an independent chance event; a ratio is a probability, and small numbers of children often differ from it [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Keep the two ratios apart: 1 : 2 : 1 is the GENOTYPE ratio, 3 : 1 is the PHENOTYPE ratio, and quoting 1 : 2 : 1 as “the ratio of affected children” muddles them. Part (ii) is testing whether you know a ratio is a probability, not a promise — four affected children in a row has probability (3/4)⁴ ≈ 0.32, which is hardly surprising.
Question 4 — Written on the X
Total: 10 marks — sex linkage in X notation, and where new alleles come from
(a)[2]
Haemophilia is a condition in which blood fails to clot properly. It is caused by a recessive allele h carried on the X chromosome; the normal allele is H. Explain why haemophilia is far more common in males than in females.
Model Answer — 4(a)
a male has only one X chromosome, so a single copy of the recessive h allele is always expressed — there is no second allele to mask it [1]
a female is only affected if she is XhXh — she must inherit an h from both parents, which is far rarer [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The answer must be about the NUMBER of X chromosomes, not vague “boys are more susceptible”. And be exact about the female case: one h makes her a carrier, not affected — saying “girls cannot get it” overshoots, as part (b) is about to show.
(b)[5]
A carrier woman (XHXh) has children with a man who has haemophilia (XhY). Draw a full genetic diagram in X notation. Give the genotype and phenotype of every possible child, and state the probability that a child of this couple has haemophilia. [5]
Model Answer — 4(b)
parents XHXh × XhY; gametes XH or Xh from the mother, Xh or Y from the father [1]
four offspring: XHXh, XhXh, XHY, XhY [1]
phenotypes: carrier daughter, daughter with haemophilia, unaffected son, son with haemophilia [1]
probability a child has haemophilia = 2/4 = 1/2 [1]
an affected daughter is possible with THIS couple because the father supplies Xh — the rule of thumb “only boys are affected” fails whenever the father is affected and the mother is a carrier [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The trap in this cross is XhXh: if you wrote that every daughter is merely a carrier, you copied the standard textbook cross (carrier × normal man) instead of THIS one. Genotype and phenotype are both asked for — a Punnett square with no phenotype labels loses that mark. And the probability asked for is over ALL children (1/2), not among sons only.
(c)[3]
(i) The h allele first arose by mutation. State what a mutation is, and name one factor that increases the rate of mutation. [2] (ii) Explain how the h allele can persist for many generations in a family in which nobody has haemophilia. [1]
Model Answer — 4(c)
a mutation is a random change in the base sequence of DNA / of a gene [1]
ionising radiation (X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet) or certain chemicals increase the rate [1]
the allele can hide in carrier females (XHXh): the dominant H masks it, so it is passed silently from mother to daughter until an Xh finally meets a Y [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: “Random” is doing real work in the definition — a mutation is not a response to need, and radiation raises only the RATE, it does not aim the change. For (ii), the recessive allele is invisible in every carrier, which is exactly why X-linked conditions seem to appear from nowhere after generations of unaffected family.
Question 5 — The Rats That Would Not Die
Total: 10 marks — natural selection with data, a Lamarckian trap, and selective breeding
(a)[5]
The poison warfarin was first used against rats in the 1950s. Table 5.1 shows the percentage of rats in one city that were resistant to warfarin. Explain the change from 0.5% to 45% in terms of natural selection. [5]
year
1960
1975
1990
2005
rats resistant to warfarin (%)
0.5
9
28
45
Model Answer — 5(a)
variation already existed: the resistance allele arose by random mutation, before (and not because of) the poisoning [1]
warfarin is the selection pressure [1]
susceptible rats are killed; resistant rats survive [1]
the surviving resistant rats reproduce, passing the resistance allele to their offspring [1]
over many generations the proportion of rats carrying the allele rises — matching the climb from 0.5% to 45% in the table [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: Five marks means five separate steps — variation first, pressure named, differential survival, reproduction and inheritance, and the population-level change tied back to the figures. The two killers are “the rats became resistant” (individuals never change — the population’s make-up changes) and leaving the table unused: quote 0.5% and 45%.
(b)[2]
A student writes: “The rats got used to the poison by eating small amounts, so their bodies became resistant, and they passed this resistance on to their young.” Give two different reasons why this explanation is wrong.
Model Answer — 5(b)
individual rats do not become resistant by exposure — a rat is resistant (or not) from birth, according to the alleles it inherited [1]
characteristics acquired during an organism’s lifetime are not inherited — only alleles pass to offspring, so ‘getting used to it’ could never be passed on [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: This is the Lamarckian account, and the mark scheme wants it dismantled at both ends: no individual acquires resistance by practice, and nothing acquired is heritable. Restating natural selection without saying what is WRONG in the student’s version answers a different question.
(c)[3]
A wheat breeder wants a variety that is both high-yielding and resistant to a fungal disease. (i) Describe how selective breeding could produce this variety. [2] (ii) State one way this process differs from the natural selection described in part (a). [1]
Model Answer — 5(c)
cross plants showing the highest yield with plants showing the best fungal resistance, then select the offspring that show both features [1]
breed from those selected offspring and repeat over many generations [1]
in selective breeding humans choose which plants breed, for usefulness to us; in part (a) the environment (warfarin) determined which rats survived to breed [1]
⚠ If you missed marks here: The two process marks are choose-the-parents and repeat-for-generations — a single cross does not fix two features in a variety. For the difference mark, name the selecting agent (humans vs the environment); “one is faster” or “one is artificial” without saying who selects is too thin at Challenge level.
Self-Assessment
Section A is scored automatically after you submit. Tick your Section B marks, then click Calculate Grade.
0
70
0%
A* : 49+
A : 42-48
B : 35-41
C : 28-34
D : 21-27
E : 14-20
U : <14
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