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Topic 17: Inheritance

5 subtopics · Genes and proteins, mitosis and meiosis, and how to lay out a genetic cross that earns every mark

📖 Open Full Study Guide → 🏆 Challenge Prep Guide — Master the tricky questions
Heads up — every Biology exam here is Challenge level. There are no standard mocks for Biology: all six papers for this topic are deliberately harder than a normal Cambridge paper. So read your scores in that light — a mark that looks low here would usually be higher on a real paper.
17.1
Chromosomes, Genes and Proteins
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What a gene and an allele are, how a protein is made, and the inheritance of sex
17.2
Mitosis and Stem Cells
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Genetically identical cells, where mitosis is used, and what a stem cell is
17.3
Meiosis
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Reduction division, diploid to haploid, and why the cells are genetically different
17.4
Monohybrid Inheritance
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Genotype and phenotype, dominant and recessive, Punnett squares, pedigrees and the test cross
17.5
Codominance, Blood Groups and Sex Linkage
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ABO blood groups, red-green colour blindness, and the notation Cambridge wants
17.6
Exam Technique & the Vocabulary That Scores
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The layout of a cross is itself worth marks — here is the order
📝 Topic 17 Challenge Exams
3 × Paper 2 (MCQ) · 3 × Paper 4 (Theory) · all Challenge level
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