First Term Examination 2015-16

Biology
Form Three

Time allowed: 8:25-9:55 am Date: 9-1-2016

Total marks: 90

Name:_____________________________________ ( ) F.3 _____

General Instructions

1. There are THREE sections, A, B and C, in this paper. Section A carries 24 marks,
Section B carries 30 marks and Section C carries 36 marks.

2. Answer ALL questions.

3. Section A consists of multiple-choice questions. Put the answers in the MC answer

sheet. Section B and C contains conventional questions printed separately in
Question-Answer Book.

4. Answers to Section B and C should be marked onto the spaces available in the
Question-Answer book. MC answer sheet, Section A and the Question-Answer Book
must be handed in separately at the end of the examination.

5. The diagrams in this paper are not necessarily drawn to scale.

1. When a prepared slide of plant cells is observed under a microscope, which of the
following combinations of eyepiece and objective allow the same number of cells come
into view?
Eyepiece Objective
(1) 5X 20X
(2) 10X 10X
(3) 15X 10X

A. (1) and (2) only B. (1) and (3) only

C. (2) and (3) only D. (1), (2) and (3)

2. A student observed a specimen under the high power of a light microscope and found
that the image was dim. Which of the following action should he take in order have a
brighter image?

A. Turn the fine adjustment knob to adjust the focus.

B. Turn the coarse adjustment knob to adjust the focus.
C. Use another eyepiece of higher magnification.
D. Increase the size of the diaphragm.

3. Which of the following is/are the correct step(s) for using a light microscope?
(1) Watch the stage from the side while bringing the high-power objective into
position.
(2) Adjust the specimen to the centre of the field of vision before turning to a
higher magnification.
(3) When using a 60X objective to observe a specimen, we should focus it using
the coarse adjustment knob.

A. (1) only B. (1) and (2) only

C. (2) and (3) only D. All of the above

4. Which of the following are the ideas of the cell theory?

(1) Cell is the basic unit of life.
(2) All living cells can carry out respiration.
(3) All cells arise from pre-existing cells.
(4) Cells have DNA as their genetic materials.
A. (1) and (3) only. B. (2) and (3) only.
C. (1), (3) and (4) only D. All of the above
5. If the following diagram is observed under a light microscope,

which of the following shows the image observed?

A. B. C. D.

6. The following shows a leaf mesophyll cell.

Which of the following shows the correct functions of structures P and Q?

Structure P Structure Q
A. Protect and give shape to Control the movement of substances
the cell into and out of the cell
B. Provides support to the plant Site for chemical reactions to take place when it
is full
C. Protect and give shape to Site for chemical reactions to take place
the cell
D. Provides support to the plant Control the movement of substances
when it is full into and out of the cell
7. In an experiment to investigate the role of nucleus, a scientist used two kinds of single-
celled organism, X and Y. Each of these organisms is composed of three segments: the
“base” which contains the nucleus, the “stem” and the “cap”. Organism X has a disc-
shaped “cap” and organism Y has a flower-shaped “cap”. The structures of organisms X
and Y are shown in the diagram below:

Organism X Organism Y

In an experiment, the “stem” of organism Y was cut and transferred to the “base” of
organism X. The disc-shaped “cap” eventually developed. The process and result of the
experiment are shown below:

“stem” of organism Y

“base” of organism X

disc-shaped “cap”

What conclusion can be drawn from the above experiment?

A. This single-celled alga organism regenerate after the above treatment.

B. The DNA inside the nucleus is responsible for the function of nucleus.
C. Nucleus controls the development of the cap in this type of single-celled organism.
D. The shape of the “cap” was not determined by the nature of the base.
8. A biologist removed the nucleus of an amoeba using a very small needle as shown in the
diagram below.

After the surgical operation, he returned the amoeba to water. The treated amoeba
continued to live and move for some time, but died after 3 days. Two hypotheses were
proposed to explain the death of the amoeba:

Hypothesis 1: The treated amoeba died because of the absence of the nucleus.
Hypothesis 2: The treated amoeba died because of the injury caused by surgical
operation.

The biologist tested the above hypotheses by comparing the life span of two groups of
amoeba after different treatments:
Group 1 Group 2
Treatment Injured amoeba without nucleus Injured amoeba with nucleus

What kind of results will support hypothesis 2?

A. Both groups of amoeba died 3 days after the treatment.

B. Both groups of amoeba remained alive.
C. Group 1 amoeba died and group 2 amoeba remained alive.
D. Group 1 amoeba remained alive and group 2 amoeba died 3 days after the treatment.

9. Which of the following are features of plant cell wall?

(1) It is differentially permeable.

(2) Protect and give shape to a cell.
(3) Made up mainly of cellulose.

A. (1) and (2) only B. (1) and (3) only

 C. (2) and (3) only D. All of the above
10 Which of the following pairs of carbohydrates can Benedict’s test be used to distinguish
. one from another?

(1) sucrose and starch

(2) sucrose and maltose
(3) glucose and maltose
(4) glucose and starch

A. (1) and (3) only C. (1) and (4) only

B. (2) and (3) only D. (2) and (4) only

11 Which of the following parts of the nucleotide make up the backbone of a polynucleotide
strand?
A. Sugar and base C. Sugar and phosphate
B. Base and phosphate D. Base, sugar and phosphate

12 Which of the following are examples of condensation reaction?

(1) Production of maltose from glucose

(2) Production of glucose from maltose
(3) Production of dipeptide from amino acids
(4) Production of amino acid from dipeptide

A. (1) and (2) only C. (1) and (3) only

B. (2) and (4) only D. (3) and (4) only

13 The two strands of DNA is joined by

A. Covalent bonds C. Ionic bonds
B. Hydrogen bonds D. Peptide bonds

14 Which of the following is NOT a carbohydrate?

A. Cellulose C. Ribose
B. Glycogen D. Glycerol

15 The nucleotide base not present in DNA is

A. Adenine (A) C. Guanine (G)
B. Thymine (T) D. Uracil (U)
16 Which of the following statement about lipids is WRONG?
A. Lipids are insoluble in water.
B. Lipids are insoluble in ethanol.
C. Lipids are soluble in acetone.
D. Lipids are soluble in chloroform.

17 Which of the following about disaccharides is TRUE?

A. Sucrose is formed by linking glucose and fructose.
B. Lactose is formed by linking two glucose.
C. Maltose is formed by linking glucose and galactose.
D. All disaccharides are reducing sugars.

18 Which of the following about storage of chemicals in living things is true?

A. Animals store starch as energy reserve in their liver.
B. Animals store protein as energy reserve in their muscles.
C. Plants store lipids as energy reserve in their seeds.
D. Plants store cellulose as energy reserve in their cell wall.

19 In the formation of one triglyceride from fatty acids and glycerol, how many water
molecules are removed?
A. None C. One
B. Two D. Three

20 A protein X is made up of 10 amino acids, how many water molecules are needed to
hydrolyse it completely?
A. 11 C. 10
B. 9 D. 8

21 The chemical nature of different amino acids differ in their

A. R group C. S group
B. Amino group D. Carboxyl group

22 Which of the following is a correct comparison of DNA and RNA?

A. DNA is double stranded but RNA can be double or single stranded.
B. DNA and RNA are found in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
C. DNA is only found in the nucleus but RNA is only found in cytoplasm.
D. DNA contains deoxysucrose and RNA contains ribose.
 23 Which of the following substances can be tested with test strips?
A. Lipids and protein
B. Starch and glucose
C. Reducing sugar and nucleotides
D. Glucose and protein

24 A student accidentally spills a drop of oil onto her exercise book. The oil forms a
________ spot on her book. She can wipe it away with _______.
A. translucent; acetone
B. transparent; oil
C. transformant; water
D. transducer; alcohol

Short questions (30 marks)

Short question:
1. The following shows a Venn diagram involving different biomolecules.

A Venn diagram consists of multiple overlapping circles, each represents a set of elements

that make up the biomolecules as labelled. The overlapped region among the circles
represent the common element(s) found in the biomolecules.

Fill in the symbols of the following elements into the different compartments of the
Venn diagram below. Use each symbol once. Oxygen (O) is done for you as an example.

C (Carbon), H (Hydrogen), N (Nitrogen), O (Oxygen), P

(Phosphorus), S (Sulphur).
 lipid Nucleic acid

CH
O N

S
protein

2. State ONE major inorganic ion needed for each of the following functions.
(5 marks)

(a) Helps muscle contraction: _Calcium_ion_______________________

(b) Help blood clotting: ___Calcium_ ion ________________
(c) Formation of chlorophyll: ___Magnesium ion __________________
(d) Formation of bones and teeth: ____Calcium_ ion _____________
(e) Formation of haemoglobin to carry oxygen in blood: ____iron ion ___________

3. Match the property / properties of water to its importance in the biological world.
(you can use the options more than once) (4 marks)

(a) Production of sweat after exercise: ____3__________

(b) Allows some animals to walk on the surface of water: ____4__________
(c) Blood carries glucose around the body: ___1_________
(d) The eyeball is filled with a watery fluid: ___4__________

1. As a solvent and transport medium

2. As a reactant
3. As a cooling agent
4. As a supporting agent

4. You are given one template strand of DNA. Draw and label the components in the
opposite strand. (4 marks)
 (1 mark for correct matching bases; 1 mark for sugar / deoxyribose; 1 mark for
phosphate; 1 mark for antiparallel)

5. a. Arrange the following words to show the correct order of the levels of body organization
in organisms. (1 mark)

organism, organ, cell, tissue, system, organelles

organelles > cell > tissue > organ > system > organism (1)

b. The following diagrams show parts of organisms. Using the words given in part (a),
identify their corresponding level of organisation of the living organisms. (3 marks)

(i) A pineapple fruit: organ (ii) Cornea of an eye: tissue

(ii) system
6.
(a) Bacterium is a prokaryotic cell. Why? (1 mark)
It does not have true nucleus / membrane-bound nucleus

(b) The table below compares the features of a bacterium and an ox corneal cell. Put a “” if
the feature is present and a “X” if it is not. (4 marks)

Structure Bacterium Ox corneal cell

Ribosomes  
Cellulose cell wall X X
Genetic materials (DNA)  
Cytoplasm  

(c) Suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of the electron microscope compared to the
light microscope for the study of cells. (2 marks)

Advantage: produce image with higher magnification and resolution /

Can produce 3 dimensional image (1)
Disadvantage: Only dead specimen can be viewed / (1)
Black and white image only/
Expensive to buy and maintain /
Delicate structures may be distorted when being mounted in vacuum/
Lengthy preparation time/
Samples more difficult to prepare e.g. thin section /
Difficult to operate/requires technical training
Requires more electrical power /
Requires stable, high voltage supplies or currents

Section C: Structured Questions (36 marks)

8. Penny likes eating crunchy apples. She notices that the apples stored for too long turns
soft and “starchy”. She postulates that during storage, the reducing sugars in the apple
would slowly turn to starch. She investigated accordingly.

Penny prepared a freshly picked apple. Every day she drilled a cylinder out from the
apple as shown. The apple cylinder was then labeled day 1 and kept frozen. The apple
was left at room temperature throughout the study. She took a total of 8 samples on 8
 consecutive days as shown in the diagrams below.

Top view of the

apple after
sampling for 8
days

Penny drills a cylinder from

the apple. appearance of the
apple after three
days

On day 8, she thawed all cylinders, then ground them separately with a mortar and
pestle. She obtained about 3 mL of apple extract from each sample. She then
conducted Benedict’s test and Iodine test on the samples.

(a) Describe the steps involved in the Benedict’s test so as to quantify the result. Give
details that include numerical values. (4M)
Transfer 2 mL apple extract and 2 mL Benedict’s solution into a labeled test tube
Put the tube into a boiling water bath
for 5 minutes
Let the tube stand overnight
Measure the height of the brick red precipitate
(b) What is the purpose of conducting Benedict’s test? How to quantify the result? (2M)
Test for reducing sugars
Measure the amount of brick red precipitate formed.

(c) List 2 necessary controlled variables in the above experiment. (2M)

Any two from: same temperature of water bath, time for incubation, volume of
Benedict’s solution, volume of apple extract, same apple,

(d) The following diagram shows the result of the Benedict’s test. What conclusion can
you draw? (1M)
 Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The longer the apple is stored (at room temperature), the more the amount of reducing
sugar is present.

(e) The following diagram shows the result of the iodine test. What conclusion can you
draw? (1M)

Day 12 3 45678

The longer the apple is stored (at room temperature), the less starch is present.

(f) Based on your answer in (d) and (e), explain the change of carbohydrate composition
in the apple during storage. (1M)
During storage, starch is slowly broken down into reducing sugars.

(g) Explain one limitations of Penny’s design which may affect the conclusion drawn in
part (f). (2M)
Any one of:
Only one apple is involved, that may not be generalized to other apples.
The wounds created in the apple may cause infection or growth of microorganisms, this
adds another factor to confound the result
Storage time is too short, may not give significant difference
Other reasonable explanations

9. Figure 1 shows an electron micrograph of a white blood cell. Organelles Q and R are shown at a
higher magnification in Figure 2.

Figure 1
 P

X Y

1 m

Q R

Figure 2

(i) Give one function of organelle P. (1 mark)

Controls all activities of the cell (1)

(ii) Name and give one function of organelles Q and R. (4 marks)

Organelle Name Function

Q Rough endoplasmic Helps in synthesis and transport of
 reticulum (1) proteins (1)

R Mitochondrion (1) Site of respiration / Site of ATP

production during aerobic
respiration (1)

(iii) State one structural similarity between the membrane structure of organelles P and R.
(1 mark)
both are surrounded by a double membrane (1)

(iv) Using the given scale bar, calculate the actual diameter of the cell along X-Y. Show your
working and give your answer to the nearest whole number. (2 marks)
Length along X-Y = 10 cm
Actual diameter = 1.5 x 10m = 15 m
Total 8 marks

10. Joe prepared a temporary mount of an onion epidermis and then studied the structures of
the cells under a light microscope.
The following steps are involved in preparing the temporary mount:

stain

Step (a) Cut the epidermis to Step (b) Spread the Step (c) Soak up any excess
a suitable size. epidermis flat on a slide. stain with tissue paper.
Add a drop of stain.

epidermis

Step (d) Peel off a small piece of Step (e) Place a cover slip over the
epidermis from the inner surface of epidermis.
the onion scale leaf.
(a) Arrange the above steps to show the correct sequence in preparing the temporary mount.
(1 mark)
(d) > (a) > (b) > (e) > (c) (1m)
(b) (i) Suggest a suitable stain used in step (2). (1 mark)
Iodine solution (1) / methylene blue solution
(ii) What is the purpose of adding the stain? (1 mark)
To increase the contrast between different structures so that they can be observed
more easily.

(c) Why should Joe place a cover slip over the epidermis in step (5)? Give a reason.
(1 mark)
To reduce the chance the epidermis dries up by evaporation/
To prevent the epidermis from drying up because of evaporation /
To flatten the epidermis so that they can be seen easily in one plane of focus for the
objective lens. /
To prevent the objectives from getting dirty by touching the epidermis or the stain.
(1)

(d) The following diagram shows the image that Joe observed under a light microscope with
a 10x eyepiece and 40x objective lens.
Air bubbles

(i) Air bubbles are found on the image observed under the light microscope.
 Joe can avoid introducing air bubbles onto the epidermis when preparing the
temporary mount by _______________________________. (1 mark)

[Choose the answer from the following table. Put a “ “ against your option]

placing the cover slip on the epidermis gently and slowly. 

adding more stain onto the epidermis.
adding water instead of stain onto the epidermis.

(ii) With reference to the above diagram, make a labelled high power drawing of 3
adjacent onion epidermal cells in the space below. Give your drawing an
appropriate title and indicate the power of magnification. (5 marks)

Title + correct magnification 400x (1); Drawing (2);

Labels @ 0.5 each: cell wall / cytoplasm / cell membrane / nucleus (2)

(e)
(i) Onion epidermal cells are not green in colour because they do not contain green
pigments. Name this green pigment and the organelle in which these green
pigments are located. (2 marks)

Green pigment: chlorophyll (1)

Organelle: chloroplast (1)

(ii) What is the function of the organelle answered in part (i). (2 marks)
It contains chlorophyll which absorbs light energy for photosynthesis (1) to
make food (1) for the plants.

Total 14 marks