SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

TENTH GRADE BIOLOGY

PERIOD I EXAM

NAME____________________________________________________NUMBER_________COURSE_______ DATE___________________

Time: 40 minutes. C1 C2 C3
Requirements: Pen, Pencil, Ruler, Calculator, White-Out, Eraser. Correct Answers X 6.7 Correct Answers X 6.7 Correct Answers X 10
Notes:
▪ Each spelling mistake decreases the final grade on each section by
one decimal point.
▪ Absolutely no revisions will be made to exams written in pencil, or
with any sort of correction such as white-out.
▪ If your handwriting is not clear, or if you don´t follow instructions
exactly as stated, your answers won´t be graded.
▪ SGS and teachers respect copyrights with the regulations
established for pedagogical usage.

C1: KNOWLEDGE WITH UNDERSTANDING (15 Points)

1. (1 Point) The figure on the right shows a food web in a

garden. Using information from the figure, select, from the
options below, a complete food chain consisting of only four
organisms.
a) Green plants – caterpillars – small birds - cats
b) Green plants – slugs and snails – small birds – cats
c) Green plants – mice – cats- hawks
d) Slugs and snails – small birds – cats – hawk

2. (1 Point) Using the figure on the right, name ALL organisms

that feed at the same trophic level as the small birds. Cats
and hawk

3. (1 Point) Consider a strand of DNA with the sequence

CCAATTGGCTAC. What is the sequence of the
complementary strand? GGTTAACCGATG

4. (1 Point) Which of the following is a feature of DNA?

a) Adenine (A) forms a base pair with cytosine (C)
b) The backbone of each strand is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups
c) Complementary strands are held together by ionic bonds
d) DNA remains condensed in a short linear form both before and after cell division

5. (1 Point) In a certain species of animal, 28% of the bases in its DNA are A. What percent of the bases are G? 22%

6. (1 Point) How are pollen from the anther and ovules from the ovary brought together for fertilisation?
a) Using a flagellum b) IVF c) Taking cuttings d) Pollination

7. (1 Point) Which of these are required for germination?

a) Water, oxygen and a suitable temperature
b) Glucose and oxygen
c) Sunlight, carbon dioxide and water
d) Sunlight and chlorophyll

8. (1 Point) Humans’ genetic information is stored in DNA. Put these structures in size order from smallest to largest.

• DNA molecule
• Chromosome
• Gene

Gene – chromosome - DNA

9. (1 Point) Grace has noticed that the plant in her window is not growing straight up. It is bending towards the window. What is
this process called? Phototropism

10. (1 Point) What hormone triggers the fight or flight response? Adrenaline/epinephrine
11. (3 Points) Answer the following questions based on your understanding of eutrophication:
a) Mention one of the ions present in fertilizers. Nitrates, phosphates
b) How do these ions end up in a body of water? Rainwater runoff
c) The ions will cause an increase or decrease in growth of aquatic plants? increase
d) Yes or No: Will underwater plants be able to photosynthesize after the change in c)? No
e) The population of decomposing bacteria will increase or decrease after the event in d)? increase
f) Oxygen levels in the aquatic ecosystem will increase or decrease after the event in e)? decrease

12. (2 Points) What is the difference between a benign and a malignant tumor?
A benign tumor does not spread to other locations; a malignant tumor invades surrounding tissues and can metastasize.

C2: HANDLING INFORMATION AND PROBLEM SOLVING (15 Points)

1. (4 Points) The diagram shows a food web.

a) (1.5 Points) From the food web name:

A carnivore: ________________________________snake, lizard, bat, badger, eagle, coyote, mountain lion

A producer: ________________________________ sagebrush bushes, prickly pear cactus, desert flowers

A consumer from the 2nd trophic level: ____________________________ squirrel, rabbit, insect, deer

b) (2.5 Points) In some regions, mountain lions have been hunted and face extinction. Suggest how the coyotes might be
affected if the mountain lion became extinct.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Deer and other grazers population will increase as there would be one less predator for (coyotes and mountain lions feed on

the same prey). So by having more prey to feed on, the population of coyotes will increase; they would benefit from the

extinction of the mountain lions.

2. (1 Point) The double-stranded DNA molecule can be described as a twisted rope ladder. What component of DNA would be like
the steps of the ladder?
a) DNA polymerase
b) nitrogenous bases
c) phosphate groups
d) sugar (deoxyribose) molecules

3. (1 Point) Why is DNA replication considered semiconservative?

a) DNA is created from only four of nine available nucleotides.
b) The DNA molecule includes a parental strand and newly created DNA strand.
c) DNA is not just one strand but two complementary strands.
d) DNA is divided into a top half and a bottom half before replicating.

4. (2 Points) Draw a chromosome before and after DNA replication. Label centromere and chromatids.

5. (1 Point) The diagram

below illustrates part
of the carbon cycle.
Which process is
shown by the arrow
labeled Y?
a) Photosynthesis
b) Feeding
c) Respiration
d) combustion

6. (1 Point) A food chain is shown below.

One of the pyramids of number below represents this food chain. Which one would be correct?
7. (1 Point) The image below shows a food web. Which organism from the food web, feeds on the greatest variety of organisms?
a) Whelks b) Crabs c) Limpets d) Mussels

8. (1 Point) Students were discussing how to remember the difference between two groups of cells, “many, minute and motile” or
“few, fat and fixed”. What group of cells were they referring to?
a) Male and female gametes
b) Animal and plant cells
c) Red and white blood cells
d) Xylem and phloem cells

9. (1 Point) A group of students set up an experiment to investigate growth responses in plants. In one of the experiments, they
place a plant shoot in a box with a small window allowing light to fall on one side of the shoot only. Which of the following
options correctly describes and explains what would happen in the student´s experiment? B

10. (1 Point) Which of the following effects is least likely to be as a result of deforestation?
a) A greater risk of flooding
b) An increase in biodiversity
c) An increase in soil erosion
d) An increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

11. (1 Point) The graph shows the relationship between the number of
lichens and the levels of sulfur dioxide pollution.Which of these
statements best describe the graph?
a) Sulfur dioxide levels do not affect lichen growth
b) As sulfur dioxide levels increase, the number of lichen decrease
c) Lichens cannot survive if there is sulfur dioxide present
d) As sulfur dioxide levels increase, so does the number of lichen
 C3: EXPERIMENTAL AND RESEARCH SKILLS (10 Points)

Biological control of fire ants. Ant-decapitating

phorid flies are just one of the biological control
agents used to battle imported fire ants.
Researchers have enlisted the help of a fungal
parasite that infects the ants and slows their
production of offspring. An infected colony
dwindles in numbers and eventually dies out.
Are these biological controls useful against
imported fire ants? To find out, USDA scientists
treated infested areas with either traditional
pesticides or pesticides plus biological controls
(both flies and the parasite). The scientists left
some plots untreated as controls. The figure
below shows the results.

Effects of two methods of controlling red imported fire ants. The graph shows the numbers of red imported dire ants over a 28-month period. The
triangles represent untreated control plots. Circles are plots treated with pesticides alone. Squares are plots treated with pesticide and biological
control agents (phorid flies and fungal parasite).

1. (2 Points) How did population size in the control plots change during the first four months of the study?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
It increased

2. (2 Points) How did the population size in the two types of treated plots change during this same interval?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Both decreased
3. (3 Points) How did the two types of treatment (pesticide alone versus pesticide plus biological controls) differ in their long-term
effects? Which is most effective? Explain.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use data and pattern of the graph to say that after 1.5 years one could see the difference in pesticides with biological controls.

Pesticides with biological controls more effective in the long term (after 1.5 years). Include data from graph.

1. (3 Points) If this study has ended after the first year, would you conclude that biological controls had a major effect? Explain.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

No, use data from graph to explain that pesticides with or without control had about the same effects at year 1.
 REFERENCES

Biology: Science for Life with Physiology, 6e (Belk, 2015). Pearson Education Inc.

Cambridge IGCSE Biology Workbook, 6e (Jones & Jones, 2010) Cambridge University Press

Biology: Concepts and Applications, 8e (Starr et al., 2011)

www.PearsonMyLabandMastering.com

https://www.savemyexams.co.uk/gcse-biology-edexcel-new/topic-questions/