1.

(a) (i) Some candidates wrongly answered that respiration was the process by which the leaves
lose water. Some mistook evaporation as a biological process. Spelling mistakes such as
'transparation' and 'transperation' were quite common.
(ii) Most candidates knew to use graph paper in estimating the area of a leaf though many of
them could not express their ideas clearly.
(iii) Most candidates calculated the rate of water loss correctly. However, the heading of rate of
water loss in the table was commonly written as 'decrease in mass per unit area per hour'.
Many candidates did not put down the unit. Some candidates wrongly expressed the results
in terms of per 100cm2 instead of per cm2.
(iv) This part was poorly answered.
(1) A large number of candidates misinterpreted the question by stating that it was 'leaf B'
instead of 'the upper surface' that lost water at a faster rate.
(2) Most candidates just gave the structural feature 'stomata' without emphasizing the
greater number or wider aperture of the stomata. Many candidates did not answer by
referring to the leaf in question. They just stated in general that the large surface area
of the leaf would result in a faster rate of water loss.
(3) Some candidates had the misconception that the rate of water loss increased at higher
light intensity because more water was used up to make starch due to faster
photosynthesis. However, the amount of water used in photosynthesis is comparatively
much smaller than the amount lost in transpiration. It is not a significant factor to
account for the increase in the rate of water loss.
1. (b) (i) The performance in this part was quite good.
(1) Most candidates gave the correct answer. However, there were many spelling
mistakes, such as 'diary' or 'daily' for 'dietary', and 'cellose' for 'cellulose'.
(2) Some candidates answered wrongly that dietary fibre helps in digestion. There were
many wrong spellings for 'peristalsis' such as 'peristalsis', 'peristalisis' etc.
(ii) (1) Very few candidates could relate the weight problem of the child to the excessive
energy intake in food. Many candidates answered wrongly that the increase in weight
was due to the conversion of excess carbohydrates into glycogen which was stored in
the liver and the muscles. In fact, tile increase in weight was due to the storage of fat,
not glycogen. Some candidates had the misconception that fat was digested into fatty
acid and glycerol which were stored in the body; others answered wrongly that fat in
food was stored under the skin. In fact, fat in food is digested into fatty acid and
glycerol first before absorption. These are resynthesised into fat in the epithelial cells
of villi before being transported to the body organs for storage.
(2) Most candidates understood the concept but some could not express themselves
clearly using appropriate wording. Many candidates wrongly said that bacteria in the
plaque digested / fed on / reacted with sugars in the chocolates to form acid. In fact,
the conversion of sugars to acid by the metabolism of bacteria should not be viewed
as a feeding or digestion process. It is also wrong to consider the bacteria as a
reactant.
(iii) Many candidates just listed all food substances that can be found in pork and fish without
realizing that the main difference between these two types of food and the others was the
high proportion of protein they contained.
1. (c) (i) Most candidates answered this part correctly. Some candidates confused the terms
'homozygous' and 'homologous' while some mistook characters for alleles. Some
candidates used symbols which were not defined.
 (ii) A large number of candidates answered that 'Peter is normal but he has a diseased child, so
Peter is 'heterozygous.' or 'If Peter is not heterozygous, it is not possible for him to have a
diseased child'. It was emphasised repeatedly in the previous examiner's reports that
genotypes should be logically deduced by means of the concept of alleles, not by referring
only to the phenotypes of offspring and parents.

(iii) This part was poorly answered. Only a few candidates pointed out the genotypes of Paul
and June. A fair proportion of candidates realized that each fertilization process was random
so that it was possible for Paul and June to have all normal children though theoretically
they had a  chance of having a diseased child. However, some erroneously related the
phenomenon to the random assortment of chromosomes in meiosis.
2. (a) (i) There were many spelling mistakes for 'alveolus', such as 'alvolus', 'alveoi' etc.
(ii) Most candidates answered correctly, though some of them on seeing the alveolus in the
photographs erroneously described the process of gaseous exchange in the alveoli instead
of the inhalation process.
(iii) Some candidates described the inhibitory effect of the smoke particles on the action of cilia
which was not shown in the photographs.
(iv) (2) The quality of drawing was poor. Many drew small diagrams while some used shaky
discontinuous lines. Most of the diagrams did not indicate the pumping action. These
candidates did not realize that the apparatus would not work if there was nothing to set
up an air current to draw in the cigarette smoke through the cotton wool. Most
candidates did not give a title to the diagram drawn.
2. (b) (i) (2) When answering this part, many candidates did not refer to the features shown in the
diagram. They simply answered from rote memory, citing features of insect-pollinated
Bowers such as sticky stigma or brightly coloured petals, which were not indicated in
the diagram of the question.
(ii) (2) Instead of answering how the fruit attracted the animals to disperse the seeds, some
candidates described how the seeds were adapted to dispersal by animals.
(iii) Most candidates did not give a satisfactory explanation. They could not tell clearly that cells
in tissue E came from the parent plant while cells in tissue F were formed from the zygote
which contained the combination of genetic materials from two different parents. Some had
the misconception that E was formed by mitosis so the cells were diploid, and F was formed
by meiosis so the cells were haploid. In fact, cells in E and F were both diploid. Most
candidates just ascribed the terms mitosis or meiosis, fertilized or not fertilized to the two
tissues. Some even attributed the difference in genetic composition between E and F to
their functional difference.
2. (c) (ii) Many of candidates misinterpreted the question and wrongly explained the importance of
the rapid increase in pressure of chamber Q instead of explaining the cause of the increase
in pressure.

(iii) (2) This part was poorly answered. Many candidates failed to explain that the closure of
 valve A was caused by the difference in pressure between chamber Q and chamber P.
Most did not mention the function of the heart tendon in preventing valve A from
turning into chamber P and thus keeping the valve closed Many candidates only gave
the importance of closing valve A instead of the mechanism that led to its closure.
(iv) Some candidates answered wrongly that there would be a mixing of oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood and thus the oxygen supply to body cells would be insufficient.
They confused this heart defect with the defect that is caused by the presence of a
hole between the left and right heart chambers.
3. (a) (i) A large number of candidates did not give a title to the graph while many chose the wrong
axes. It seemed that many of them failed to realise that the x-axis is for the independent
variable while the y-axis is for the dependent variable. Some did not use a proper scale for
the graph A large number of candidates wrongly joined the graph to the origin. The labelling
of the axes was often incomplete and units were sometimes left out.
(ii) (2) Many candidates failed to point out that all glucose is reabsorbed from the glomerular
filtrate. Some candidates explained wrongly that since 90 mg glucose per 100 cm
plasma fell between the normal range of glucose concentration in the blood plasma,
there was no need to excrete glucose in the urine. Candidates seemed to think that the
excretion of glucose was a means of regulating the blood glucose concentration !
(iii) This part was poorly answered. Some candidates were careless in reading the question.
They overlooked the words 'healthy person' in the question. Answers involving liver
damage, deficiency of insulin, diabetes or kidney failure were not accepted.
3. (b) (i) (1) Most candidates answered correctly though there were many spelling mistakes, such
as, 'geotrophism', or 'gravitropism' etc.
(ii) Most candidates deduced the functions of the cotyledons correctly but they failed to explain
their deductions by referring to the information provided in the diagrams. Some candidates
failed to recognise that cotyledons are part of the seed and wrongly answered that they
protected the seed.
(iii) This part was poorly answered. Many candidates did not point out that the seedling was
mainly supported by cell turgidity. Some candidates suggested that the roots absorbed the
excessive chemical fertilisers which were toxic to the plant, and thus the root cells were
killed. Many candidates had the misconception that the plant became flaccid or
plasmolysed. Actually the terms 'flaccid' or 'plasmolysed' should only be used to describe
the condition of the cells, not to describe the plant. Some candidates answered that the soil
water became hypertonic to plant cells so that water moved out of the cells. It should be
emphasised that tonicity of the solution, which is affected by the amount of solutes in it, only
contributes to the factor of osmotic potential. The movement of water is determined by the
difference in water potential between the root cells and the soil water. Osmotic potential
forms only a part of the water potential, thus it is inaccurate to use the term 'hypertonic'
when accounting for the water movement from the cells to the soil water. In addition, there
was a general lack of communicative skills shown by the candidates in answering this
question.
3. (c) (i) The performance in this part was satisfactory. However, many candidates did not mention
the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy by the plants. Many answered wrongly
that the worm fed on the plants instead of on the plant fragments.
4. (a) (i) Most candidates answered incompletely that starch was used up in darkness because there
was no photosynthesis. However, they failed to mention that starch was changed to glucose
first before it was oxidised in respiration. Many candidates gave the purpose of destarching
the plant instead of the mechanism by which the plant was destarched.
(iii) Many candidates did not realise that the alcohol used to extract chlorophyll from the leaf
should be hot or warm, and that iodine solution instead of iodine should be used.
(v) Most candidates answered this part correctly. But still there was a fair proportion of
candidates who did not know how to draw the conclusion. They simply described the results
or explained the results instead of drawing conclusions. For part (3), some candidates
concluded wrongly that both chlorophyll and carbon dioxide were necessary for
photosynthesis.
4. (b) (ii) Many candidates answered wrongly that yeast was denatured or used up when the dough
was kept in the oven. As yeast is not an enzyme, it is inappropriate to say that yeast is
denatured by high temperature.
(iv) The standard of drawing was poor and very few candidates drew a clear and accurate
diagram. Some drew single lines for hyphae or drew disproportionately thick hyphae. Most
candidates did not give an appropriate title to their drawing. Many confused the terms
'sporangium' and 'sporangiophore', while many others mixed up 'spore' and 'sporangium'
when labelling the structures. There were a lot of spelling mistakes on the labels such as
'rhizod' or 'rizhoid' for 'rhizoid', 'sporangiospore' or 'sporangiore' for 'sproangiophore',
'sporagium' for 'sporangium' and 'hypae' or 'hyphea' for 'hyphae'.
4. (c) (i) Many candidates answered wrongly that the ampulla would move in the opposite direction
to that of the head movement. In fat, ampulla is a swollen part at the base of the semi-
circular canal and it cannot move. Many answered that the lamph / perilymph inside the
semi-circular canals moved. Actually, lymph is the fluid in lymph vessels while perilymph is
the fluid outside the middle canal in the bony cavity of the inner ear.
Many candidates answered wrongly that the head movement stimulated the sensory hair /
sensory neurone, and nerve impulses were then sent to cerebellum for interpretation. In
fact, it is the sensory hair cells, not the hairs or the nerve fibres, that are stimulated. The
cerebellum, though, receives information on the balance of the body from the ear and the
muscles; it is the centre of muscular coordination and is not responsible for the detection of
body movement. The site of interpretation is the cerebrum. Quite a number of candidates
inaccurately mentioned that the impulses were sent to the brain.
(iii) Many candidates just said that the presence of cartilage between the vertebrae allowed the
bending of the backbone into a smooth curve. They failed to stress that it was the
compressible nature of the cartilage that allowed such bending. Very few candidates
answered that the presence of joints also played a part in allowing the backbone to bend
smoothly.
(iv) A considerable number of answers were ambiguous or inaccurate e.g. increase blood
circulation / heartbeat / respiratory rate / metabolism, make the bones soft / flexible, for body
defence etc.
In fat, the advantage of doing regular exercise is to improve the function of the lungs / heart,
not to increase the respiratory rate or heart beat rate. Besides, doing regular exercise will
make the joints (not the bones) more flexible.