CHAPTER 12&13

PRACTICE PAPER & MS

1 Wheat seeds contain stores of a large insoluble molecule.
This molecule is digested by amylase as the seeds germinate.
(a) What is the name of this large insoluble molecule?
(1)
A glucose B lipid
C protein D starch
(b) A student investigates the oxygen absorbed by germinating seeds at different temperatures.
The diagram shows some of the student’s apparatus.

(i) Suggest why the student opens the tap after obtaining one set of results. (2)

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(ii) What is the function of the soda lime? (1)
A it absorbs carbon dioxide B it absorbs oxygen
C it releases carbon dioxide D it releases oxygen
(iii) The student measures the distance moved by the coloured liquid and converts this to volume of
oxygen absorbed.
The volume of oxygen absorbed can be calculated using the formula
volume = π × radius 2 × distance
Calculate the volume of oxygen absorbed when the coloured liquid moves a distance of 6.0 mm.
[diameter of tube = 1.0 mm] (3)

volume = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cm 3

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(c) The graph shows the results of the student’s investigation.

(i) Calculate the percentage increase in the rate of oxygen absorption at 22 °C

compared to the rate of oxygen absorption at 12 °C.
(2)

percentage = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(ii) Suggest why the rate of oxygen absorption is greater at 22 °C than at 12 °C. (2)

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(Total 11 marks)
2 (b) Plants produce plant growth substances such as auxin.
Suggest why some biologists do not consider auxin to be a hormone. (2)

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(c) Plant growth substances stimulate root growth from a cut stem.
Describe an investigation to find the best concentration of plant growth substance
to stimulate root growth.
You should include experimental details in your answer and write in full sentences. (6)

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(Total 8 marks)
3 Katydids are insects that are green and look like the leaves that they feed on.
The photograph shows a katydid.

(a) Explain how katydids affect the growth of the plants that they feed on. (4)

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(Total 4 marks)
4 Plants produce seeds by sexual reproduction.
(a) (i) Fertilisation takes place before seeds are formed.
Name the structure that contains the male sex cells involved in this fertilisation.
(1)

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(ii) Explain how young plants that grow from seeds are able to survive until photosynthesis can start.
(3)

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(b) A student investigates the conditions needed for broad bean seeds to germinate.
He divides broad bean seeds into four groups, A, B, C and D.
He places each group of seeds in different conditions as shown in the table.

(i) Suggest how the student could identify when a seed has germinated.
(1)

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(ii) Explain which group of seeds is likely to germinate first.
(4)

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(Total 9 marks)
5 This question is about the effect of salt on plant growth.
(a) Explain what happens to a plant cell if it is put into a concentrated salt solution. (3)

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(b) In the UK, salt is spread over road surfaces in winter to prevent ice from forming.
When it rains this salt is washed on to the soil by the side of the road.
Design an investigation to find out if plant growth is affected by the increased
salt concentration in the soil.
Your answer should include experimental details and be written in full sentences. (6)
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(Total 9 marks)
6. A farmer often puts sheets of plastic on top of the soil in which his plants are
growing. He wants to find out if the type of plastic used affects the growth of his
plants.
He grows plants in trays containing soil.
• ten trays have the soil uncovered
• ten trays have the soil covered by black plastic
• ten trays have the soil covered with clear plastic
The diagram shows some of the trays.

After three months the farmer measures the dry mass of the plants and calculates the
average (mean) dry mass.

(a) (i) State the independent variable in this investigation.

(1)

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(ii) Describe the steps the farmer takes to make sure his results are reliable. (2)
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(iii) To make a valid comparison of plant growth the farmer needs to control the
abiotic (non-living) factors. He keeps the trays in the same light intensity.
Name three other abiotic factors the farmer should control.
(3)

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(b) Suggest two reasons why the plants grow better when the soil is covered with black plastic.
(4)

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(Total 10 marks)
7. Plants can reproduce sexually or asexually.
Plants that reproduce sexually can be pollinated by insects or by wind.
(a) State three ways in which the structure of insect-pollinated flowers differs from
the structure of wind-pollinated flowers. (3)

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(b) The diagram shows a flower from a plant.

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Name the structures labelled on the diagram.
(3)

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(c) The flower in the diagram is insect-pollinated.
An insect carrying pollen lands on the flower.
Describe the events that lead to seed formation. (5)

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(Total 11 marks)
8. Plants can reproduce sexually and produce seeds.
These seeds can remain dormant for long periods of time before germination takes place.
(a) What is meant by the term germination? (1)

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(b) Explain three conditions needed for seeds to germinate. (6)

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(Total 7 marks)
9. The picture shows a tomato plant grown in a glasshouse.

The production of tomatoes is affected by an insect pest called the tomato leaf miner.
The photograph shows a tomato leaf that has been damaged by the tomato leaf miner.

The adult female leaf miner lays eggs on tomato leaves that develop into maggots
(larvae). These maggots feed on leaf mesophyll tissue inside the leaf.
(a) Explain how feeding on mesophyll tissue will affect tomato production. (3)

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(b) (i) Pesticide are no longer successful in controlling the pest because the
population of resistant forms of the leaf miner has increased.
Use your knowledge of natural selection to explain why the population of
resistant forms of the leaf miner has increased.
(4)

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(ii) Suggest one other reason why using pesticide spray to control the leaf miner
has not been successful.
(1)

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(c) The release of an insect species called Trichogramma has been successful in
controlling the leaf miner. Trichogramma feeds on the leaf miner.
Name this type of pest control.
(1)

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(d) Suggest why the release of sterile male tomato leaf miners has also been
successful in controlling the leaf miner. (2)

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(e) Pheromone traps could also be used to control the leaf miner. Pheromones are
smells that attract leaf miner males.
Design an investigation to find out if a pheromone trap would help to control the leaf miner.
Your answer should include experimental details and be written in full sentences.
(6)

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(Total 17 marks)
10. A student wanted to investigate the conditions required for the germination of seeds.
He set up 5 boiling tubes each containing 10 cress seeds on cotton wool sealed with
rubber bungs.
 Tube A contained dry cotton wool and was placed at room temperature in the light.
 Tube B contained moist cotton wool and was placed at room temperature in the light.
 Tube C contained moist cotton wool and was placed in a fridge in the dark.
 Tube D contained moist cotton wool and was placed at room temperature in the dark.
 Tube E contained moist cotton wool and was placed at room temperature in the light and
contained alkaline pyrogallol to absorb oxygen.
The student left the tubes for 3 days and then returned to observe the results.
He measured the height of the seedlings and recorded how many had germinated.
Some of his results are shown below.
Tube A no seeds germinated.
Tube B 9 seeds germinated with the following heights: 2.0 cm,
2.1 cm, 3.1 cm, 2.2 cm, 2.1 cm, 1.8 cm, 2.3 cm, 2.7 cm and 2.5 cm.
Tube C one seed germinated with a height of 0.3 cm.
(a) Complete the summary table to show the conditions and the results for tubes A, B
and C only.
(4)

(b) Explain how the student could tell whether the seeds had germinated. (2)

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(c) The student’s teacher commented that there were too many different
independent variables in his experiment.
Identify the independent variables in the experiment. (2)

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(d) Explain what the results would be for tube D. (2)
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(e) Explain why the seeds in tube E failed to germinate. (1)
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(Total 11 marks)
11. The table shows the area of land used, in hectares, to grow tea plants at different
altitudes (height above sea level) in Sri Lanka between the years 1990–2000.

(a) Describe the changes that have taken place in the area of land used to grow tea
plants between 1990 and 2000. (3)

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(b) (i) An area of land at high altitude is cooler than an area of land at low altitude.
Suggest and explain how this difference in temperature might affect the
growth of tea plants. (2)

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(ii) Give two factors, other than temperature, that could affect the growth of tea plants. (2)
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(c) Describe how the tea grower could use a quadrat to estimate the total mass of tea
plants growing in a large area of land. (3)

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(Total 10 marks)
12.The diagram shows an insect pollinated flower called a lily.

(a) Describe the features of an insect pollinated flower that help it to attract insects. (3)

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(b) Sexual reproduction in flowering plants and mammals involves the process of
gamete formation by meiosis followed by fertilisation.
Use the words from the box to complete the table about sexual reproduction in
flowering plants and mammals.
Each word can be used once, more than once or not at all.

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(c) Cell division in an organism can take place by mitosis or by meiosis.
Give three ways in which mitosis differs from meiosis. (3)

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(d) Suggest why a flower grower may want his coloured flowers to reproduce asexually. (2)

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(Total 13 marks)
13. Flowers are reproductive organs. They help flowering plants with sexual
reproduction.
(a) Suggest how sexual reproduction makes it more likely that a species can adapt to
a changing environment. (2)

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(b) Some flowering plants transfer their male gametes (pollen) by using insects and
others use wind. The diagram shows a plant that is wind-pollinated.

(i) Give two ways you can tell from the diagram that this plant is wind-pollinated. (2)

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(ii) Suggest why insects rarely visit wind-pollinated flowers. (2)
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(c) Some people have an allergy to pollen produced by flowering plants. This is
known as hay fever.
(i) Suggest why hay fever tends to be caused by wind-pollinated plants rather
than insect pollinated plants. (1)

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(ii) Suggest why people only show symptoms of hay fever at certain times of the year. (1)

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(iii) Allergies are caused by the body cells reacting to the proteins on the surface
of the pollen grains.
Explain how the body usually responds to foreign proteins.
(3)

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(Total 11 marks)
14. Flowering plants can respond to their environment through tropic responses. These
involve root or shoot tips growing towards or away from a stimulus.
A student set up an experiment to investigate how shoots respond to gravity.
He placed a potted plant on its side and looked at its growth after 5 days. The
diagram shows what he saw.

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(a) (i) Explain the benefit to the plant of this response. (1)

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(ii) Give one variable that the student should keep the same in his experiment
and suggest how he could do this. (2)

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(iii) Suggest a suitable control for this experiment. (1)
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(b) Plants can respond to drought by closing their stomata.
(i) Suggest how a plant benefits from closing its stomata when less water is
available in the soil. (1)

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(ii) Explain the disadvantages to the plant of closing its stomata. (2)
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(Total 7 marks)
15.Some types of algae are microscopic organisms that can carry out photosynthesis.
They produce most of their biomass as fats and oils. If these algae could be grown
in large numbers it might help to solve the world’s energy crisis because the fats and
oils could be turned into biofuel.
Describe and explain the conditions needed to successfully grow large numbers of algae.
(5)

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(Total 5 marks)
16. The drawing shows part of a flower involved in sexual reproduction.
The drawing has been separated into three sections A, B and C.

(a) Complete the table by giving the correct letter for the section that matches
each statement.
Each letter may be used once, more than once or not at all.
The first one has been done for you. (4)

(b) The drawing shows a pollen grain from an insect-pollinated flower as seen using
a microscope.

Suggest how the structure of this pollen grain shows it is from an insect-pollinated flower. (2)

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(c) Pollen grains were placed in a solution that helps them to germinate (grow a pollen tube).
A microscope was used to observe the pollen grains for two hours.
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 The percentage of pollen grains that had started to germinate was measured
during the two-hour period.
The graph shows the results.

(i) Describe how the percentage germination changed during the two-hour period. (2)

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(ii) The drawing shows pollen grains seen using the microscope at one time during the two hours.

Use the drawing and the graph to determine the time when these pollen grains
were observed.
Show your working.
(2)

Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . minutes
(iii) Calculate the actual size of the pollen grain labelled A. Show your working.
(2)

Answer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . mm
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 (d) Explain the benefit to the plant of producing offspring by sexual reproduction
rather than by asexual reproduction.
(2)
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(Total 14 marks)

The End

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