Q1.

(a) The photograph below shows a team of dogs called huskies pulling a sledge across
the ice.

Huskies need to survive in a cold climate. They must be able to pull a heavy sledge
for a long time each day.

Which two features would a dog breeder look for when choosing huskies to breed
from?
Choose from the list of features below and give the reason for each choice.

blue eyes fierce nature long tail

thick fur short legs strong muscles

1. feature .........................................................................................................
1 mark
reason .........................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................
1 mark
2. feature .........................................................................................................
1 mark
reason .........................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) The drawings below show three dogs. They all look different.

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 (i) Which word describes the differences between these dogs?
Tick the correct box.

adaptation reproduction

vaccination variation
1 mark

(ii) The drawing below shows a puppy. Dog C is the puppy's mother.

Why does the puppy look like his mother?

Tick the correct box.

Information passed from the mother in an egg.

Information passed from the mother in a sperm.

Information passed from the mother in milk.

Information passed from the mother in blood.

1 mark
Maximum 6 marks

Q2.
The diagram shows two families. Some of the people in the diagram have freckles.

family A family B

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(a) (i) Which children are most likely to have freckles?
Tick the correct boxes.

Richard Simon Katie Penny Becca

1 mark

(ii) How did you decide?

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark

(iii) Suggest why Bill does not have freckles.

.............................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) (i) Which two cells pass on information from parents to their children?
Tick the two correct boxes.

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 bone cell cheek cell

egg cell muscle cell

red blood cell sperm cell

1 mark

(ii) Which organ system produces these two cells?

Tick the correct box.

circulatory system

digestive system

reproductive system

respiratory system
1 mark
maximum 5 marks

Q3.
Matthew measured the pH of different soils.

(a) Tick one box in each row to show if each soil is acidic, neutral or alkaline.

soil pH of soil acidic neutral alkaline

A 4.5

B 5.5

C 6.3

D 7.0

E 7.8

2 marks

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 (b) A hydrangea is a flowering plant. Matthew notices that the
colour of hydrangea flowers is different for plants grown in
different places.

He records the colour of the flowers on each plant.

His results are shown in the table below.

colour of flowers
pH
soil
of soil
blue violet light pink dark pink

A 4.5

B 5.5

C 6.3

D 7.0

E 7.8

Look at Matthew’s results.

Do his results support the statement that the colour of hydrangea flowers depends
on pH?

yes no

Explain your answer.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Matthew measured the pH of the soil near hydrangea plants found in different
places.

Suggest one other variable Matthew could not control in his investigation.

......................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................
1 mark

(d) Matthew wants to find out if the colour of blue hydrangea flowers depends on
inherited factors or environmental factors.

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 The flowers were growing in soil of pH 4.5.
He plants them in soil of pH 6.3.

Complete the table below to show the colours of the new flowers in soil of pH 6.3
(i) if the colour is due to inheritance
(ii) if the colour is due to the environment

Use the table above to complete the table below.

colour

starting colour of hydrangea flowers blue

colour of new flowers if only due to inheritance

colour of new flowers if only due to environment

2 marks
maximum 6 marks

Q4.
(a) The drawings below show an old and a modern variety of wheat plant.

old variety modern variety

average mass of
grain produced 0.5 0.8
per m2 (kg)

average length
145 78
of stalk (cm)

Glucose produced by the wheat plants is used:

• to provide energy for growth

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 • to make cell walls

• to make starch which is stored in the grain.

Give one reason why modern wheat plants with short stalks can store more starch
in the grain. Use the drawings and information.

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) A plant breeder wants to use selective breeding to produce corn with short stalks
and a high mass of grain. He could use the following varieties of corn:

variety A variety B variety C

long stalks short stalks long stalks

high mass of grain low mass of grain low mass of grain

(i) What would the plant breeder need to do to make sure he always produced
corn with short stalks and a high mass of grain?
Describe the three steps the breeder would use.

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................
3 marks

(ii) Suggest one other characteristic that farmers might like corn plants to have to
increase the amount of corn produced.

...............................................................................................................
1 mark
maximum 5 marks

Q5.
The drawings show identical twins, Sara and Helen, and their parents.

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(a) (i) Sara and Helen have blue eyes like their mother.

Describe how genetic information is passed on from a parent to a child.

................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................
2 marks

(ii) Sara and Helen have brown hair like their father and blue eyes like their
mother.

Why do children have characteristics of both parents?

................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................
1 mark

(b) Sara and Helen are identical twins.

Why do they have identical characteristics?

............................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................
1 mark

(c) Sara now spends a lot of her time working outdoors in a hot country.
Helen now works in an office in England.

The table shows information about three human characteristics.

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 Is it identical for
characteristic
Sara and Helen?
eye colour yes

skin colour no

weight no

Explain why their eye colour is identical but their weight and skin colour are not
identical.

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................
2 marks
maximum 6 marks

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Mark schemes

Q1.
(a) feature: strong muscles
accept ‘muscles’
1 (L3)

reason: to pull a sledge or to carry a load

1 (L3)

feature: thick fur

accept ‘fur’
1 (L3)

reason: to keep them warm or to trap air

accept ‘to insulate them’
do not accept ‘to keep the cold out’
features may be in either order
each reason must correspond to the correct feature
1 (L3)

(b) (i) variation.

if more than one box is ticked, award no mark
1 (L4)

(ii) information passed from the mother in an egg.

if more than one box is ticked, award no mark
1 (L4)
[6]

Q2.
(a) (i) Katie
Becca
both answers are required for the mark
if more than two boxes are ticked, award no mark
1 (L3)

(ii) any one from

• their mother or Pam has freckles

• their father or David has freckles

• their parents have freckles

• their grandmother or Mary has freckles

• only family B has freckles

accept ‘Rachel and Bill do not have freckles’
accept ‘a grandparent has freckles’

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 accept ‘their family or the family on the right has freckles’
accept ‘freckles run in the family’
accept ‘family A does not have freckles’
1 (L4)

(iii) his parents or Bob and Emily do not have freckles

accept ‘his family does not have freckles’
accept ‘his grandparents do not have freckles’
accept ‘he is not in family B’ if the answer for (ii) is
‘only family B has freckles’
1 (L4)

(b) (i) egg cell

sperm cell
both answers are required for the mark
if more than two boxes are ticked, deduct
one mark for each incorrect tick
minimum mark zero
1 (L4)

(ii) reproductive system

if more than one box is ticked, award no mark
1 (L4)
[5]

Q3.
(a)
soil pH of soil acidic neutral alkaline

A 4.5

B 5.5

C 6.3

D 7.0

E 7.8

for all five ticks correct, award two marks

for any three or four ticks correct, award one mark
for any one or two ticks correct, award no marks
if more than one tick is placed in any one row, do not credit
that row
2 (L5)

(b) • yes
as pH increases the flowers become darker pink or less blue
accept ‘as pH or acidity changes the flower colour changes’
accept ‘acid soil has blue flowers and alkaline soil has pink
flowers’
both the tick box and a consistent explanation are needed

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 for the mark

or

• no

any one from

• there is no change between pH 5.5 – 6.3

• there is insufficient data

1 (L6)

(c) any one from

• type of hydrangea
accept ‘type of plant’
accept ‘size or age of plant’

• amount of water or rainfall

‘how much it is watered’ is insufficient

• amount of light or shade

accept ‘light’

• soil composition
accept ‘type of soil’
‘the acidity or pH of the soil’ is insufficient

• nutrients or minerals or ions in the soil

accept named nutrients, minerals or ions

• weather or temperature
accept ‘climate’
accept ‘pH of rain’
1 (L5)

(d)
• blue

• violet

accept ‘purple’ for violet

2 (L6)
[6]

Q4.
(a) any one from

• less cellulose is needed or fewer cell walls produced or

less glucose changed to cellulose
accept ‘less stalk is made’

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 • less glucose or energy needed or used for growth
accept ‘less glucose used in respiration’
‘less starch is used for growth’ is insufficient
accept ‘it does not have to grow as much’

• more glucose is available to be changed into starch

accept ‘more glucose goes to the grain’
do not accept ‘the glucose gets to the grain quicker’
accept ‘blown over less easily or less frequently’
1 (L7)

(b) (i) any two from

• cross plants with short stalks and low grain mass with
plants with long stalks and high grain mass
accept ‘breed from varieties A and B’
‘mix varieties A and B’ is insufficient

• collect or plant the seeds

• choose offspring with shortest stalks and which produce

a high mass of grain
accept ‘choose the best’
2 (L7)

• repeat with offspring or continue the whole process

a three mark answer must include two of the first three
marking
points and a reference to repeating or continuing the process
1 (L7)

(ii) any one from

• disease resistance

• pest resistance
‘increased amount of grain’
or ‘number of ears of corn’ are insufficient
‘more stalks’ is insufficient
accept ‘corn’ for ‘wheat’

• drought tolerance

• frost resistance

• resistance to herbicides or weed killers

• resistance to wind
accept ‘strong stalk’ or ‘long roots’
accept ‘hardy’
accept ‘big or long leaves or lots of leaves’
accept ‘faster growing’
1 (L7)

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 [5]

Q5.
(a) (i) • genes or DNA or chromosomes
1 (L7)

• in gametes or sex cells or eggs or sperm

accept ‘at fertilisation
‘in the nucleus’ is insufficient
1

(ii) • they have genes or DNA or chromosomes from both parents

accept ‘they have genetic information from both parents’
accept ‘from eggs and sperm’
1 (L7)

(b) • they have the same genetic information or the genes or DNA or
chromosomes
accept ‘they are from the same egg and same sperm’
accept ‘the fertilised egg or zygote split in two’
accept ‘they are from the same fertilised egg
‘from the same egg’ or ‘from the same sperm’ is insufficient
accept references to the egg dividing if the answer makes
clear that this is after
fertilisation eg ‘the egg divides after it has joined with a
sperm
‘the egg divides in the uterus’ is insufficient
1 (L7)

(c) any one from

• eye colour is inherited or controlled by genes

• eye colour is not affected by environmental factors

1 (L7)

any one from

• weight and skin colour are affected by environmental factors

• weight is affected by diet or exercise and skin colour by the Sun

accept ‘weight and skin colour are not just controlled by
genes’
answer must refer to both weight and skin colour
‘weight and skin colour are3 not controlled by genes’ is
insufficient
1
[6]

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