First exams in 2025

IB Style Test – HL Topic A2.3 Viruses

Theme A - Unity and diversity Level of Organisation: Cells

Name ___________________ Time allowed: 30 mins HL Mark: /20(HL)

Mark scheme
Multiple choice questions (5 marks)

1. Which of the following features do viruses have in common with living organisms?

A. Plasma membrane.
B. Respiration.
C. Genetic code.
D. Protein synthesis.

2. Which of the following factors complicates the treatment of human viral infections?

A. RNA genetic material.

B. Rapid evolution by mutation.
C. Slow evolution by mutation.
D. Viral infections are usually fatal.

3. Which of the following is the best description of the relationship between the virus and host
organism?

A. Facultative parasitism.
B. Obligate symbiont.
C. Predator-prey.
D. Obligate parasitism.

4. Which of the following are structures that all viruses possess?

A. Protein capsid.
B. RNA.
C. DNA.
D. Enzymes.

5. Viruses have several forms of genetic information but many structural features in common.
What does this suggest in terms of their evolution?

A. Divergent evolution from a single common ancestor.

B. Evolution by mutation.
C. Divergent evolution from a single possible origin.
D. Convergent evolution from several possible origins.

© Richard Scarr & David Faure, InThinking www.thinkib.net/biology

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 First exams in 2025
IB Style Test – HL Topic A2.3 Viruses
Theme A - Unity and diversity Level of Organisation: Cells

Structured answer questions

6. The graph shows the known number of Ebola infections worldwide from 1976 to 2015.

a) Estimate the number of cases of Ebola in 1976-1977. (1 mark)

600 (cases). Accept 580 to 630
b) The total number of case of Ebola from 2000 to 2009 was 1194. Calculate the total number
of cases that occurred from 1990 to 1999. (1 mark)
472 (cases).
c) Calculate the percentage increase in the total number of cases from 2000 to 2009 in
comparison to 1990 to 1999. (2 marks)
increase = 1194-472 = 722
% increase = 722/472 x 100 = 153% (accept 150 to 155%).
d) The Ebola virus first appeared in humans in 1976. Suggest how the virus first appeared in the
human population. (1 mark)
It transferred from (an original) animal host.
It is a zoonose.
e) A vaccine for Ebola was trialled in 2018 and shown to be effective. It was made widely
available from 2020. Suggest why a vaccine against a viral infection may prove ineffective in
the long term. (1 mark)
(Viral) mutations could make the vaccine ineffective agains the mutated virus.
Note:- Do not accept that the virus becomes resistant or host becomes resistant.

© Richard Scarr & David Faure, InThinking www.thinkib.net/biology

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 First exams in 2025
IB Style Test – HL Topic A2.3 Viruses
Theme A - Unity and diversity Level of Organisation: Cells

f) The genetic material of the Ebola virus is single strand RNA. List two other forms that viral
genetic material may take. (2 marks)
Double stranded RNA
Single stranded DNA.
Double stranded DNA.
g) The image below shows a particle of the Ebola virus.

The virus is approximately 1000 nm in length. Convert this size into µm. (1 mark)
1000nm / 1000 = 1 µm.

Extended response (6 marks)

7. Compare and contrast the lytic cycle with the lysogenic cycle of viral infection of a host cell.
(6 marks)

Similarities In both cycles:

There is injection of genetic material/entry of genetic material into a host cell.
Infection of a host cell occurs in both cycles.
Replication of viral genetic material by the host cell
Proliferation/increase of the viral population occurs in both.
The differences are:
The lysogenic cycle involves incorporation of viral DNA into the host cell DNA (lytic cycle
does not).
Prophage (viral DNA) in the lysogenic cycle is replicated with host DNA/passed on to
daughter cells with host DNA and in the lytic cycle, the viral DNA is replicated independently
of host DNA.
Lytic cycle is generally has a shorter infection phase/the lysogenic cycle (usually) has a longer
infection phase.
In the lysogenic phase of infection, the host cell is not lysed (in the initial stage of
infection)/in the lytic phase the host cell is lysed.

© Richard Scarr & David Faure, InThinking www.thinkib.net/biology

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