ATAR Notes: Forum
Archived Discussion => Written Examinations => 2008 => End-of-year exams => Exam Discussion => Victoria => Biology => Topic started by: Faraz on November 03, 2008, 11:27:10 am
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Okay guys I think it was a hard exam compared to last years, I wasn't happy with many of the questions lack of wording and a incomplete sentence. Also the exam wasnt balanced in my opinion.
I did it all just with 10 mins to spare.
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I think it was easier than last year's in the sense that there was less reading involved to answer the questions.
I was very happy with how I went. I finished, with thorough answers, with about 2-3 minutes to spare. There was one question that I KNEW I got wrong out of pure stupidity, as soon as I walked out - that bit in Question 1 where you had to mark the relative amount of DNA per cell at two different points in the cell cycle. I blanked on the cell cycle for some reason..oh well, it's just one mark, I'm not beating myself up over it! :)
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yeahhh lol I did 2 then to 1 then to 2. I also used pencil through out the Short A :o
How did you with the bomb one??? that got me bad and the first 3 point question was incomplete.
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I had no idea how to do the bomb one. Would anybody be brave enough to go through it? :P I know I did badly, I thought that it was a hard exam but it's ok because Bio is bound to be my last subject anyway so I don't really have anything to lose.
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Bomb question? Someone explain...sounds interesting =P
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Not sure if it was right but for the factors I think I said
- Sailors must've actually had contact with the hydrogen bomb
- Sailors must not have prior history (within the family) of any diseases mutations which could've interfered withe research
I forget the last point I made.
Overall I thought the exam was pretty tough, more so than last years. I finished it, although yeah I found it really hard for time management.
What did people put for the whole "If you were sailor X" blahablh? I mentioned something about it being on homologous chromosomes so it would've been passed onto gametes during meiosis it something. It's such a blur
Yeah wtf dna graph question :o
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Bomb question? Someone explain...sounds interesting =P
It was about mutations that arose after a few years because of close contact with the hydrogen bomb. The question required you to specify factors that might've been used in an experiment for testing the mutations in those who were affected, and how it might've been passed onto the offspring.
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How does everything they went? I thought that the restriction enzymes question in MC and the hydrogen bomb one in short answer were a bit dodgy ???
but everything else was great ;D i thought it was dead easy!
what practise exam do you think prepared you best for this exam??
cant wait for results!
x :smitten:
aim high,touch the sky
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The bomb one - well the first 3 mark section was just testing you on experimental design theory, so I think any 3 reasonable statements would get you the marks. My school's biology teachers were really annoyed with that question because they felt it didn't even relate to biology!
The 2nd part - I felt that both (i) and (ii) had the same idea behind them. You basically had to state that the multiple translocations between different homologous pairs of chromosomes meant that any defective alleles would no longer be masked and would therefore be expressed in the phenotype, hence adversely affecting veteran X's health. As for his offspring - well, similar idea really. When he passes on these chromosomes, these defective alleles will not be matched and masked by healthy ones because of the translocation of the loci.
...And I've forgotten what the last part of the question was!
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third factor: repeat the use of gel electorophoresis to determine if the alleles contains the mutations at least 5 times to get worthy results and thus no contamination of results ??
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Join our discussion about the exam in the Biology sub-section of the 'Exams Discussion', right at the top of the page :)
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Fairly easy exam i thought!
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Fairly easy exam i thought!
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I think those set of questions where fuked up. for the B I said that clearly shown the cross over effect occurred between the 3 pairs not just with its homologous pair and therefore its a form of translocation mutation blah blah for the A I did radioactive radiation is a mutation agent that's all lol.
I was hoping since the question was incomplete I would get full marks ;D. thats the only question I did not do.
I dont like this exam at all I didnt even enjoy the multichoice with I always do. and where the hell was monohybrid or dihybrid crosses what a classic which this exam lacked.
I wanna slap the writer.
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Yeah the bomb question was fucked, because they asked for 'factors to consider' i didn't think they were referring to experimental design. I wrote things such as 'history of genetic disorders'.
You basically had to state that the multiple translocations between different homologous pairs of chromosomes meant that any defective alleles would no longer be masked and would therefore be expressed in the phenotype, hence adversely affecting veteran X's health.
What do you mean by 'no longer be masked'? I just wrote that the fact that there were sections of DNA that had been transfered across chromosomes which were not homologous showed that there had been an induced mutation as that doesn't happen naturally :S Kind of pulled it out of my ass.
I swear to god one of the multiple choice questions involving a pedigree had TWO correct answers. The one which asked which individuals were heterozygous, I-1 and I-4 would both had to be have been heterozygous as their offspring were effected but they were not and it stated the disease was a recessive condition.
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Anyone know the correct answer to the DNA graph? You had to plot B and D or something.
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By 'they can no longer be masked', I mean that because ONE of the genes has moved to another chromosome, the other one is left without a 'partner' allele. Therefore whichever allele that remaining one is, is the one that is going to be expressed in the person's phenotype. It cannot be masked by, say, a dominant, healthy version of that gene. So if this remaining allele is defective - well, the person's health is adversely affected.
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That exam was amazing! I loved it! I think I did better on it than the mid year and I got an A+ on that so.. YAY! and I thought the cell cycle question was very straight forward and the 3 factors I put were:
- Parents medical records
- Also we could test the offspring and when we do we must look at BOTH parents, not just the sailor
- Look at the frequency of the problems the sailors are having and compare with the general population
YAY no more biology!
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Anyone know the correct answer to the DNA graph? You had to plot B and D or something.
I put B at 4 as there had been DNA synthesis and D at 2 because it was after cell division but before DNA synthesis.
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yep bucket I picked that up to but I just put A
I did the graph on as so
2x ------> 1 -------> 2x some people went to 4x which didnt make sense to me I didnt see how it worked 4/2 and 2/1 are the same thing in my opinion
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Yeah it was in arbitrary units anyway, so anything showing that ratio should be correct. They didn't say whether the organism was diploid or haploid .
And yeah in that multi choice i just chose A :S
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wait guys,
what was the answer to the ABO blood group qst, dont know i think 3 and part. dont know....
it was the qst with the like: what would the blood group of _____?? one mark qst.
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ummm I cant remember but I think its was
I(b)i
and I(a)I(b)
I wasnt sure bot the hh I(a)I(b)
I wasnt sure cause was it just asking what it would be since we new hh didnt express it so yeah Im confused...
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Does anybody have any suggested solutions yet? Or even the exam to upload?
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the blood group off hhIAIB?
I put blood type B as the diagram before it showed that the H allele coded for a substrate that was involved in the production of the A antigen, so lack of the H allele meant that A antigen would not be produced.
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wait guys,
what was the answer to the ABO blood group qst, dont know i think 3 and part. dont know....
it was the qst with the like: what would the blood group of _____?? one mark qst.
I said blood group B because hhIAIB would not have produced the A antigen or something. It's probably wrong though. I didn't write the genotype either, since it didn't ask for it specifically.
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I cant remember much but didnt just say that hh didnt express for example such and such.. not hh doesnt express A?
I dunno cause it just asked for the blood group if I remember correctly maybe the hh was just there to confuse not sure.
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I checked that blood group question with my teacher. The correct answer is, hhIAIB produces blood group O, because without the dominant H allele, no blood antigens are made. H is the substrate for the production of these antigens, as the question stated. In that little flow diagram thing, they just used IA as an example representative of both antigens. You had to read what they actually wrote about the function of the H substrate, before that diagram.
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I have the exam with me.
The exact words are:
"H substance is the substrate for the production of the antigens associated with the ABO blood group."
then it has the diagram:
H substance --------------(presence of IA allele)-------------->A antigen is produced.
It clearly shows that without the H substance (ie. hh genotype), the A antigens cannot be produced.
edit* hmm, what your teacher says does make sense.
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I didn't mind this years exam. Was easier than I expected but trial exams always seem to be harder :) but yes, I agree with most people. That bomb question really was a killer
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What about the restriction enzymes one, haha. I sat there for 5 minutes just drawing stupid lines and where they'd cut. I gave up and put A.
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Anyone know the correct answer to the DNA graph? You had to plot B and D or something.
pretty sure b was 4 and d was 2, it was unclear but i though it was refering to 'n' number of chromosomes
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With the question regarding the mother claiming that the boy wasn't her son, what did you guys write?
I wrote that her claim is false because the size of the alleles in the son were exactly the same as that of the mother's, and the fact that the boys sister's allele sizes were a combination of both the mother's and father's alleles suggests that they are found on the X chromosome (the boy only received an X chromosome from his mother which is why they are identical), but I wasn't confident with this because it seemed like too much thinking for only 2 marks.
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What about the restriction enzymes one, haha. I sat there for 5 minutes just drawing stupid lines and where they'd cut. I gave up and put A.
I think the answer was C- 3,5,2
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I said O as the blood group...
and yes C - 3,5,2
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Ekky - C: 3,5,2 is correct :)
With the question regarding the mother claiming that the boy wasn't her son, what did you guys write?
I wrote that her claim is false because the size of the alleles in the son were exactly the same as that of the mother's, and the fact that the boys sister's allele sizes were a combination of both the mother's and father's alleles suggests that they are found on the X chromosome (the boy only received an X chromosome from his mother which is why they are identical), but I wasn't confident with this because it seemed like too much thinking for only 2 marks.
The mother's claim was correct - she was given the wrong baby. You had to check if this baby had inherited alleles from both the mother AND her partner for both gene loci. For the FGA loci, it appeared that he had inherited from both. But if you check the DS (?) locus numbers, the baby did not receive an allele from both his supposed parents. So the baby was not theirs.
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With the question regarding the mother claiming that the boy wasn't her son, what did you guys write?
I wrote that her claim is false because the size of the alleles in the son were exactly the same as that of the mother's, and the fact that the boys sister's allele sizes were a combination of both the mother's and father's alleles suggests that they are found on the X chromosome (the boy only received an X chromosome from his mother which is why they are identical), but I wasn't confident with this because it seemed like too much thinking for only 2 marks.
nah, it wasn't her child
at locus DS the child had the allele variations 11,15
the mother had 11,15
the father had 14,16
because the child gets one allele from each parent the child couldn't have been that mother's given that there were no mutations (and she wasn't sleeping around)
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Yeah i Guessed that one but I also did C 3,5,2
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No I think that just means those genes did not cross over and where the same from the start???
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[/quote]
The mother's claim was correct - she was given the wrong baby. You had to check if this baby had inherited alleles from both the mother AND her partner for both gene loci. For the FGA loci, it appeared that he had inherited from both. But if you check the DS (?) locus numbers, the baby did not receive an allele from both his supposed parents. So the baby was not theirs.
[/quote]
Got that also! :)
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Yeah but as I said, if these alleles were on the X chromosome, the son would only get the X chromosome from his mum as his dad would contribute a Y chromosome, so you would expect them to have identical alleles.
And also as I said, the only reason his sisters have combinations of alleles from both parents is because they get an X chromosome from both parent!
For FGA the baby didn't inherit for both, the mother was 20,20 and so was the baby. And also, what are the chances that the 'wrong' baby would have identical alleles to the mother? :|
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And Homosapiens and Homo afeuraljasda were unable to interbreed because different species?
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Well, after reading this forum i'm fretting haha. I know i definetly got the bomb one wrong I got confused. But i do think that last years was harder than this one. i agree with jl_9i in her reasoning for her claim being correct. bucket, your reasoning i do not understand. haha. um yes overall i think it was a good exam, not easy, but not hard. anyone?
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I know this is probably an easy question but for question 2 in multiple choice. It shows a karyotype.
It asks whether it
a. a male
b. defective allele
c. extra number 13 chromosome
... i can't remember d
do u guys remember what you put?
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yeah I just said they had to much genetic difference for interbreeding to occur or for fertile offspring's be produced
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And Homosapiens and Homo afeuraljasda were unable to interbreed because different species?
i said they had different reproductive structures and 'mating calls' but i was meant to say something smarter i just couldnt think of the word
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Yeah but as I said, if these alleles were on the X chromosome, the son would only get the X chromosome from his mum as his dad would contribute a Y chromosome, so you would expect them to have identical alleles.
And also as I said, the only reason his sisters have combinations of alleles from both parents is because they get an X chromosome from both parent!
For FGA the baby didn't inherit for both, the mother was 20,20 and so was the baby. And also, what are the chances that the 'wrong' baby would have identical alleles to the mother? :|
the child would only have one value for the DS gene than if it was on the x chromosome given that it was male
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I know this is probably an easy question but for question 2 in multiple choice. It shows a karyotype.
It asks whether it
a. a male
b. defective allele
c. extra number 13 chromosome
... i can't remember d
do u guys remember what you put?
i saw a Y chromosome..so i put A
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Lol I dont think hominids used mating calls since they had other forms of communication.
I did that it was a male
the other didnt seem correct to me.
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Yeah but as I said, if these alleles were on the X chromosome, the son would only get the X chromosome from his mum as his dad would contribute a Y chromosome, so you would expect them to have identical alleles.
And also as I said, the only reason his sisters have combinations of alleles from both parents is because they get an X chromosome from both parent!
For FGA the baby didn't inherit for both, the mother was 20,20 and so was the baby. And also, what are the chances that the 'wrong' baby would have identical alleles to the mother? :|
the child would only have one value for the DS gene than if it was on the x chromosome given that it was male
aha shit that's right. hmm so confusing.
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Lol I dont think hominids used mating calls since they had other forms of communication.
lol yeah i really couldnt think of the word. hopefully my difference in reproductive structures will be suffice :)
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Question 6a)
"Scientists select a particular restriction enzyme from an available range, explain the reason for their choice."
I had no idea about this one :P, kind of had a wild guess.
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Question 6a)
"Scientists select a particular restriction enzyme from an available range, explain the reason for their choice."
I had no idea about this one :P, kind of had a wild guess.
Because they needed one that recognized sequences that were common in both individual 1 and 2?
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particular restriction enzyme cuts at specific recognition sites, .... how many marks 2 or one?
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what was the ans to the " what appropriate method would be able to date the frogs?"
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It was really good that the examiners stuck to the stuff that we would have revised: like transcription, translation, replication, also good to see some questions where you have to work out the ratios in the offspring.
Unfortunately that's not the case...
I really bombed out on the bomb question
I put something like, they would have to have to check background radiation that they were exposed to and they would have to check the capability of the nuclear radiation to induce the spontaneous....argh...I stuffed that up hard-core.
Then even the easy questions I stuffed up due to over-concentrating on the ones I was basically guessing at. The RFLP question I knew all along but my answer was really really badly worded. Same with the frog question (what did people say caused their isolation? I said the habitat changes etc. etc.) and for the Neanderthal vs. Homo sapiens I talked about possible gamete mortality; I think they'll accept anything feasable for that (not mating calls though, coz I don't think humans have mating calls). Then the last question, I need to look at that again. I talked a bit about finding fossils of H. sapiens nearby but it wasn't until after the exam that I felt that I could have actually made that answer work. A lot of people I know talked about mtDNA but I thought they meant fossil evidence. Also for the bomb question, a lot of people talked about issues like privacy etc. Is that right or is it more experimental procedure?
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what was the ans to the " what appropriate method would be able to date the frogs?"
I said molecular clock using an amino acid like beta haemoglobin with a steady rate of mutation
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1 mark only.
I wrote something similar to what username said.
what was the ans to the " what appropriate method would be able to date the frogs?"
I wrote use of mtDNA as a molecular clock? LOL totally guessed that one too >.< I did so bad!
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are the frogs still living? i said something about using mitochondrial dna.. but i don't think that's right at all
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Does anyone have any idea how many marks you were able to drop across the two exams to get a 50 last year? Or a 45? Just curious about my chances. My teacher really wants me to hit the high 40s >_< but I'm starting to worry because I've realised 2 marks' worth of mistakes already. And probably a LOT of bad wording too.
What appropriate method for the frogs - I put comparing the number of base differences between the frogs' DNA (more differences=they have been diverged for a longer period of time). Something like that, I can't remember my exact wording. DNA hybridisation in other words.
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Question 6a)
"Scientists select a particular restriction enzyme from an available range, explain the reason for their choice."
I had no idea about this one :P, kind of had a wild guess.
Because they needed one that recognized sequences that were common in both individual 1 and 2?
I said something along the lines of they needed restriction enzymes that would cut differently for the different alleles so you could carry out an RFLP analysis (remember you need polymorphism in the restriction fragment lengths) but I worded it awfully, possibly worst wording I've ever put for an answer...why did I pick bio when I'm better at maths I do not know
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what was the ans to the " what appropriate method would be able to date the frogs?"
I said molecular clock using an amino acid like beta haemoglobin with a steady rate of mutation
I said DNA-DNA Hybridisation
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who hates this EXAM ??
if so we should have a thread like the connex thread!!
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b
what was the ans to the " what appropriate method would be able to date the frogs?"
I said molecular clock using an amino acid like beta haemoglobin with a steady rate of mutation
I said DNA-DNA Hybridisation
but i thought that dna hybridisation would give an indication of how closely related they are. but wouldnt give like a time estimate? coz dna's mutation rate isnt as blah blah and such i dunno
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^ The greater the difference in number of base pairs between the two species, the longer they have been diverged for, i.e. evolving separately.
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^ The greater the difference in number of base pairs between the two species, the longer they have been diverged for, i.e. evolving separately.
That was my reasoning
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but it asked like a date that they diverged or whatever
seeing as tho mdna has a known mutation rate, then it would be able to determine a date..
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(what did people say caused their isolation? I said the habitat changes etc. etc.)
I wrote that it was just the different climates which acted as a physical barrier as they would present different selection pressures.
and for the Neanderthal vs. Homo sapiens I talked about possible gamete mortality;
I wrote exactly that.
Then the last question, I need to look at that again. I talked a bit about finding fossils of H. sapiens nearby but it wasn't until after the exam that I felt that I could have actually made that answer work. A lot of people I know talked about mtDNA but I thought they meant fossil evidence.
I thought fossil evidence too, for a new smaller skulled species I just wrote that the fact the skull was small suggested this, for the other one, the mutation, I wrote that Homo sapiens were alive in the same time period so it is possible that there was a mutation.
but it asked like a date that they diverged or whatever
seeing as tho mdna has a known mutation rate, then it would be able to determine a date..
This is what I was thinking when I answered that question.
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About the frogs - it was just asking how they can 'roughly estimate a date', like not a SPECIFIC date. Just a rough timeframe. It's nearly impossible to determine a precise date.
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When do the awnsers get put on the vcaa wedsite?
Cheers
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About the frogs - it was just asking how they can 'roughly estimate a date', like not a SPECIFIC date. Just a rough timeframe. It's nearly impossible to determine a precise date.
yeah and mt dna would give you a closer rough estimate of the date, then dna hybridisation coz they don't know the mutation rate and all that crossing over business.
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About the frogs - it was just asking how they can 'roughly estimate a date', like not a SPECIFIC date. Just a rough timeframe. It's nearly impossible to determine a precise date.
Yes
My reasoning tho was that DNA-DNA hybridisation gives you a measure of how related they are but I haven't seen NoB directly use the results like a molecular clock.
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About the frogs - it was just asking how they can 'roughly estimate a date', like not a SPECIFIC date. Just a rough timeframe. It's nearly impossible to determine a precise date.
yeah and mt dna would give you a closer rough estimate of the date, then dna hybridisation coz they don't know the mutation rate and all that crossing over business.
Yeah exactly, the mutation of nuclear DNA is more random.
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That said, I wasn't sure whether the beta chain of haemoglobin would change significantly in that time. Hopefully they accept it, mtDNA would have been better I guess.
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Mmm, unlike the other geniuses in this forum, I thought that the exam was hard. I am pretty sure I've lost more than 5 marks :s. There goes my dreams of an A+ :P
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I really hope that the A+ marks is lower than 55/75...I'm just thinking about how poorly I answered the easier questions
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Mmm, unlike the other geniuses in this forum, I thought that the exam was hard. I am pretty sure I've lost more than 5 marks :s. There goes my dreams of an A+ :P
:( have faith
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If anyone has a copy can they post it up?
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but considering on the mid year to get an a+ you could lose 12.5 marks..
on this exam being harder, you can probably lose more :)
a+ isn't out of reach for you dude
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Hopefully I sooo want an A and above, just gonna hope for the best I did the hard work couldnt have done it any other way :angel:
And I wish everyone the best luck HOPE you all get what u deserve :)
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Lol thanks, I'll stay positive I guess :P
Uhm, I have a copy of the exam, do you think it will be worth it if I scan every page and put it up? :S
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Lol thanks, I'll stay positive I guess :P
Uhm, I have a copy of the exam, do you think it will be worth it if I scan every page and put it up? :S
I would be inclined to say yes :)
*please
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how many marks was the bomb question worth?
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8 or 9 i think
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how many marks was the bomb question worth?
8 I believe.
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altogether, 8. The first part which was the weird question was worth 3.
and I'll get to uploading :P
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ah yes, well i've definetly lost 8 marks lol hooray.. :(
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8...............
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Lets just hope everyone else did a shitass job.
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altogether, 8. The first part which was the weird question was worth 3.
and I'll get to uploading :P
Oh aren't you nice?! I wish you many A+'s
(OMG thanks for my first Karma!!)
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For the different interpretations of the hominin evolutionary line I said there is a lack of transitional fossils but I forgot to say the fossil record was incomplete...
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oh man, i said something about being differences in interpretation of fossils.. oh i royally f'd up this exam
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Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
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For the different interpretations of the hominin evolutionary line I said there is a lack of transitional fossils but I forgot to say the fossil record was incomplete...
Not sure if this is what it is but I said different evolution theories like out of africa or regional continuity hypothesis or somethin'.
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Yeah, same lol.
For the cactus question I wrote that there are very few fossils as they form more readily in aquatic environments... and mentioned that the cactus lived in the desert... lol
For the different interpretations of the hominin evolutionary line I said there is a lack of transitional fossils but I forgot to say the fossil record was incomplete...
Not sure if this is what it is but I said different evolution theories like out of africa or regional continuity hypothesis or somethin'.
I wrote that they can't determine the actual relationships between the species so it's open to interpretation..shit answer :S
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Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
I said that too. I also included the fact that they died in open environments with oxygen and for fossils to form there needs to be alkaline conditions.
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oh man, i said something about being differences in interpretation of fossils.. oh i royally f'd up this exam
that's what i said lol
Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
I said cos they are "fleshy"- soft things don't fossilise as well?
That is, if fleshy means soft
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hey is bateria a vector? I was gonna write plasmids but i don't know why i didn't my brain just went stupid.
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For the different interpretations of the hominin evolutionary line I said there is a lack of transitional fossils but I forgot to say the fossil record was incomplete...
Not sure if this is what it is but I said different evolution theories like out of africa or regional continuity hypothesis or somethin'.
That's only for Homo sapiens...regional continuity holds that all Homo sapiens evolved from preexisting H. erectus populations. It wouldn't explain things like why Model A reckoned Homo habilis was not a direct ancestor of H. sapiens etc.
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hey is bateria a vector? I was gonna write plasmids but i don't know why i didn't my brain just went stupid.
I put a retrovirus I think
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oh man, i said something about being differences in interpretation of fossils.. oh i royally f'd up this exam
that's what i said lol
Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
I said cos they are "fleshy"- soft things don't fossilise as well?
That is, if fleshy means soft
Oh yeah, that would have probably been a better explanation, but the examiners would have to be really tight if they don't accept the fact that they weren't rapidly buried in sediment (although I was thinking whether sand would work or not...)
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oh man, i said something about being differences in interpretation of fossils.. oh i royally f'd up this exam
Yeah...i hope they're not tight...i think it might work with sand- i've seen some examples where there was random sand in the diagram..
that's what i said lol
Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
I said cos they are "fleshy"- soft things don't fossilise as well?
That is, if fleshy means soft
Oh yeah, that would have probably been a better explanation, but the examiners would have to be really tight if they don't accept the fact that they weren't rapidly buried in sediment (although I was thinking whether sand would work or not...)
I hope they're not tight this year....i think it would work for sand- i've seem some diagrams with random sand in the middle..
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Also, what did people put for the 1999 multiple organ failure (Jesse Gelsinger)? I'd read about this mind blanked during the exam...
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Also, what did people put for the 1999 multiple organ failure (Jesse Gelsinger)? I'd read about this mind blanked during the exam...
dunno if this is right...
I said a cancer gene was activated and it spread rapidly to other organs causing their failure...lol
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i guessed this, but i said they inserted the gene too closely to another gene and activated it and this gene expression resulted in ummmm multiple organ failure
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oh man, i said something about being differences in interpretation of fossils.. oh i royally f'd up this exam
Yeah...i hope they're not tight...i think it might work with sand- i've seen some examples where there was random sand in the diagram..
that's what i said lol
Also...for the question on cactus I said that they aren't rapidly buried with sediment and it's a warm climate hence they decompose quickly. Do you think that'll be right??
It's amazing, I studied 4 times more for this exam than the last one but I came out 4 times feeling worse...
I said cos they are "fleshy"- soft things don't fossilise as well?
That is, if fleshy means soft
Oh yeah, that would have probably been a better explanation, but the examiners would have to be really tight if they don't accept the fact that they weren't rapidly buried in sediment (although I was thinking whether sand would work or not...)
I hope they're not tight this year....i think it would work for sand- i've seem some diagrams with random sand in the middle..
Oh....there goes another one then....
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If the virus was used as a vector, it could have caused a disease resulting in death?
This was ANOTHER hard one =_=
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If the virus was used as a vector, it could have caused a disease resulting in death?
This was ANOTHER hard one =_=
Not if it's infective material and stuff were taken out first.
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If the virus was used as a vector, it could have caused a disease resulting in death?
This was ANOTHER hard one =_=
Yes! i had thought of that too...like if they made a mistake and didn't take out the disease causing part of it..
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The true reason I think was that there was an unexpected rapid immune response to the virus. However, I do not think they would want us to know that. I put something random about the gene becoming integrated in between an existing gene and possibly causing that vital gene to lose function. It's not correct, I don't know whether it'll hold with them...
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The true reason I think was that there was an unexpected rapid immune response to the virus. However, I do not think they would want us to know that. I put something random about the gene becoming integrated in between an existing gene and possibly causing that vital gene to lose function. It's not correct, I don't know whether it'll hold with them...
How would the immune system cause organ failure..?
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maybe the immune disease, meant the body didn't recognise self as self.. and failed it.. lol
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maybe the immune disease, meant the body didn't recognise self as self.. and failed it.. lol
ah....but how would the virus cause that i wonder?
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I found it really easy!! Hopefully thats not a bad thing. Everything I crammed yesterday seemed to pop up in one way or another.
The M/C was SOOOOOO easy. Finished in like 15mins.
Short answer, a couple of tricky ones, but very easy I thought. Finished with 20 to go :)
What did everyone write for the 3 considerations for the experiement question about the bombs?
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well thanks for freaking out all the people who thought it was hard!!
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well thanks for freaking out all the people who thought it was hard!!
ditto lol!
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i think ppl r just being padantic, it was a fairly easy exam in comparison to some trial exams.
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or maybe people truthfully thought it was difficult and you're just a smarty pants!
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You basically had to state that the multiple translocations between different homologous pairs of chromosomes meant that any defective alleles would no longer be masked and would therefore be expressed in the phenotype, hence adversely affecting veteran X's health. As for his offspring - well, similar idea really.
That's interesting, not at all what I put. I thought the molecular basis of 'masking' dominant/recessive was basically that a recessive phenotype is based on little-no protein product and a dominant one is where within the heterozygote there is enough protein being produced. Hence if both alleles were present somewhere on the chromosomes it would still work as per normal (remember Robertsonian Down Syndrome). I said something about the translocation possibly breaking up genes and hence affecting the genotype and the phenotype. However I think the key-point was that there was exchange of genetic material between non-homologous chromosomes and the only process that could have caused this is mutation...
But anywayz...
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You basically had to state that the multiple translocations between different homologous pairs of chromosomes meant that any defective alleles would no longer be masked and would therefore be expressed in the phenotype, hence adversely affecting veteran X's health. As for his offspring - well, similar idea really.
That's interesting, not at all what I put. I thought the molecular basis of 'masking' dominant/recessive was basically that a recessive phenotype is based on little-no protein product and a dominant one is where within the heterozygote there is enough protein being produced. Hence if both alleles were present somewhere on the chromosomes it would still work as per normal (remember Robertsonian Down Syndrome). I said something about the translocation possibly breaking up genes and hence affecting the genotype and the phenotype. However I think the key-point was that there was exchange of genetic material between non-homologous chromosomes and the only process that could have caused this is mutation...
But anywayz...
Yes i put the breaking up of genes as well..
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did it specify that there were non homologus, i got confused, i don't think i read the questions properly... coz i thought they were and then i was gonna say the thing about exchanging material could only happen thougth mutatitons, but then i read something about them being homologus, so i put some totally whack answer down
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I said a plasimid for the vector.
I was a bit unsure with the bomb question, I put for the 3 things to consider, what is a independant variable, what is the dependant variable and what is the control, and how this related back to the question. Took a random stab at this one, probably wrong though!
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i think ppl r just being padantic, it was a fairly easy exam in comparison to some trial exams.
I thought it was easy compared to the trial exams I did. I probably wont ace it, but I dont think I did badly! --- but we shall see. Im not taking it as a good thing that I thought it was easy!
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I said a plasimid for the vector.
I was a bit unsure with the bomb question, I put for the 3 things to consider, what is a independant variable, what is the dependant variable and what is the control, and how this related back to the question. Took a random stab at this one, probably wrong though!
That's the sort of direction I was getting at however I completely muddled my thoughts. I did put a control however. But yeah I think that's what they were looking for because while nuclear radiation etc. is not really part of the study design, you are expected to know the key skills including experimental design in both semesters.
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man i had no clue what i was writing for that questions, i just said really random things, maybe ill scrape a one mark for that question
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That's the sort of direction I was getting at however I completely muddled my thoughts. I did put a control however. But yeah I think that's what they were looking for because while nuclear radiation etc. is not really part of the study design, you are expected to know the key skills including experimental design in both semesters.
[/quote]
Thank-god. I read over notes from a lecture, the guy stressed that we needed to know the experimental design stuff. Hopefully its all right!
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Btw, for the question with relative amounts of DNA, do you think they would accept 2 --> 1 or should it just be 4 --> 2?
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I think both will be acceptable.
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I did 4 ---> 2.
In relation to the 'n'.
Because at the start of mitosis, chromosomes are doubled = 4n
Then at the end of anaphase, they are halfed as they seperate = 2n.
Depends on how you interpret it. Maybe ratios will be fine, hard to tell!
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I AM SO GLAD BIOLOGY IS OVER!!!
and i found the exam REALLY REALLY HARD, i think i would be lucky to get a C in it!!!!!!!!!!!
i didnt answer all the questions, i just had no idea! especially with the new zealand veterans one WHAT THE HELL??
so right now i dont even think ill get a study score over 30!!! i screwed that exam up!!!!!!!
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MC was okay
Short answer was tough IMO.
Off to commit suicide now. Fkn Bio
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What did people put for the last question??? i cant really even remember what it was... something about providing evidence to support 2 different explanations about hobbits origin or something like that. I've gone blank can anyone remember???
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i would say the general response from people is that it was sorta hard, with the exception of the terribly smart, so i'd say standardisation will be of great benefit to us :) don't worry.. i'm sure you've done fine
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Yes, feeling of some relief, although I didn't mention water. Found this on what seems like a good source:
http://www.labs.agilent.com/botany/cacti_etc/html/evolution.html
"Since the major processes of fossilization
generally require sedimentation of mineral materials over
vegetative/floral materials, you can realize very quickly that with
even a hypothetical [xerophytic] ancestor to the cacti (perhaps
Pereskia-like in appearance), the environmental factors that favor
fossil preservation (save for amber entombment) would have been an
unlikely combination of cacti and ample water for sedimentation.
Thus the fossil record for cacti is poor, or in fact absent."
Although my response wasn't so comprehensive as that....
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What did people put for the last question??? i cant really even remember what it was... something about providing evidence to support 2 different explanations about hobbits origin or something like that. I've gone blank can anyone remember???
One of the theories was about the hobbits being humans that had a disease which resulted in stunted growth
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i hope everyone in the state did shit like me!!!
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i just wrote a general answer about cactus not being in a suitable environment for fossilisation allowing decomposers and stuff.. how much was that question out of?
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im so stupid, i crapped up the first question i circled 22 autosomes instead of 44 autosomes. garrrr!
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im so stupid, i crapped up the first question i circled 22 autosomes instead of 44 autosomes. garrrr!
I'm pretty sure it wasn't an uncommon mistake...:)
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Pretty annoyed coz with the Hobbit vs. Sapiens question I thought they wanted fossil evidence, but it just says evidence, so I could have put mtDNA evidence as to the point of divergence. Pretty annoyed with myself now...
And the beta haemoglobin molecular clock thing probably won't work either...
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Pretty annoyed coz with the Hobbit vs. Sapiens question I thought they wanted fossil evidence, but it just says evidence, so I could have put mtDNA evidence as to the point of divergence. Pretty annoyed with myself now...
And the beta haemoglobin molecular clock thing probably won't work either...
oh dear...same mistake as you...
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Argh I can't believe I wrote 22 for the first MC, instead of 44.
Also, could you have said lysosome for the vector question?
Meh doesn't matter, I left so many parts blank. Screwed.
What SS could I get with A+ midyear and like a C on the end of year?
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Also, could you have said lysosome for the vector question?
A liposome should have got the mark...
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Yeh that's what I meant.... Ok not really haha I wrote the wrong word. I am an idiot.
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haha don't be too hard on yourself, if i had even thought about liposome i'm sure i would have wrote lysosome aswell lol
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I stuffed up that exam so bad, had no idea what to write for the bomb question. What three factors scientists needed to consider. I blanked out and just wrote what ever came into my head. Most of it was psychology stuff so i just rambled on about confidentiality, informed consent, participation....... LOL
0 marks here I come
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^ Don't worry too much about that first bomb question. Both my school's bio teachers were bitching about that question straight after the exam! We all came to the consensus that basically - most reasonable answers will be accepted.
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^ Don't worry too much about that first bomb question. Both my school's bio teachers were bitching about that question straight after the exam! We all came to the consensus that basically - most reasonable answers will be accepted.
Were you teachers 100% absolutely sure they were looking for experimental design stuff such as control, experimental group etc though? My teacher had a conflicting opinion and said that it sounded more like the things they might've considered like past history of mutations and stuff.
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lol i came out thinking wow that was easier than i expected... i then went to my teacher with the spare book i got and we figured out the answers to the MC and some of the SA.... i haver either 20 or 21 out of 25... a few of the quetsions were very ambiguous. with the one about PKU (questions 13 and 14) my teahcer n i weren't sure. for 14 it said:
the chance that individual III-3 was Pp with regard to the PKU locus is:
A. 1/3
B. 1/2
C. 2/3
D. 3/4
I chose C because on the pedigree it already shows that he doesn't have PKU so he can't be pp so its only out of 3 not 4.
I then did a punnet square and crossed out the pp and the double checked that there was only 2 Pp's. So i got 2/3. My teacher reckons it could of been 1/2 or 2/3 lol.
I stuffed up majorly on Q4 (SA) (the bomb one) lol... its good if everyone stuffs it up. lol.
Aimee :)
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i agree on the past history stuff. the question stated to consider factors while designing the experement. this had to have meant genetic pre dispositions and the like.
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Sorry I don't think I expressed myself too well when I said what I thought the question was about! No, I didn't mean control, experimental group etc. - although those are things I believe would be accepted in the mix. My answer had more to do about what your teachers thought - mutations, genetic history of the family, other factors etc.
*Edit: Saraime2003 - I put 2/3 for that question too :) I think it's right, because we already know that the individual was expressing the dominant phenotype. Therefore we remove the chance of him being pp.
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Sorry I don't think I expressed myself too well when I said what I thought the question was about! No, I didn't mean control, experimental group etc. - although those are things I believe would be accepted in the mix. My answer had more to do about what your teachers thought - mutations, genetic history of the family, other factors etc.
*Edit: Saraime2003 - I put 2/3 for that question too :) I think it's right, because we already know that the individual was expressing the dominant phenotype. Therefore we remove the chance of him being pp.
Exxxxcellenntttt. Thanks JL, you're one smart cookie.
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one would think the writing of the exams would gradually get better.
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one would think the writing of the exams would gradually get better.
Guess they're wrong .
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Biol joke to lighten the mood:
If i could be an enzyme, Id wanna be a DNA Helicase so i could unzip your genes.
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Biol joke to lighten the mood:
If i could be an enzyme, Id wanna be a DNA Helicase so i could unzip your genes.
LOL that's so bad it's good XD
I should share some of my biology teacher's quotable quotes. He is the KING when it comes to those.
"One person's peas are another's fun!" (when we were studying Mendel's experiments)
"It's a doozy!" (in reference to everything good, tough, or just plain funny, that we came across)
"Don't think about too much!" (when he was wishing us good luck for our mid year exam)
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Do you guys reckon, since majority have found this exam quite difficult, that Biology won't go down this year (cuz of the easiness of the midyear), or stay the same?
In other words, do you reckon it'll still go up by 1?
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Well from looking at the scaling from previous years, it generally goes up. So I don't expect that to change to something like, say, Psych, where if you get anything 45 or under, you get scaled down. I sure hope it doesn't go down!
What do you all think it will take to get a 50? I heard about some guy in 2006 who got a 50 with full marks on his SACs (after scaling), 63/75 on exam 1 and 72/75 on exam 2. I don't know how 'difficult' 2006 was though...
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Wasn't 06 considered really easy, but 07 extremely hard? I think for a 50 you'd want A+ across all three GAs and losing no more than 5 marks on both exams (together, without doubling). I read somewhere on another board (can't remember which) that someone lost 5 marks and still got 50. Unsure about sacs but I'm guessing you'd want as high as possible.
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I have no idea about 06. But those are the marks that guy got for a 50 - he posted them on BoS to answer someone's question about getting a 50.
07..the end of year was tough for sure - way too much reading required to answer the q's.
Do you mean that person lost 5 marks on one exam, or 5 marks across both exams, to get a 50? And was that 07?
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Ha I think we're talking about the same dude on BoS. He lost 5 across both exams though, pretty sure (but you might want to double check). I'm not sure what year though, sorryy. Y'aiming for a 50?
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I'll copy and paste his exact comment from BoS:
"haha 2006. what a year
these scores got me 50 in '06-
GA1 (exam 1) - 126/150
GA2 (SACs) - 200/200
GA3 (exam 2) - 144/150
not as high as you'd think huh! hope that helps"
..well, to answer your question, no I'm not specifically aiming for a 50, although of course it would be great XD My teacher really wants me to hit the high 40s, and personally I'm aiming for 45+ but my gut feeling is I won't get it lol.
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lol, 126/150 is in reach :)...but 2006 midyear was the first in a new study design and was considered really hard. Also, that guy was dux of MHS last year...
I think (hope) A+ is around 110/150, and two st. devs of the mean is around 130/135...
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God, that exam was horrid. I mean, it didn't give us an opportunity to show off what we know. The questions were poorly-worded and dodgy. I am pretty mad - I did 27 practice exams in preparations for this examination, and also made notes and that, and I feel like most of it was for squat. Anyone agree with me?
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hey is bateria a vector? I was gonna write plasmids but i don't know why i didn't my brain just went stupid.
i put virus for vector - think that's alright?
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Virus is one type. Other options include a plasmid (I put this one) or a liposome..I may have missed some.
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So many posts...
I'll just reply to one :P.
Virus is one type. Other options include a plasmid (I put this one) or a liposome..I may have missed some.
Woo yay, I wrote liposome.
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i THOUGHT THE RXAM WAS RELATIVRELY EASY - WHAT DO YOU THINK???
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lol, 126/150 is in reach :)...but 2006 midyear was the first in a new study design and was considered really hard. Also, that guy was dux of MHS last year...
I think (hope) A+ is around 110/150, and two st. devs of the mean is around 130/135...
Hells yes that sounds good..
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^^^
Wow. So a 73% is an A+ or thereabouts!
There is hope for me yet!
What would you say would be an SS of B+/A/A or even b+/A/A+??
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i thought the exam was pretty hard :|
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i thought the exam was pretty hard :|
yeah i found it harder than trial exams. it was so random compared to the others! so much more focus on evolution.. and so little on like pedigrees, pcr, electrophoresis, dna hybridization etc. ALL THE THINGS I STUDIED IN DETAIL D=< *jawdrop.
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to put it simply - i HATED this exam.
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Ok, I finally feel calm enough to talk about the exam: I hated it. In the two weeks leading up to the exam, I did more than 25 past and practice exams, scoring A+'s on all the past ones back to 2002. I went to a revision lecture at monash, and the revision night at school, read checkpoints and two different textbooks compulsively(doing ALL review questions from both textbooks), wrote my own notes, read other peoples notes, listened to Douchy's biology podcasts and I really was not ready for this exam. The short answer was a massive departure from all previous exams, both in content and structure, I was in shock when I saw it. I answered everything in good time, but I could have sat there for hours and still not honestly believed what I wrote were acceptable answers. Some questions were simply terrible, such as question 4 in the short answer. After an A+ on the midyear, and being ranked first for outcomes in my school, I can honestly not see myself getting higher than a B on this exam. Why did VCAA have to change it so much? Surely after last years pseudogenes debacle, they would have been tentative about any major changes. That said, I found the multiple choice fine, maybe droppeed 2 or 3 marks, but any chance I had of a 40 was lost in the short answer.
Wow, I feel better after venting that.
PS: I'd like to thank those of you who uploaded all those praqctice exams, really appreciate it.
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wow, it makes me feel better to know im not the only one who hated this exam, especially because youre a top student!
i myself am not the best at biology, its probably my worst subject, i got a c+ on the mid year, but this time i did heaps of revision i went to lectures i made millions of notes, and i felt it was just a waste.
but i hope you get your 40 cos you clearly deserve it, and i hope that everyone did bad so vcaa can get a little wake up call!!! i only hope we all did bad so they would mark easier or something!!! but that exam was shit!!!!
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Jesus, your not talking about me are you? Not even my parents are that nice! :) I'm with you on the whole "hoping everyone does bad thing", as thats the only way I can see myself doing as well as I hoped going into the exam. I'm not sure how VCAA will respond everyone scoring lower, their new thing for bio seems to be put in analysis type questions (pseudogenes last year, sailors this year), I just hope they opt for more straightforward analysis questions. Either way, I hope you do well, my bio teacher reminded us all year that its the kids who do more work, not necessarily the smarter ones, who do well in bio. December 15 seems ages, but at least I've got meaningless year 11 exams to distract me :). Goodluck to everyone else here, hope you found it easier than me.