HSC Biology Question Thread

[studybuddy7777]

Hey!
For example it would be a four mark question, and 2 of the marks were allocated to an example... but the question never said provide or give an example.
There was also a two marker in trials about "IDENTIFYING" Darwins impact on evolution or something, and i talked about natural selection and survival of the fiitest blah blah blah, yet i only got one mark because i didnt mention his journey/ work with the darwin finches. Like i knew  what that was, but i didnt think it was neccessary for a two mark identify question.
Does that make sense? hahaha

Was this the question?

Question 27 (5 marks)
a) Outline the contributions of Charles Darwin to the theory of evolution. (2)

or this one?

Question 27 (5 marks)
a) Identify such a scientist and their theory of evolution (2)

In the case of the second one, you could basically draw up a table saying

"Scientist" (Darwin/Wallace or Lamarck or Gould) and "Theory of Evolution" (Evolution by Natural Selection or Acquired characterisitcs or punctuated equilibrium)

To be safe for D/W you could say, his work with his finches on the galapagos islands led to him producing the "origins of species" reporting his findings in 1850. This led to the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Could you please explain the question where you "lost marks for things you didnt know you needed?"

Thanks and hope this helps

[Justina Shehata]

If your eyeball is elongated the the refractive powers of the relaxed lens would not be sufficient to refract the light into the retina but just in front of it (the lens is only part of the eyeball) and thus causing the image to be blurry when light from an object enters the eye from a far distance which I known as myopia (short-sightedness)
When dealing to looking at objects close up and far away it is actually the lens that changes shape not the eyeball. This is known as Accommodation
When an object is closer, the light scatters more from that object, hence the ciliary body contracts which causes the suspensory ligaments to loosen and thus cause the lens to increase in curvature and achieving maximum accommodation.
When an object is further away, the light from the objects are more parallel, therefore the ciliary body relaxes, causing the suspensory ligaments to tighten and thus decreasing the curvature of the eye and minimum accommodation.

Hope this helps

Thank you so much! This was very helpful!

[Skidous]

I'm still confused on the phloem part. Is sugar still being moved in step 3? In step 2 the sugars are already actively transported to the areas of the plant where they are needed. Shouldn't the theory end here?

No as the sugar is describing how it enters one sink not other sinks

Hmm I'm not excellent at Biology, but isn't the pressure flow theory a continuous process in the plant? Sugar is still being continuously added and removed, which also affects the water pressure

Yes that is correct, this process is ongoing as sugar enters one sink, another is produced and sugar is added to the source and is constantly flowed throughout the organism. Similar to human blood, your blood doesn't stop flowing when it has dropped off its products and taken the waste, the blood is flowed through the rest of your body back towards the heart and excretory organs and the lungs etc.

So it doesn't end at one step it's a process
Step two is the Source of the sugars, step 2 is sugar in those sinks and step 3 involves the movement of said sugars from the sources to the sinks

[Nialllovespie]

Does anyone have any Maintaining A Balance HSC exam questions or practice papers?

Also,
Any tips for how to prepare for/do well in a biology practical Assessment task?

Thank you!!

Moderator Action: Merged topic with the question thread to make it easier for all bio students to access the information. Please post any more questions you may have to this thread, we're always happy to help here

[studybuddy7777]

Does anyone have any Maintaining A Balance HSC exam questions or practice papers?

Also,
Any tips for how to prepare for/do well in a biology practical Assessment task?

Thank you!!

Hey Niall,

I'm assuming you are a HSC 2017 student?

Firstly, I will upload (soon) a topic guide for all HSC's 2001-2015 so you will be able to see what questions are applicable for the Maintaining A Balance module.

Secondly, you probably already know that you can find all past HSC exams for Bio on the BOSTES website, but are you aware you can look at past/exemplar responses? Look through these and distinguish what the difference is between a Band 4/5 and a Band 5/6.

Best of luck and for the practical assessment just make sure to control all variables and just get familiar with practical (first hand investigations)

Hope i helped!

Moderator Action: Merged topic with the question thread to make it easier for all bio students to access the information

[Skidous]

Does anyone have any Maintaining A Balance HSC exam questions or practice papers?

Also,
Any tips for how to prepare for/do well in a biology practical Assessment task?

Thank you!!

Hi there,

For the practical task there are 2 things you will need to do to prepare
1: Know how to perform the practical task - This may be a no brainer to some but it would be wise to have a practical written up as if you were doing the experiment yourself (aim, hypothesis, equipment/aparatus, variables, safety, method, results (or expected results), discussion[validity, reliability and accuracy]) and then make sure that when you get into the assessment room you perform the experiment quickly as there will more than likely be written questions about the prac and about other information which brings me to the next thing

2: Know background information about your prac - I assume that this task will be an enzyme prac, so you should try to know background information about the enzyme you're using, the substrate it reacts to along with the theories behind enzyme-substrate interactions (Lock and Key Model and the Induced Fit Model) and other things about what the enzyme is, what happens to the enzymes when they are outside their specific optimum ranges (for temperature and pH which you should know for that specific enzyme that is being used in the experiment), the role of enzymes in homeostasis and then any information that could assist with answering short answer questions in the exam

In the exam room, time is of the essence so you'll need to manage your time and wanting to get the experiment done quickly and efficiently (you wanna get 2 trials of the experiment done, maybe 3 if you're lucky) and even if you only get one trial done or the results contradict the theory, state that in your short answers and relate it back to the validity, reliability and accuracy of your experiment. Then you will need to be managing your time well in the short answers so you have time to look over the experiment and any of the short answers that may be wrong.

Don't forget to check the back page of the exam in case you may have missed a question which you don't want

Hope this Helps

Moderator Action: Merged topic with the question thread to make it easier for all bio students to access the information

[lha]

For this question (5 marks):

Explain the relationship between replication of DNA and evolution.


Do I have to describe the process of DNA replication (helicase etc.) or no?

[Skidous]

For this question (5 marks):

Explain the relationship between replication of DNA and evolution.


Do I have to describe the process of DNA replication (helicase etc.) or no?

You would probably refer to some of the DNA replication process but then link that to the meiosis process because it talks about DNA and evolution

[imtrying]

Hey:)
So I was just doing a past paper where it said that Mendel's monohybrid cross was of tall pea plants x short pea plants. we were always taught that it was smooth peas x wrinkled peas. if i were to get a question that didnt specify what cross mendel did, and asked me to outline his experiment, what should i do? is it ok to just go with what i was originally taught?

[aimbotted]

You would probably refer to some of the DNA replication process but then link that to the meiosis process because it talks about DNA and evolution

hmm would you not talk about evolution as in mutations which changes the dna, which then gets replicated aswell?

[lha]

hmm would you not talk about evolution as in mutations which changes the dna, which then gets replicated aswell?

Yeah thats what i thought... but also, why would you talk about meiosis? Its asking about dna replication, not just dna itself

[Skidous]

hmm would you not talk about evolution as in mutations which changes the dna, which then gets replicated aswell?

Yes you are also correct with that knowledge but you would then need to link that to the replication process AND explain how some mutations are not always beneficial

[Skidous]

Hey:)
So I was just doing a past paper where it said that Mendel's monohybrid cross was of tall pea plants x short pea plants. we were always taught that it was smooth peas x wrinkled peas. if i were to get a question that didnt specify what cross mendel did, and asked me to outline his experiment, what should i do? is it ok to just go with what i was originally taught?

Mendel actually did several experiments not just those 2. They were
Pea Shape (smooth or wrinkled)
Pea Colour (yellow and green)
Pea Pod Colour (Yellow and green)
Pea Pod Shape (Smooth or constricted)
Stem Length (tall or short)
Flower Colour (white or pink)
Pea/Flower (not too sure of which one) positioning (Axial [along the whole stem] or Terminal [just the top])

If asked to outline his experiment you would choose on of the traits, preferably the one you know the best. Then proceed to describe the experiment. Always do what you know best if it was what you were taught. You don't need to stress about knowing all 7 traits but knowing the experiment and knowing which trait was dominant and recessive should suffice.

Hope this helps

[Skidous]

Yeah thats what i thought... but also, why would you talk about meiosis? Its asking about dna replication, not just dna itself

Before meiosis takes place, the DNA replicated within the cells to produce the increased number of chromosomes within the nucleus before the meiosis begins, hence why you can talk about it and you can then talk about the different types of alleles that are made and how those are then replicated to promote variations and therefore evolution

[lha]

Before meiosis takes place, the DNA replicated within the cells to produce the increased number of chromosomes within the nucleus before the meiosis begins, hence why you can talk about it and you can then talk about the different types of alleles that are made and how those are then replicated to promote variations and therefore evolution

Ohh thanks!