After the EXAM (feedback)

[Faraz]

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.

[JL_91]

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!

[Faraz]

yeahhh lol I did 2 then to 1 then to 2. I also used pencil through out the Short A 


How did you with the bomb one??? that got me bad and the first 3 point question was incomplete.

[Survivor]

I had no idea how to do the bomb one. Would anybody be brave enough to go through it? 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.

[shinny]

Bomb question? Someone explain...sounds interesting =P

[username]

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

[username]

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.

[courtney14]

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 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

[JL_91]

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!

[lacoste]

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 ??

[JL_91]

Join our discussion about the exam in the Biology sub-section of the 'Exams Discussion', right at the top of the page

[toomoo]

Fairly easy exam i thought!

[username]

Fairly easy exam i thought!

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[Faraz]

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  . 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.

[bucket]

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.