***2015 LC Biology - All levels - June 9th***

AulBiddy

Bah_Humbug wrote:

So Q 5 (a) says determine the conc. of the potato cells, which is grand, but on our paper it said something like "determine the concentration of the solution" and then our examiner said there was a mistake and told us to write in "at the start of the experiment" which made no sense. Just wondering did this happen in all exam centres??

Happened in mine. I don't think it would have made a difference! There was definitely a mistake on the first question.

Galbin

*Higher Level Paper*

I am an adult with two degrees, but went back to do a science subject. Well, this was without a doubt the *worst* exam of my life. I studied so hard. I literally have had no weekends for months. I am a sensitive soul, so actually cried during the exam. I truly couldn't believe the photosynthesis and respiration question. I thought I knew that so well, but the diagram made mince meat out of me as I am not a visual person. So I panicked, and got it all wrong. I should have just written what I knew on rough work, and then used it to work out the questions.

Then, they only had a short question on reproduction and I had been hoping for a nice long one. Plus, there was no endocrine nor excretory system questions. I was also really shocked that genetic engineering, DNA profiling or evolution didn't come up. At least I got the birds question right though. Thank God I re-read the question as it appears the XX and XY tripped up a lot of folks.

All in all, I will probably get the worst result of my life ever in an exam. May as well have not bothered. It's made me feel like a complete thicko. The LC is not good for one's confidence. At least hard work and critical thinking skills are rewarded in college. Not so with the LC!

Ladyystardust wrote: »

Studied so hard for biology thought it was so hard!! Really wanted endocrine,excretion,nutrition,homeostasis,lymph,heart,blood and more genetics!!! Hardly anything!! Left feeling ****e

Yes, this is me. Knew all those areas so well.

Husband says LC is really a test of memory. Boy is he right.

Cazz19

In relation to the true or false question, we were always told its mitosis, followed by cytokinesis. So I said false for the question about the plant cell? Question (g) i think. Does cytokinesis only refer to humans?

To be honest leaving cert biology is one of the subjects I really put so much work into. As I love the subject! But I was really disappointed with todays exam. I don't think it reflects any of my real ability. Was hoping for an A or a B, but i feel I'll be lucky to get a high C after today.

sushua

What did people write for the question on competition between butterflies and caterpillars? That was weird

AnnaTorvFan

sushua wrote: »

What did people write for the question on competition between butterflies and caterpillars? That was weird

because of different mouth, they'd both have different prey? idk, i got confused

Jammysticks

sushua wrote: »

What did people write for the question on competition between butterflies and caterpillars? That was weird

They occupy different niches in the ecosystem as they feed on different food. Therefore less competition.

KA97

Exams like this just bring out my hatred in the school system, our teachers try and make us learn all of these definitions and diagrams and experiments and when it comes to the exam it ends up being such complex questions and they try and throw you off.

Jammysticks

AulBiddy wrote: »

Happened in mine. I don't think it would have made a difference! There was definitely a mistake on the first question.

I really don't think there was a mistake in the first question, apart from the one which was mentioned and corrected in each exam centre. When the y-axis was at 0, water was neither lost nor gained from the potato, and thus it was at the same concentration as the external solute (sucrose). At y=0, x=0.35%. That's what I got at least. I'm guessing they'll accept 0.3-0.4.

KA97 wrote: »

Exams like this just bring out my hatred in the school system, our teachers try and make us learn all of these definitions and diagrams and experiments and when it comes to the exam it ends up being such complex questions and they try and throw you off.

It's such a shame, really. We should be learning the raw material itself. That way is more difficult than the rote learning that we do, but it would mean we'd have a far deeper and more functional understanding of the material.

Kermin wrote: »

Messed up 10c had it right first time round, checking back over my answers "hang men are XY not XX" changed it all to be wrong There goes a 6.25%, minimum one grade max 2...

Noooo! That's so awful. How did you not remember that men were XX in that question? It was so odd to me that I couldn't forget it.

Bah_Humbug wrote: »

So Q 5 (a) says determine the conc. of the potato cells, which is grand, but on our paper it said something like "determine the concentration of the solution" and then our examiner said there was a mistake and told us to write in "at the start of the experiment" which made no sense. Just wondering did this happen in all exam centres??

That's really unlikely that it said "determine the concentration of the solution". It said "determine the concentration of the potato cells" and we were meant to add in - "at the start of the experiment". As far as I can see there is nothing wrong with this question. People had trouble with it because a question like it had not been asked before. All that was required was that you apply your knowledge of osmosis. It just required a good understanding of osmosis and a bit of thinking on the spot.

AnnaTorvFan wrote: »

Damn, said a and g =/

You were mostly right It was a,b,g.

Doctorhopeful

AnnaTorvFan wrote: »

What was true/false?
(a) Meiosis is an important source of variation.
(b) Mitosis occurs in mature red blood cells in humans.
(c) During mitosis the nuclear membrane temporarily disappears.
(d) Meiosis gives rise to the haploid condition.
(e) In multicellular organisms mitosis functions primarily in growth.
(f) In plants, a cell plate forms during telophase of mitosis.
(g) The human zygote divides by meiosis.

A - T
B - F
C - T
D - T
E - T
F - F
G - F

Very confident about these. Cell plate forms after the telophase, during the interphase.

Jammysticks wrote: »

You were mostly right It was a,b,g.

Why A? Meiosis means that two haploid cells fuse at zygote formation which means more variation as the genetic makeup is different to both of the parents ie variation.

fin709

Doctorhopeful wrote: »

A - T
B - F
C - T
D - T
E - T
F - F
G - F

Very confident about these. Cell plate forms after the telophase, during the interphase.

No im pretty sure if it was during any phase it would be telophase as cytokinesis is generally just after the telophase

Doctorhopeful

fin709 wrote: »

No im pretty sure if it was during any phase it would be telophase as cytokinesis is generally just after the telophase

Cell division follows directly after mitosis has occured, and a cell plate forms in a plant cell that is dividing. Therefore it's dividing after mitosis has happened so it can't be telophase and so the answer is False. Or am i just missing something?

EDIT: that means the phase it takes place in is the interphase! Not the telophase, to answer your train of logic

fin709

Doctorhopeful wrote: »

Cell division follows directly after mitosis has occured, and a cell plate forms in a plant cell that is dividing. Therefore it's dividing after mitosis has happened so it can't be telophase and so the answer is False. Or am i just missing something?

Just typed in on the internet what phase does a cell plate form in mitosis and it says telophase, it depends how specific they want the answer to be i would say theyd accept true especially since it was a tough test

Doctorhopeful

fin709 wrote: »

Just typed in on the internet what phase does a cell plate form in mitosis and it says telophase, it depends how specific they want the answer to be i would say theyd accept true especially since it was a tough test

My book says it takes place after mitosis ie the interphase, so i'll be pretty annoyed if they don't give marks for saying it's false

EDIT: i checked as well, some say it's the last part of telophase, others say it's the first thing that follows telophase. AGH!

fin709

Doctorhopeful wrote: »

Cell division follows directly after mitosis has occured, and a cell plate forms in a plant cell that is dividing. Therefore it's dividing after mitosis has happened so it can't be telophase and so the answer is False. Or am i just missing something?

EDIT: that means the phase it takes place in is the interphase! Not the telophase, to answer your train of logic

Relax, i dont have a train of logic, I took an educated guess at true in the exam and looked it up on the internet afterwards and it seems it was correct, you could be right but id trust the internet

Doctorhopeful

fin709 wrote: »

Relax, i dont have a train of logic, I took an educated guess at true in the exam and looked it up on the internet afterwards and it seems it was correct, you could be right but id trust the internet

I'm finding conflicting answers on the internet too, oh well. It's only one part of a short question at the end of the day :P

Johnjoeboy

For the respiration question were you had to fill out how many carbons 2,3,6 and March them with compounds what was the answers?

AnnaTorvFan

Johnjoeboy wrote: »

For the respiration question were you had to fill out how many carbons 2,3,6 and March them with compounds what was the answers?

6 was glucose, 3 was pyruvate and 2 was acetyl yes/no?

Johnjoeboy

And for respiration what was gas x and y and compound D and two functions of D??

Ellie232

i've just realised that i answered the genetics question wrong because i didn't read the question prepery has anyone else done this or was it just me?

randylonghorn

It's not just you, it's very common for students to lose marks not because they don't know the material, but because they don't read / answer the question asked.

Don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but the most important thing now is to learn that lesson for the rest of your exams!

Johnjoeboy

AnnaTorvFan wrote: »

6 was glucose, 3 was pyruvate and 2 was acetyl yes/no?

Was glucose for the anaerobic respiration?

Johnjoeboy wrote: »

Was glucose for the anaerobic respiration?

Also was compound b the glucose one cause it looked like the last compound

fin709

Johnjoeboy wrote: »

And for respiration what was gas x and y and compound D and two functions of D??

D was glucose. I said its a food source for plants and is used in respiration for humans

theRB

fin709 wrote: »

D was glucose. I said its a food source for plants and is used in respiration for humans

I'm pretty sure D was water. There's no glucose left at the end of respiration.

Johnjoeboy

theRB wrote: »

I'm pretty sure D was water. There's no glucose left at the end of respiration.

I said water aswell.was compound b 6 carbons and compound c 3 carbons??

libra33

Gas X - Carbon Dioxide
Gas Y - Hydrogen

Compound D - NADH

fin709

theRB wrote: »

I'm pretty sure D was water. There's no glucose left at the end of respiration.

Oh yeah whoops I dont know what i was thinking there. Yeah i said h20 i wasnt sure about its function in yeast cells so i just treated it the same as any cell and said its used for transport and its a good solvent

libra33

My edited answers
I am open to correction by no means all correct
Just suggestions which I believe are correct

Question One:

(a) monosaccharide
(b) photosynthesis
(c) 6
(d) Cellulose
(e) Starch
(f) Deoxyribose

Question Two:

(a) Competition where all competing individuals get some of the resource
(b) Water
(c) Shelter
(d) They use different food sources
(e) (i) Quadrat
(ii) Thrown over shoulder
(iii) Soil pH

Question Three:

(a) Protein
(b) It requires a living host to survive
(c) Protein/ Carbohydrate
(d) Tobaco mosaic disease
(e) Comparison of DNA strands / DNA Profiling
(f) They are non-cellular
(g) Aid genetic engineering

Question Four:

(a) T (b) F (c) T (d) T (e) T (f) T (g) F

Question Six:

(a) Bottom area
(b) A - Erector Muscle B- Sebacous Gland
(c) (i) The contraction of the erector muscle
Causes hair to rise in cold weather trapping air keeping the body warm
(ii) Contraction of blood vessels
Causes blood vessels to contract reducing loss of heat through skin

fin709

libra33 wrote: »

My edited answers
I am open to correction by no means all correct
Just suggestions which I believe are correct

Question One:

(a) monosaccharide
(b) photosynthesis
(c) 6
(d) Cellulose
(e) Starch
(f) Deoxyribose

Question Two:

(a) Competition where all competing individuals get some of the resource
(b) Water
(c) Shelter
(d) They use different food sources
(e) (i) Quadrat
(ii) Thrown over shoulder
(iii) Soil pH

Question Three:

(a) Protein
(b) It requires a living host to survive
(c) Protein/ Carbohydrate
(d) Tobaco mosaic disease
(e) Comparison of DNA strands / DNA Profiling
(f) They are non-cellular
(g) Aid genetic engineering

Question Four:

(a) T (b) F (c) T (d) T (e) T (f) T (g) F

Question Six:

(a) Bottom area
(b) A - Erector Muscle B- Sebacous Gland
(c) (i) The contraction of the erector muscle
Causes hair to rise in cold weather trapping air keeping the body warm
(ii) Contraction of blood vessels
Causes blood vessels to contract reducing loss of heat through skin

1b) cant be right photosynthesis is anabolic, question asked for catabolic
And im pretty on question 6b) B is not sebaceous gland its the sweat gland

libra33

fin709 wrote: »

1b) cant be right photosynthesis is anabolic, question asked for catabolic
And im pretty on question 6b) B is not sebaceous gland its the sweat gland

Ye no problem, as I said open for correction

fin709

libra33 wrote: »

Ye no problem, as I said open for correction

All looks pretty good, annoyed i put nucleic acid for virus question part (iii)