OCR GCSE Biology A (Gateway) Paper 1 Foundation June 2024 question paper J247/01

Which structures are found in plant cells but not in animal cells?

A Chloroplasts

B Mitochondria

C Nuclei

D Ribosomes

Which structures are found in prokaryotic cells but not in the eukaryotic cells of animals?

A Cell membranes

B Mitochondria

C Nuclei

D Plasmids

The diagram shows the structure of a snake’s heart.

Which sentence describes the structure of the snake’s heart?

A It has one atrium and one ventricle.

B It has one atrium and two ventricles.

C It has two atria and one ventricle.

D It has two atria and two ventricles.

Which two substances are the products of photosynthesis?

A Carbon dioxide and water

B Glucose and carbon dioxide

C Glucose and oxygen

D Oxygen and water

Which word describes the loss of water vapour from the leaves of the plant?

A Circulation

B Respiration

C Translocation

D Transpiration

Which sentence describes the effect of gravity on the roots and shoots of a plant?

A Both the roots and shoots grow downwards.

B Both the roots and shoots grow upwards.

C The roots grow downwards, and the shoots grow upwards.

D The roots grow upwards, and the shoots grow downwards.

Which part of the eye controls the size of the pupil?

A Iris

B Lens

C Optic nerve

D Retina

What is transported by red blood cells?

A Antibodies

B Glucose

C Hormones

D Oxygen

Which blood vessel transports blood from the lungs to the heart?

A Aorta

B Pulmonary artery

C Pulmonary vein

D Vena cava

Which diagram shows a red blood cell?

Which reaction produces ethanol?

A Aerobic respiration in animal cells

B Aerobic respiration in yeast cells

C Anaerobic respiration in animal cells

D Anaerobic respiration in yeast cells

A student investigates the rate of photosynthesis by counting the number of gas bubbles produced by a plant.

The table shows their results.

What is the mean number of bubbles produced?

A 25

B 26

C 27

D 28

Cellulose is a complex carbohydrate.

Which monomers is cellulose made from?

A Amino acids

B Fatty acids

C Glycerol

D Simple sugars

The diagram shows the structure of the human brain.

Which part of the brain is highly folded into two hemispheres and controls language and memory?

A light microscope is used to view a specimen.

Draw lines to connect each part of the microscope to its role in viewing the specimen.

Part of the microscope
Role

A student uses a light microscope to look at pollen grains.

The total magnification of the microscope is ×400.

The magnification of the eyepiece lens is ×10.

Calculate the magnification of the objective lens used by the student.

Fig. 16.1 shows the image the student sees.

Fig. 16.1

The student was asked to produce a drawing of the pollen cells.

Describe to the student how a scientific drawing is produced.

Fig. 16.2 shows an image of a pollen grain taken using an electron microscope.

Fig. 16.2

Give two reasons why the image shows more detail with the electron microscope than the image produced by the light microscope.

An athlete is running a 10 km race. They need to produce ATP in their cells during the race.

Describe how cells make ATP.

In your answer include:

• the name of the process

• the substances that are used and made.

During the race, the athlete’s body temperature increases.

Which of these responses will cool them down?

After the race, the athlete eats some food.

The graph shows the athlete’s insulin production after the race.

Estimate what time the athlete ate the food.

Explain why eating food affects the athlete’s insulin levels.

Draw a line to connect the boxes that describe the urine produced by the athlete after the race.

Draw only one line.

A student records some data on the volume of urine produced by different athletes after the race.

Each athlete’s urine is collected in a different measuring cylinder.

The diagram shows three eye positions where the student could view the level of the urine to measure the volume produced by a particular athlete.

Complete these sentences.

The student should always view the level of liquid from position X / Y / Z.

Viewing the liquid from different positions for the different athletes would introduce

sampling / random / systematic error into the measurement.

The diagram shows a hen’s egg.

A chick can develop inside the egg.

The developing chick gets most of its nutrition from the egg yolk.

A student tests the yolk for protein.

The tables show:

• reagents that could be used to test the yolk

• possible colours of reagents if there is a positive test.

Identify the reagent the student should use and the colour that this reagent will go if protein is present.

Tick (✓) two boxes.

The hen’s egg is covered in an eggshell that lets gases through.

Why is it important that the eggshell lets gases through?

As a chick develops, it makes new cells.

These are the stages of the cell cycle. They are not in the correct order.

A Movement of the chromosomes

B Cell division

C Cell growth

D DNA replication

E More cell growth

Write the letters in the boxes to show the correct order of the stages in one cell cycle. Two have been done for you.

The size of a large hen’s egg is approximately 40 mm. The size of a bee’s egg is 0.4 mm

How many orders of magnitude are there between the hen’s egg and the bee’s egg?

The diagram shows the sequence of events that occurs during a reflex arc.

Complete the reflex arc diagram.

Use the words from the list.

effector
motor neurone receptor relay neurone

sensory neurone stimulus
synapse

A sharp object pierces

The diagram shows the nervous system of the octopus.

Both the octopus and humans have a central nervous system (CNS).

Give one similarity and one difference between the octopus CNS and the human CNS.

Similarity........

Difference........

In both the octopus and the human nervous systems, the eyes are close to the brain.

Suggest one advantage of this arrangement.

The table lists some of the different contraceptives available to males and females.

For each method of contraception, tick (✓) all the boxes that describe how that method works.

Some people have a condition called varicose veins in their legs.

The veins swell up because the valves are not working properly.

What is the role of the valves in veins?

Varicose veins are more common in pregnant females.

During pregnancy, the baby can push on the main veins bringing blood back from the mother’s legs.

Give one reason why this could lead to varicose veins in the legs.

The data in Table 21.1 shows the results from a study on varicose veins.

Table 21.1

Calculate the number of males in the study with varicose veins who were younger than 25 years old.

Which conclusions based on the data in Table 21.1 are true and which are false ?

Tick (✓) one box in each row.

The results of the study were published in a peer review journal.

Give one reason why peer review is important.

A student investigates the effect of different concentrations of sugar solution on cubes of beetroot.

This is the method that they use:

Step 1 Cut four cubes of beetroot tissue.

Step 2 Place each beetroot cube in a test tube containing a different concentration of sugar solution.

Step 3 Leave the beetroot cubes in the sugar solutions for 3 hours.

Step 4 Remove the beetroot cubes from the sugar solutions.

The student wants to calculate the percentage change in mass for each beetroot cube.

They want to use the method above to collect the data they need, but have missed some steps from the method.

Describe the additional steps needed in the method to find the data.

State two variables that the student should control in this investigation.

Describe how the student could find out if their data is both repeatable and reproducible.

Repeatable........

Reproducible........

Two of the beetroot cubes increased in mass.

Explain why some of the beetroot cubes will increase in mass.

In 2013, scientists researched the use of stem cells to reverse hearing loss. The scientists used 18 individual rodents for this research.

• They used a chemical to cause deafness in one ear of each rodent.

• They used stem cells to grow nerve cells in the lab.

• They transferred approximately 50 000 nerve cells into each rodent’s ear.

• After 10 weeks they tested the rodents’ hearing.

What type of stem cell will the scientists have used?

Why will the scientists have used this type of stem cell? Tick (✓) one box.

Results from the research showed that the 18 rodents regained an average of 46% of their hearing.

One of the scientists claims ‘this research shows that our method will cure people who have a similar hearing problem’.

State three reasons why this scientist’s claim is incorrect.

Suggest one way the scientists could extend their research.

The scientists discover that a different technique could one day be used to successfully treat 15% of the 10 million people who have hearing loss.

Calculate how many of the 10 million people with hearing loss could benefit from this technique.

Number of people =........ million