AQA GCSE Synergy Paper 2: Life and environmental sciences Foundation June 2025 question paper 8465/2F

Substances can exist in different states of matter.

The states of matter are solid, liquid and gas.

A substance has a melting point of – 7 °C and a boiling point of 59 °C.

A student purified a sample of water by distillation.

Figure 1 shows the apparatus.

Name the processes occurring at A, B, and C in Figure 1.

Choose answers from the box.

A

B

C

The student wanted to collect as much pure water as possible from the sample.

Some water was lost as steam from the end of the delivery tube.

Suggest one improvement to the apparatus to change more of the steam to water.

The water collected in the test tube is pure water.

Which statement is true for pure water?

Tick () one box.

Pure water boils at exactly 100 °C.

Pure water contains only one type of atom.

Pure water has a range of pH values.

Which two of the following are pure substances in chemistry?

Tick () two boxes.

Air

Carbon dioxide

Crude oil

Oxygen

Salt solution

An increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing climate change.

Which of the following is a greenhouse gas?

Tick () one box.

Chlorine

Methane

Nitrogen

Carbon dioxide and ozone are greenhouse gases.

Table 1 shows the concentrations of carbon dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is greater than the concentration of ozone.

Calculate how many times greater.

The concentration of carbon dioxide is 420 arbitrary units.

What is 420 arbitrary units to 1 significant figure?

Cutting down trees leads to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Give one other process that increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Do not refer to deforestation in your answer.

Growing more trees could help decrease the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Explain why.

Predictions about climate change rely on many sources of data.

Table 2 shows some statements about climate change predictions.

Complete Table 2 to show whether each statement is an advantage or a disadvantage when predicting climate change.

Tick () one box in each row.

Which is one effect of climate change?

Tick () one box.

Increase in lung disease

More fossil fuels available

Rising sea-levels

Figure 2 shows the position of air particles in the path of a sound wave.

What do the labels P and Q represent?

Choose the answers from the box.

Sound waves are longitudinal waves.

What direction are the oscillations in a longitudinal wave?

Tick () one box.

At 45° to the direction of energy transfer

Parallel to the direction of energy transfer

Perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer

A teacher and a student made measurements to determine the speed of sound in air.

They used a device called a ‘starter pistol’.

A starter pistol makes a loud sound and produces a puff of smoke at the same time.

Figure 3 shows the teacher and the student 100 m apart.

This is the method used.

1. The teacher fires the starter pistol.

2. The student sees the puff of smoke and starts the stopwatch.

3. The student hears the sound from the starter pistol and stops the stopwatch.

4. The student records the time on the stopwatch.

Why did the student see the puff of smoke before hearing the sound?

The teacher and student repeated the experiment several times and calculated a mean value for the times recorded.

The mean value for the time was used to calculate the speed of sound in air.

Why is it good practice to calculate a mean value in an investigation?

Tick () one box.

To reduce the effect of random errors

To reduce the effect of systematic errors

To reduce the effect of zero errors

The sound wave produced had a wavelength of 0.12 m and a wave speed of 330 m/s.

Calculate the frequency of the sound wave.

Use the equation:

Choose the unit from the box.

One species of bacteria is resistant to most antibiotics. The bacteria can survive on hard surfaces and on human skin.

People become very ill if the bacteria enter the blood.

People who have wounds from surgery can become infected with the bacteria.

Suggest two ways of reducing the risk of infection with the bacteria.

A hospital had 1300 patients.

39 of the patients became infected with the bacteria.

Calculate the percentage of patients that became infected with the bacteria.

Having HIV makes a person more likely to become ill from infections.

Why is a person with HIV more likely to become ill if infected with the bacteria?

Tick () one box.

HIV can be treated with painkillers.

HIV damages the immune system.

HIV is spread by sexual contact.

A new antibiotic is being developed.

The new antibiotic is being tested in a drug trial.

Draw one line from each part of a drug trial to the reason for that part of the drug trial.

Two types of heart disease are: coronary heart disease (CHD)

cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Most types of heart disease are not caused by pathogens.

Name one other disease in humans that is not caused by a pathogen.

Do not refer to CHD or CVD in your answer.

Which are two factors that increase the risk of CHD?

Tick () two boxes.

A diet high in fruits and vegetables

Eating large amounts of fatty food

Going to the gym three times each week

Never smoking cigarettes

Sitting down for long periods every day

Which two treatments can be used to treat CHD?

Tick () two boxes.

A mechanical valve

A placebo tablet

A stent

Insulin

Statins

Stem cells can be used to treat patients who have CHD.

The stem cells divide and become specialised cells in the heart.

What is the name of the process of stem cells becoming specialised?

Tick () one box.

Active transport

Differentiation

Fertilisation

Photosynthesis produces glucose.

Name the other product of photosynthesis.

Do not refer to glucose in your answer.

A student investigated the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis in two species of aquatic plant.

Figure 4 shows the apparatus used.

This is the method used.

1. Place species A in water in a test tube.

2. Leave the test tube containing species A in a dark room for 10 minutes.

3. Put the test tube containing species A 20 cm away from the lamp.

4. Record the number of bubbles produced by species A in 5 minutes.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 at different distances from the lamp.

6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 using species B.

What was the independent variable in the investigation?

Tick () one box.

Light intensity

Size of each plant

Volume of water

The student collected valid results.

Figure 5 shows the results.

What was the number of bubbles produced by species B at 20 cm?

What distance between the lamp and test tube would cause the same number of bubbles in both species?

Use Figure 5.

As the distance between the lamp and the plant increases, the light intensity decreases.

The student concluded:

‘Species A had a greater rate of photosynthesis at low light intensity than species B.’

What evidence from Figure 5 supports the student’s conclusion?

Tick () one box.

Species A produced more bubbles than species B at 60 cm.

Species A produced 46 bubbles at 20 cm and 34 bubbles at 60 cm.

Species A produced fewer bubbles than species B at 20 cm.

Global dimming decreases the sunlight reaching the plants on the Earth’s surface.

Global dimming is caused by particulates in the atmosphere.

Which substance is a particulate emitted from diesel engines?

Tick () one box.

Carbon

Carbon dioxide

Carbon monoxide

Fruit flies are small insects.

Figure 6 shows a fruit fly.

Fruit flies:

are easy to keep in containers

have a short time between one generation and the next generation

are used to study evolution.

Why is it easier to study evolution in fruit flies rather than in humans?

Tick () two boxes.

Fruit flies do not produce many offspring.

Fruit flies show more different characteristics than humans.

Many generations of fruit flies can be produced in less time.

The environment that the fruit flies are in can be controlled.

The fruit flies can fly between different places.

A scientist studied the length of fruit fly wings.

The scientist used selective breeding to produce a population of fruit flies with longer wings.

The first stages in the selective breeding process were:

Place five female fruit flies with the longest wings in a container.

Add five male fruit flies with the longest wings to the container.

Let these fruit flies breed.

Place the five female offspring with the longest wings in a new container.

Add the five male offspring with the longest wings to the new container.

What is the next stage in the process of selective breeding?

After many generations, the offspring all had long wings.

The scientist stopped selectively breeding the fruit flies.

After a further 15 generations, the fruit flies all had short wings.

Which process may have caused the fruit flies to have short wings?

Tick () one box.

Classification

Mitosis

Natural selection

Some fruit flies damage crops.

How can farmers kill fruit flies that damage crops?

Tick () one box.

Add fertiliser to the soil.

Place compost around the plants.

Spray crops with pesticide.

One species of fruit fly has been genetically modified (GM) to only produce male offspring.

Scientists can release large numbers of the GM fruit flies where wild fruit flies are damaging crops.

The GM fruit flies will breed with wild fruit flies.

Releasing the GM fruit flies will decrease the population of wild fruit flies.

What is one advantage of releasing the GM fruit flies?

Tick () one box.

GM fruit flies look different to wild fruit flies.

Less of the crop is damaged by fruit flies.

Wild fruit flies reproduce at a faster rate.

What is one disadvantage of decreasing the population of wild fruit flies?

Tick () one box.

Birds that eat fruit flies will have more food.

Food chains and food webs will be disrupted.

Fruit flies will have different characteristics.

This question is about the transport of substances into and out of organisms.

Glucose moves from an area with a high concentration of glucose to an area with a low concentration of glucose.

Name the process that moves the glucose.

Figure 7 shows a salamander.

The species of salamander shown in Figure 7 does not have lungs.

Gas exchange between the air and the blood of the salamander occurs through the skin.

Humans have lungs for gas exchange.

Figure 8 shows the lungs.

Describe how human lungs are adapted for efficient gas exchange.

Figure 9 shows a human egg cell viewed using a light microscope.

In Figure 9, the diameter of the image of the egg is 38 mm.

The magnification of Figure 9 is × 400

Calculate the real diameter of the egg cell in micrometres.

Use the equation:

1 millimetre = 1000 micrometres

Real diameter of egg cell = _____________________ micrometres

Draw a simple diagram of the egg cell shown in Figure 9.

On your drawing:

$l~bel two parts of the egg cell that are visible in Figure 9

$do not include other cells.

Some parts of a human egg cell are not visible in Figure 9.

Name one part of a human egg cell that is only visible using an electron microscope.

Name the process of cell division that produces egg cells.

How many chromosomes are in a human egg cell?

Describe how a chromosome in a sperm cell determines whether the offspring that forms is male or female.

Which hormone stimulates the release of an egg?

Tick () one box.

FSH

LH

Oestrogen

Oral contraceptive pills contain hormones that prevent the release of an egg.

Scientists studied the effectiveness of different types of contraception with perfect use and with use in real life.

‘Perfect use’ means following all the instructions.

‘Use in real life’ is what actually happens in the population. The instructions may not always be followed in real life.

Figure 10 shows the results.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the three types of contraception shown in Figure 10.

Use data from Figure 10.

A student investigated the emission of infrared radiation.

Figure 11 shows some of the equipment used.

This is the method used.

1. Measure and then pour a volume of 100 cm³ of very hot water into each can.

2. Place a lid on each can and insert a thermometer through each lid.

3. Record the initial temperature of the water in each can.

4. Record the temperature of the water in each can after 5 minutes.

The student had two different types of thermometer that could have been used.

Figure 12 shows the readings on the two thermometers before being used in the investigation.

Give two advantages of using thermometer A compared with using thermometer B.

2

The student used thermometer A for all the temperature measurements.

Table 3 shows the results.

The student repeated the investigation to observe how the temperature of the water in the can varied with time.

The student used a temperature sensor and a datalogger.

The datalogger recorded two readings each second.

What is the advantage of using the datalogger for a cooling curve?

Tick () one box.

The datalogger recorded readings less frequently than a student could.

The datalogger recorded readings at the same frequency as a student could.

The datalogger recorded readings more frequently than a student could.

Figure 13 shows the results for the can with the matt black surface.

When did the surface of the can emit infrared radiation at the greatest rate?

Give a reason for your answer.

Use Figure 13.

Tick () one box.

At the start of the investigation

In the middle of the investigation

At the end of the investigation

Reason

The student also used a can with a matt white surface.

The initial temperature of the water in this can was 80 °C.

Draw a line on Figure 13 to show the expected results for the can with the matt white surface.