Ocr exam board are *******!

I'm revising for the GCSE module 5 - 21st century science additional exam.

These are questions in the 2007 paper (I know its ages ago)

Tick the correct boxes bla bla (Grown in animals and plants)

Basically you have three options ( Only plants, Only animals or Animals and plants)

Its talking about certain features

Feature

Most contrinue to grow THROUGHOUT their lives

Correct answer: Only plants

Different tissues contain specialised cells:

Correct answer: Both animals and plants

Some cells are unspecialised even in adults:

Correct: both animals and plants

Ok they are the answers and there correct (thats what I put) but when I look at the mark scheme it says the last feature can either be: Both or only plants

Surely 'only plants' shouldn't be right as bone marrow contains stem cells?

This annoys me because people who get it wrong are getting marked right (Correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.

Ok next question

Genes are made from combinations of different bases arranged in groups of...

Options of: Two or three

Now at first I put three (Amino acids are made of three pairs of bases etc) but then I changed it to Two because I though it was relating to one pair of bases which is two?

The correct answer was three but their questions are misleading and confusing?

Why do exam boards give you misleading questions that try to 'Trick' you out its a bunch of **** really??

Rant over .. Sorry

Reply 1

Luna.

Yeah, OCR make me mad.
I wrote them an email about the terrible Chemistry paper they set, and all I got was a copy and pasted reply that everyone else got.

Though the amount of complaints they got, I don't blame them for not replying individually..

Reply 2

sharmine

I did OCR for History at GCSE...i can't explain my hatred towards them -_-

Reply 3

jndk109

Original post by Tweaky

Yeah OCR are not the best at all in my opinion. Wait until A-levels then you'll see just how bad they truly are.

For the first one your completely right although the bone marrow cells cannot differentiate into every cell unlike meristem cells which can, but they asked whether some are unspecialised so they're wrong with accepting just plants. And for the second one i would agree normally but the first thing that came into my head was three purely as it specified genes not 'complimentary base pairing occurs in groups of'... if you get what i mean.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

TheGoat

You think this is bad? Try OCR A-level Biology.. It's pathetic lol

Reply 5

Id and Ego seek

AQA are worse: they gave me a misleading question on my Psychology exam :frown:

Wait...

Reply 6

jndk109

Original post by TheGoat

You think this is bad? Try OCR A-level Biology.. It's pathetic lol

I know right did you do F214 this jan ?

Reply 7

TheGoat

Original post by jndk109

I know right did you do F214 this jan ?

I sure did, the paper with the questions on the glass beads right?

Reply 8

jndk109

Original post by TheGoat

I sure did, the paper with the questions on the glass beads right?

yeah that question was actually bs! i just guessed my way through it :/ And i retook F212 an literally it was on about 20 pages of the official book.... :angry:

Reply 9

Tweaky

I just think it's sad that exam boards try to 'catch' you out.

Reply 10

Jam'

Original post by Tweaky

All plant stem cells can become specialised into ANY cell.
Adult stem cells are very limited in what they can become specialised into; e.g. stem cells in adult bone marrow are specialised to an extent and can become specialised further.

Bases are always arranged in combinations of three - triplets.

I wouldn't really say the questions are misleading - just require a bit more of a thorough understanding.

Reply 11

KingGoonIan

Sat my OCR GCSE 21st Century Science paper the other day. What annoyed me most was that the exam was more about Maths and English then it was about Science. Also had a lot about opinion where you had to choose the correct opinion which is annoying because opinions are debatable not factual.

Reply 12

Tweaky

Original post by Jam'

They are misleading because you can either choose one or the other - In the syllabus it teaches you that stem cells in bone marrow are unspecialised but are limited on what they can be used for - It should elaborate further and tell you that they are 'specialised to a certain extent'.

And I know that there arranged in 3's to make amino acids - but the question could relate to 2 combinations of bases ie A,T or G,C. The questions are misleading in my opinion.

Reply 13

Jam'

Original post by Tweaky

I suppose it is something your teacher should have gone over, though it's not too hard to deduce -- considering they're limited in what they can become.

A-T would never refer to a 'combination' - they're complementary base pairs on DNA.

Reply 14

TheGoat

Original post by jndk109

yeah that question was actually bs! i just guessed my way through it :/ And i retook F212 an literally it was on about 20 pages of the official book.... :angry:

Yeah it was pathetic lol.. I made a guess and then crossed it out and made another guess. Turns out the one I crossed out is probably the right answer :<... And yeah I heard about F212, F211 was apparently really bad too lol :rolleyes: