OCR Biology F212 (Molecules, Biodiversity, Food and Health)- 21st May 2012

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So you're telling me that enzymes in Antarctic fish are on the specification? The whole idea of 'suggest' questions is to sidetrack from the syllabus and apply knowledge, common sense and guesswork to an alien situation. Whilst a few questions like this are necessary to test application of knowledge, when it gets to the stage of having 15 of the first 18 marks based entirely on 'suggestions' that it's getting a tad ridiculous. Oh well, just me opinion I guess- not much I can do now other than hope the grade boundaries are low and that my answers were reasonable.

The first two marks were straightforward look at diagram and write the labels. The rest were all fair as Your teacher will have taught you the theory, all you are required to do is apply the theory. It is not guesswork. It brings together several ideas on biodiversity and enzymes which makes it challenging but it is all in the syllabus. You just have to ignore the urge to start writing immediately and process the information. I did not find it easy, but it was fair.

Reply 4581

suncake

Original post by fayled

what the hells going on with this flexible enzyme?

I second this question. I was sitting there imagining enzyme molecules made of jelly and stuff, omg

Reply 4582

Axion

Original post by otrivine

the question you remember about the student if said something?
i said fossil like date fossil compare dna sequencing , fossil changes over time'?

yeah it was fossil. arrange in chronological order and note changes - can see which species diverged when

Reply 4583

rival_

Prolonged coughing only forces the lungs to stretch more but the real impact is why!!! It could be a sign of lung cancer the alveolo could be short of gases to exchange as a result of the carbon monoxide binsing to the Hb

Reply 4584

phaseshift

Original post by Student-Andrew

The question about the 'many nuclei threaded' was fungi, just checked now

'Tis what I got too. :biggrin:

Original post by fayled

what the hells going on with this flexible enzyme?

Not a clue! It really threw me.

Original post by Axion

what question was that?

They're talking about the Fungi question, I believe.

Original post by loser_like_me

the genus name for the bird or watever was peristelles right ?

Think so, yes. :smile:

Reply 4585

Corryms

For molecular evidence of two species being different, what did you guys put?
I put anatomical and genetics. Is this correct?

Reply 4586

AS01

Original post by Axion

what question was that?

the qsn that was just below the one which you had to fill table about 5 kingdom
It said this new organism have multinucleated cytoplasm and have strand
and its fungi

Reply 4587

Iepnauy

Anyone not use this book?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biology-Student-Book-Exam-CD-ROM/dp/0435691805/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337619856&sr=8-1

Reply 4588

Sarabande

Original post by Corryms

For molecular evidence of two species being different, what did you guys put?
I put anatomical and genetics. Is this correct?

I wrote embryology and DNA. Clutching for straws there.

Reply 4589

Student-Andrew

The question about agarose [1] i don't know how i could have worked that out, anyone know the answer

Reply 4590

Bethshaw

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Chiroptera
Family:Vespertilionidae
Genus: Pipistrellus
Species: P. pygmaeus
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soprano_Pipistrelle (i know wikepeida isnt the most reliable source but still)
What did people put for the induced-fit hypothesis and also the effects loss of biodiversity on agriculture :s-smilie:

that test was sooo ridiculous!

Reply 4591

RandomMedic

Original post by Ellodie

What did you guys get for the differences in DNA for the fish and enzyme for the first page or two?

I said that they have different alleles which code for different proteins. And also they may have a different number of chromosomes.

Reply 4592

Becca94

Original post by PrincessMedic

I was going to write this, but then I came up with 'genetic modification.' Like, seriously?! I think you're right!

i said that too haha, it was a guess xD

Reply 4593

Axion

Original post by AS01

the qsn that was just below the one which you had to fill table about 5 kingdom
It said this new organism have multinucleated cytoplasm and have strand
and its fungi

oh yeah of course. It said hyphae. :smile:

That gives the game away

Reply 4594

CJRO

Original post by suncake

Awkward moment when my (trainee) biology teacher told us to ignore the "crappy green pages" in the textbook! Thankfully, I ignored his brilliant advice...
I don't think they should make these pages a different colour, it makes people automatically think they're separate/irrelevant.

I always saw the fact they were highlighted to show they were more important as they reflect applying knowledge to experiments. But yes, that was a bad move n his part!

Reply 4595

Iepnauy

Original post by Corryms

For molecular evidence of two species being different, what did you guys put?
I put anatomical and genetics. Is this correct?

Lol, I put "sequence of DNA" and "sequence of cytochrome c"

Couldn't think of anything else. Worth a shot =/

Reply 4596

Yukii

Original post by ManPowa

Email OCR at [email protected];

To whom it may concern,

I absolutely loved Biology this year which I undertook for my AS level. Now I absolutely despise it due to the so called F212 biology exam that you wrote today. I have no intention on taking biology into A2 because your exam wrecked up everything I loved about Biology. I hate your exam board. Why can you not set a decent paper where I can show off what I have learnt and understood.

I have been totally put off from going into A2 due to this F212 exam and I really hope your evil chief examiner for the Biology SPEC is happy on a exam paper where 80% was covered by Ecology.
Are you satisfied with the amount of students you have displeased today? Many will soon drop out of AS to not go into A2 due to your mistakes in not allowing a student to forecast what he has LEARNT in class. I will also instruct my teachers to contact you separately.

Make them feel like **** so they can lower the grade boundaries even more.

EVERYBODY DO THIS!!!! If they receive a lot of complaints about this paper, it might make them lower the grade boundaries more!!!!!
*goes off to write a complaint*

Reply 4597

bubblesOoO

Original post by CJRO

The paper was not unfair. It was difficult. There is a difference. The point of a difficult paper is to if you like sieve the cohort so that the best students can do well and the worst can't just ride along bluffing their way through. Unless you can tell me how it was unfair, not difficult, physically unfair then there is not much to be done. Practice applying knowledge next time.

The paper was unfair because it didnt broadly cover all 3 topics involved in Unit 2. I am considered a 'more capable' student and have spent months revising all 3 units including hours and hours learning all about the immune system, food, immunity, however none of this came up whilst there far more biodiversity questions than anything else. The paper was difficult ( becasue the questions were hard to answer) AND unfair because far too much of the content of the specification was not asked about.