WJEC June 10th 2014 Biology 1 (B1)

Yes omg it was really hard! What even were those questions?? The one about the cows?? What did you put? I put that in winter, they don't get as much nutritious fresh grass so produce less milk...? Literally everyone I talked to found it hard too.

Reply 2

Ah noooo!! I didn't think about that! For the cow one I put something silly about energy and heat being used to warm them and therefore not having as much energy and stuff to produce as much milk
I'm so bad at Biology :frown:

Reply 3

What did y'all put for the last one? The QWC about the FOXI 1 gene?

Reply 4

I swear the WJEC markschemes are ridiculous though, especially for biology. Like sometimes I've written a right answer but it wasn't in the markscheme so I didn't get the mark D: And the questions were so weird too! I swear revision was kind of pointless for this- apart from evolution, they barely put in anything I revised! Also, what did people put for the phototropism experiment?

Reply 5

Original post by amberk124

What did y'all put for the last one? The QWC about the FOXI 1 gene?

I talked about the process of evolution and natural selection (overpopulation- variation- beneficial mutation- more of those with the gene survive- pass gene on to children so the gene spreads) :tongue:

I ran out of time on that one so my answer wasn't very clear :frown:

Reply 6

I know! That sucks!! This is my resit, I had a C before and other than that c I'm a straight A or A+ student so I did it again. I swear it gets harder by the year!! For the phototropism question I put about putting plant shoots all of the same type and age in a dark room with only one light source and setting this experiment up multiple times and measuring the growth towards the light

Reply 7

Original post by aliciaa1997

I ran out of time on that one so my answer wasn't very clear :frown:

Ah good!! I was scared I did it wrong, I basically put about survival and dehydration in the extreme weather and how those with the gene survived and it was passed on through the generations

Reply 8

i put down for that cows question is that the cows have different genes as a result of variation, so some cows produce more than others. I got this because they were given the same quality + quantity of food :P but the rest of the cow questions, don't get me started.
That negative feedback question was wjec's sneaky way of trying to catch people out. That took me a loong time to understand.

Nevertheless, that paper was hard :frown:

The imagination of what physics will be like is horrendous

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

Original post by amberk124

Yeah I found this paper a lot harder than any past papers I've done (which are usually pretty difficult anyway, but this one was just so weird).

Everyone I asked put different things for it! One person put to have one plant in a dark room, another plant in a room with a lamp. And another friend put to have one plant in a bright room and the other plant in a room with just a lamp as a light source. I put to have 3 plants in front of a lamp, one normal, one with the tip cut off, and one with foil wrapped around it. I should have mentioned what things to keep the same and to have repeats...oops...

The question wasn't specific so I think there will be a few possibilities on the markscheme :/ And if everyone found the paper difficult, hopefully the grade boundaries will be lower...?

Reply 10

Original post by lecalboy

The imagination of what physics will be like is horrendous

Ah I should have thought of that! Aah I think I got the whole stupid cow section wrong.

Yes i spent so long trying to understand what they wanted me to put! Because they just mentioned "a source of energy" so I didn't know whether they wanted me to talk about controlling glucose levels, or if there was some sort of collective term for hormones involved in a negative feedback mechanism or something... Did you put stuff about the pancreas, insulin, glucose and glucagon?

Omg I don't even want to think about physics :eek:

Reply 11

I put down to have one tray of seedlings in a enclosed box without any light, and another tray in another box. However, I said to have that box have a hole on the side of the box to show that the seedlings grow towards light and that it's the dominant tropism. I DON'T EVEN KNOW to be frank :P all I know is that a re-sit is needed for meeee!

Reply 12

Original post by aliciaa1997

I put insulin and glucose and pancreas in those spaces. It was very confusing and odd. My teacher said that WJEC want to have less people achieving A*s.
A source of energy? I don't remember that question having that phrase in it. What question was it with?
Although, we look down upon those cows forever :P

Reply 13

jackmolineux

Wow its not just me that did wjec haha!

Lecal yep i wrote about glucose,insulin and the pancreas too.
The questions on hormones underneath very much confused me!

The question on cows , i wrote about variation in genes that control milk production.

I personally didn't find the positive phototropism particularly hard... But thats not usually a good sign is it?

Aliciaa , exactly the same answer as me on that sahara gene thing.

Anyone here do it in welsh?

I found this paper so difficult compared to other past papers...

Well, if we all found it difficult, will that not mean that the boundaries will be lowered?
Or is it a case of less people being awarded A/A*

Reply 14

Original post by jackmolineux

I assume that the features of those hormones is that they are made in the pancreas and they are protein (?) I think that the made in the pancreas will be a NOT statement...
Of course, the grade boundaries will be lowered, but the paper is designed so that many marks will be lost for ridiculous things, so not many people will get A*s. As a consequence, many will get lower grades. I don't know. A possibility.
The past paper for the summer 2013 was easier. Much easier.
I think this is the beginning of the increasing difficulty of exam papers...
I just hope that chemistry won't be as bad!

Reply 15

Original post by lecalboy

Ah thank god! I was so confused! Yeah in the negative feedback chart q it said a source of energy in the title, so that's why I was confused about whether they meant glucose or not. Ugh I hate WJEC!

Yeah damn those confusing cows D:

Reply 16

clairabella75

I did the foundation paper and was completely confused by the cow question too, as were the rest of my science class!

But overall I don't think it was too bad although I feel it was a slight waste of revision time...
Some of the questions were just comprehension questions and required no background knowledge！

Oh and there's no way I will have got full marks for the phototropism question either.

Reply 17

jackmolineux

Everyone i spoke to that did lower tier said it was so easy and also found that most of the questions where read and copy

So wait what cow breed did you put down?
I put Holstein because it had the lowest amount of fat g/l
Compared to the Jersey which had the most :smile:

I personally found the wording of some questions to be very awkward indeed
I hope the chemistry isn't as awkward

Reply 18