How did everyone find the Edexcel Biology B2 exam today?

Original post by oni176

I think the chamber question was just 1 mark? I'm not sure I used a ruler and got 3 at the end.

Cloning 6 marker - not much you can talk about but the keywords were important. You could have said the nucleus is removed from the diploid adult body cell. The nucleus is also removed from the egg cell (enucleation). Then the diploid adult body cell is inserted inside the enucleated egg cell where it is stimulated with an electric pulse to start mitotic division. An embryo started to grow and implanted to the surrogate mother, which is an example of asexual reproduction producing two identical genes.

Right, okay. I missed the two points about it being diploid and asexual production, but hey ho, they're not massively relevant points to the question so I don't think they will be key to getting full marks. I'm not sure though - I literally just recalled the 6 marker on a past paper about cloning and mentioned every point on the mark scheme. I think implanted and surrogate were marking points, but asexual and diploid weren't. I guess we'll see; you've definitely got the full 6 marks though!! tyvm for the help!

Reply 62

Izzie D

1

Original post by brithday

what did everyone write for organ x

I've put the lungs hope that's right

Reply 63

Original post by M463

Right, okay. I missed the two points about it being diploid and asexual production, but hey ho, they're not massively relevant points to the question so I don't think they will be key to getting full marks. I'm not sure though - I literally just recalled the 6 marker on a past paper about cloning and mentioned every point on the mark scheme. I think implanted and surrogate were marking points, but asexual and diploid weren't. I guess we'll see; you've definitely got the full 6 marks though!! tyvm for the help!

Hopefully.. That was a good paper but the grade boundaries are going to be very high for sure :biggrin:

Reply 64

brithday

8

asexual and asexual reproduction what qustion

Reply 65

Original post by oni176

Hopefully.. That was a good paper but the grade boundaries are going to be very high for sure :biggrin:

I'd disagree. I think it was okay, but much much harder than last year's which was easy. Grade boundaries last year were 47 for an A*

Reply 66

Izzie D

1

What did everyone put about question 1? The plants!!

Reply 67

mali473

18

Original post by ziddy

i mis read the question and wrote cappilaries

My friend wrote the same thing and I wasn't sure...but it asked for an 'organ' so i wrote lungs...not sure if I'm right though :/

Reply 68

Original post by M463

I'd disagree. I think it was okay, but much much harder than last year's which was easy. Grade boundaries last year were 47 for an A*

Then that would be very good indeed! I hope they will make it around 46-47 for an A*, but it looks as if they'll make it 52 instead.

Reply 69

HarryKane28

Original post by M463

I'd disagree. I think it was okay, but much much harder than last year's which was easy. Grade boundaries last year were 47 for an A*

Here's my view on it:

B1 - 52/60 for A*
C1 - 51/60 for A*
P1 - 44/60 for A*
B2 - 48/60 for A*

B2 was definitely not an easy paper with some 'dodgy' 6 markers and a few horrific questions (that heart diagram though!) but overall most of it was not that bad. More difficult than last years though but the grade boundary for last year should've been 50/60 for A*...

Reply 70

yukicookie

13

I realised now that I messed up so much. For the question about guard cells I wrote about CO2 instead of water and transpiration. For how does blood get to the lungs I thought it just asked about how the heart works so I said it was like a pump and the blood moves through the valves... then the six markes went even worse. The first one I only talked about pentadactyl and how it shows they had a common ancestor. The second I mixed up egg cell with nucleus (how the hell is a nucleus implanted into a surrogate mother?!?!). And to add to this misery I missed the last question. I was targeted an A*; well that went in the bin.

Reply 71

Original post by HarryKane28

Here's my view on it:

B1 - 52/60 for A*
C1 - 51/60 for A*
P1 - 44/60 for A*
B2 - 48/60 for A*

B2 was definitely not an easy paper with some 'dodgy' 6 markers and a few horrific questions (that heart diagram though!) but overall most of it was not that bad. More difficult than last years though but the grade boundary for last year should've been 50/60 for A*...

I agree with that heart diagram. That was confusing. Hopefully they'll make around 47-48 as an A*. They won't do it as 52 will they?

Reply 72

HarryKane28

Original post by oni176

I agree with that heart diagram. That was confusing. Hopefully they'll make around 47-48 as an A*. They won't do it as 52 will they?

B1 was unbelievably easy, the 6 markers were predictable and the overall paper was very very basic. Surely the grade boundaries will be as high as ever (52/60 for A*).

Reply 73

Original post by HarryKane28

B1 was unbelievably easy, the 6 markers were predictable and the overall paper was very very basic. Surely the grade boundaries will be as high as ever (52/60 for A*).

I'm talking about the B2 paper.

Reply 74

Original post by HarryKane28

Here's my view on it:

B1 - 52/60 for A*
C1 - 51/60 for A*
P1 - 44/60 for A*
B2 - 48/60 for A*

B2 was definitely not an easy paper with some 'dodgy' 6 markers and a few horrific questions (that heart diagram though!) but overall most of it was not that bad. More difficult than last years though but the grade boundary for last year should've been 50/60 for A*...

Yep I'd agree. The heart diagram was terrible - the lighter grey was oxygenated whicch confused me no end! It just required ALOT more thought and application than other papers. I reckon I got 50ish, so fingers crossed. But yeah, definitely not easy, some nice protein synthesis questions though - can't believe they never asked us to compare bacterial cells to another kind of cell! That's on almost every other paper ;D

Reply 75

HarryKane28

Original post by oni176

I'm talking about the B2 paper.

Oh well, although people say its easy, I believe some of the questions were just too difficult to allow there to be 50 or more out of 60 for an A*

Reply 76

shiraav3

Original post by mali473

My friend wrote the same thing and I wasn't sure...but it asked for an 'organ' so i wrote lungs...not sure if I'm right though :/

Lungs is correct. I wrote pulmonary artery which is also wrong

Reply 77

justscience18

can someone please tell me what they got for 1b as reasons why more plants grow on open grassland than woodland. also the last on how cloning is used to benefit health/science

Reply 78

Izzie D

1

Original post by Izzie D

What did everyone put about question 1? The plants!!

Anyone?

Reply 79