F215 - Revision thread 13th June 2011

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I think there wont be as much module 4 (brain, muscles etc ) in this exam. As there was a whole question on it carrying 24 marks. What do you guys think?

Reply 761

slacker07906

Going to do some revision for this soon. Animal responses I guess :smile:

Reply 762

Dandan10

Hey someone please explain to me the differences between DNA probe and primer ?
Also what is Interrupted Polymerase Chain Reaction ? and what are those fluorescence do ? I am so confused right now :frown:

Reply 763

bob dylan

does anyone have the markscheme for the jan11 paper?

Reply 764

ManPowa

Original post by bob dylan

does anyone have the markscheme for the jan11 paper?

Jan11_F215_MS.pdf
Here you go mate :smile:

Reply 765

bob dylan

Original post by ManPowa

Jan11_F215_MS.pdf
Here you go mate :smile:

Thanks

Reply 766

Mcfilly

Original post by jakehartley123

I think the most important thing in F215 is exam technique. you could learn the syllabus cover to cover by rote and still get (a lot) less than 50%.

What do you think we should consider when looking at every question? OCR markschemes are so damn specific it's unreal. :angry:

Yeh I know - I have learnt the whole spec :frown:

and there are a couple of things that I am not 100% on but when you have learnt the whole spec you'd think like "right i am ready for this exam" and then I do the practice papers and I am no where near where I should be for the grade I need :frown:

It sucks!! So hard :frown:

I have no idea what else I can do :frown:

Any suggestions?!!?

Reply 767

aquarius00

what is the purpose of the ganglion?? i dont get it?

Reply 768

sportycricketer

Original post by Mcfilly

Yeh I know - I have learnt the whole spec :frown:

It sucks!! So hard :frown:

I have no idea what else I can do :frown:

Any suggestions?!!?

It's because we're doing old spec questions, there are only two papers plus the specimen. Also the old questions have a slightly different style and the marks schemes are really inconsistent, thats why we are "nowhere near our grades". Thats what I think anyway and you cant really do timed assessments on the old spec cos you have to pick and choose questions :/ so its quite annoying as there is no practice! :frown:

Reply 769

jakehartley123

Original post by Mcfilly

Yeh I know - I have learnt the whole spec :frown:

It sucks!! So hard :frown:

I have no idea what else I can do :frown:

Any suggestions?!!?

I think what we should be doing when any question that isn't your standard 'What is...' 'How does...' etc. comes up is really thinking what the question is asking.

I mean, look at this little gem from June '10;
'Suggest 2 charateristics that researchers should look for when choosing an organism for research into how genes control development.' [2]

Now I don't know about you lot, but when I see this I'm thinking 'Similar to humans so research is relevant', or something that actually has something to do with genetic control, then I look at the mark scheme and they're giving out marks for 'Cheap', 'Small', 'Not rare'.

Strange exam indeed.

Reply 770

sportycricketer

For Golden Rice, do we need to know the method mentioned in the OCR Hienemann book or the PhillipAllan updates?? They are completely different!

Reply 771

Masderchef

Original post by sportycricketer

For Golden Rice, do we need to know the method mentioned in the OCR Hienemann book or the PhillipAllan updates?? They are completely different!

PhillipAllan updates?

Reply 772

heartskippedabeat

Original post by sillysal

anyone retaking f214?
is there a thread for it? im so screwed for f214

I am, I haven't even started revising for it yet :|
What did you get in january?
I wish it was before f215, would make so much more sense :tongue:

Reply 773

jakehartley123

Original post by sportycricketer

For Golden Rice, do we need to know the method mentioned in the OCR Hienemann book or the PhillipAllan updates?? They are completely different!

I've got:
2 genes are inserted into the rice genome so endosperm cells can synthesise beta carotene. The genes code for Phytoene Synthetase (from daffodils) and Crt 1 enzyme (from bacteria).
With these 2 genes inserted, rice can synthesise Beta carotene through the following metabolic pathway:
Precursor Molecules
(Phytoene synthetase)
Phytoene
(Crt 1)
Lycopene
(Enzymes already present in rice endosperm)
Beta carotene

With the words in brackets being the enzymes required at each stage.

Reply 774

ManPowa

Original post by heartskippedabeat

I am, I haven't even started revising for it yet :|
What did you get in january?
I wish it was before f215, would make so much more sense :tongue:

Can i ask what did you get for it in january? :smile:

Reply 775

ekta9

Original post by Dandan10

DNA probe is a short single stranded piece of DNA that is complementary to a piece of DNA being investigated. It's used only in electrophoresis. Basically the DNA probe can attach to the DNA by annealing to the base pairs by hydrogen bonding. Also it can be marked by a fluorescent marker so that when UV light is exposed to it then the fluorescent colour shows up.

Whereas a primer is used in PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). It's similar to a DNA probe as it is also a short single strand of DNA that binds to a section of DNA as or else the DNA polymerase enzyme can't bind to it!

Hope that helps. :s-smilie: