CIE A2 Paper 42 Biology - May 9th

Anyone here doing CIE Bio?

How'd you find the paper?

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I found it okay, I managed to answer all of the questions but definitely lost a few marks, especially on the mosquito question.
You?

Reply 2

Coolmeechy

They didnt ask any of the difficult topic questions which was weird. I really thought they would ask about muscle contraction!
How much do you guys write for the Section b qns?

Reply 3

Maylil

Original post by Coolmeechy

They didnt ask any of the difficult topic questions which was weird. I really thought they would ask about muscle contraction!
How much do you guys write for the Section b qns?

Yeah I was kind of annoyed they didn't ask about muscle contraction!! Was definitely expecting at least a couple of questions.

I did question 9, and found I wrote more for the 6 marker on glycolysis (brought anaerobic into it) than for the 9 marker on krebs! Bit worrying :s-smilie:

Reply 4

Coolmeechy

Original post by Maylil

Yeah I was kind of annoyed they didn't ask about muscle contraction!! Was definitely expecting at least a couple of questions.
I did question 9, and found I wrote more for the 6 marker on glycolysis (brought anaerobic into it) than for the 9 marker on krebs! Bit worrying :s-smilie:

Oh I did the same thing! I mean I chose option 9 AND ended up writing more for the glycolysis qn!
I wrote like a little more than a page for that and krebs cycle barely a page(including the diagram). Are diagrams allowed btw?? I didnt knw enough to write more so I drew the cycle. In pen.. I hope thats okay

Reply 5

Dohaeris

Original post by Maylil

Original post by Coolmeechy

I was also very surprised with the absence of any striated muscle questions. I spent a lot of time trying to memorize all those details.

For section B, I also did Q9. I thought that 9 marks was waay too much for Krebs cycle, so there's probably going to be a mark for every little detail. The problem with it is that a bunch of the Krebs cycle are just unstable intermediates, so there's nothing much to write.

Did either of you do the chemistry paper 42 today?

Reply 6

Coolmeechy

Original post by Dohaeris

Yea 9 marks is too much for tht one. I didnt know enough about the intermediates to explain the cycle well... Anyways what is done is done. What i am worried about is paper 1 but got enough time for that.
How are you preparing for paper 5 btw?

(I dont do Chem)

Reply 7

Dohaeris

Original post by Coolmeechy

Yeah, I couldn't remember the number of carbons in each intermediate, but I'm quite sure that they don't require that (i hope.)

Did you know the answer for those 2 reactions? The ones from phosphorylated glucose to glycogen and the reverse?

For paper 5, there really isn't much you can do. Make sure you understand the different statistical tests (t-test, simpson's index, chi-squared...), how to find the various degrees of freedom, and so on.

I've been doing that, and just trying to take in the different things that are common to many past papers, like explaining what standard deviation represents, the controls for different experiments and so on.

Reply 8

Coolmeechy

I didnt know but i wrote anabolism and metabolism.. but my friend wrote phosphorylation which makes more sense than metabolism.
What did you write?

Thanks for the paper 5 tips. I get confused with those tests all the time. And unfortunately for me, i've got two other tests that day so dont know how much studying can happen tomorrow afternoon.

Reply 9

Dohaeris

Original post by Coolmeechy

I wrote polymerisation and hydrolysis (because many small units = big units) but it's most likely wrong.

Damn, that's unfortunate. Don't worry too much about paper 5, it's USUALLY not too difficult. With a bit of luck, I'm sure you'll be fine

Reply 10

tuckerthetatman

I wrote glycogenesis and glycogenolysis for that question.

Reply 11

sara_od

Original post by tuckerthetatman

I wrote glycogenesis and glycogenolysis for that question.

i wrote condensation and hydrolysis

Reply 12

Dohaeris

Original post by tuckerthetatman

I wrote glycogenesis and glycogenolysis for that question.

That's probably right, tbh. Kudos to you for remembering them

Reply 13

Coolmeechy

Original post by Dohaeris

Original post by tuckerthetatman

I wrote glycogenesis and glycogenolysis for that question.

Original post by sara_od

i wrote condensation and hydrolysis

Wow I had never heard of glycogenesis until now! :redface:

It's obviously the most accurate answer but i hope they give marks for all the simpler terms that apply to the conversion too, like anabolism and polymerisation. This is scary.. or whatever. Que sera sera. haha

And @Dohaeris thanks...yea it usually isnt that hard. *Fingers crossed*

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 14

Wallflower73

saaaame! and i studied muscles inside out :frown:

Original post by Coolmeechy

They didnt ask any of the difficult topic questions which was weird. I really thought they would ask about muscle contraction!
How much do you guys write for the Section b qns?

Reply 15

mingomango

Original post by Coolmeechy

god damnit.... i put substrate-level phosphorylation which i just found out is
ADP + Pi -> ATP

Reply 16

sara_od

Any guesses for paper 5?

Reply 17

Coolmeechy

Here's what my teacher sent for paper 5. May help as a checklist...
Nothing is usually repeated from the past paper here. but still there r things to keep handy.
Learn the procedure for the following- while writing the procedure, write how u would deal with dependent,independent and control variables., as well as precautions.
1) Expts in photosynthesis
2) Photometer for transpiration
3) Pcr
4) Gel electrophoresis
5) DNA fingerprinting
6) Grid counting- hemocytometer
7) Beetroot- membrane permeability expt.
8) Respirometer s
9) Immobilizing enzymes
10) Chromatography
11) Serial/normal dilution.

Further, study biostatistics, null hypothesis, what is meant by significant and not significant at .05 etc.

Identify dependent and independent variable, calculate degrees of freedom,using radioactive probes,reasons for anomalous results, hardy Weinberg equation.

Genetic crosses and chi square test, collection and interpretation of data ..leaf size,surface area,etc

Calculation of stomatal index.when and where r each statistical test used.