What is the answer to this Biology question?

I went to see some AS Biology past papers just to get a taste of what I will be dealing with in the real thing in May and the questions look structured pretty much the same way as GCSEs, I came across this question in the paper:
http://prntscr.com/gtsayb
And I thought "Oh I got this! I already revised it so I know it"
But when I looked at the mark scheme their answer was SO SO different from mine.
http://prntscr.com/gtscjc
I said "The membrane found on the surface of animal cells and just inside the cell wall of plant cells and prokaryotic cells. It's made mainly of lipids and proteins."
Or at least that's what the revision guide taught me. Is the mark scheme really right here? If not then what's the real answer to this question?

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Reply 1

HelpMe??

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(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

sulaimanali

The mark scheme is correct.

Reply 3

The RAR

Original post by HelpMe??

a plasma wat?

If you are doing AS Biology then it should sound familiar

Reply 4

sulaimanali

@HelpMe?? - A plasma membrane..cell membrane. The membrane phospholipids make up by forming a bilayer.

Reply 5

sulaimanali

I've done AS Biology in May/June and got an A.

Reply 6

sulaimanali

Your revision guide sounds too VAGUE. And RTQ properly.."describe the structure" ..the only bit your sentence answered was vaguely it being made of lipids and proteins.

Reply 7

sophiejbazan

You need to talk about the structure of the membrane, and not where it's found

Reply 8

najmat

Original post by The RAR

it is absolutely right , they are asking you about the structure which means they want you to write the components of the plasma membrane. They are not asking you about the plasma membrane location or comparing the animal cell plasma membrane to plant cell plasma membrane.
You need to understand the question before answering :smile:

Reply 9

HelpMe??

Original post by sulaimanali

@HelpMe?? - A plasma membrane..cell membrane. The membrane phospholipids make up by forming a bilayer.

I got confused at A

Reply 10

The RAR

Original post by sulaimanali

Your revision guide sounds too VAGUE. And RTQ properly.."describe the structure" ..the only bit your sentence answered was vaguely it being made of lipids and proteins.

Which book or revision guide would you recommend for AS Biology? Good thing I check up upon this otherwise I could have ended up revising my vague revision guide just to fail!
I am using this revision guide just if you want to know:
https://wordery.com/new-a-level-biology-ocr-a-year-1-as-complete-revision-practice-with-online-edition-cgp-books-9781782942863?currency=GBP&gtrck=ZjlTaVptTG1kQm9rSkpUVGpaUUNZYTdHaDU1TTJWeVFSU2xrZTdLNUp4OXZCdjl6MjErWmtNRFN1bnc0R1BOYWpaOUJYM2pLc1Rkd1NxaUwyaHZQWnc9PQ&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI14a9pbna1gIV6pPtCh22KApVEAQYAiABEgL5gPD_BwE

Reply 11

sulaimanali

@HelpMe?? what are u on about?

do you not know what a membrane is?

Reply 12

C_Yap

You have to talk about the phospholipid bilayer and the presence of channel/carrier proteins embedded in the membrane I think?

The difficulty in biology comes from not the content, but the application of knowledge. You can write everything correctly in the exam but reading the question slightly wrong, losing a bit of focus or applying the wrong exam technique can cost you marks. I got a B in my AS mocks because of that, despite revising hard.

And you said you wrote exactly what was said in the revision guide? Don't do that.

Reply 13

HelpMe??

Original post by The RAR

I don't study Biology but what I'm about to say will hold for all subjects. Revision guides are too vague, they are not suitable for the learner that really wants to understand their subject. Note, if you are aiming for the top grades you're going to want to thoroughly understand your subject.

Reply 14

HelpMe??

Original post by sulaimanali

@HelpMe?? what are u on about?

do you not know what a membrane is?

nope

I'm not the OP

Reply 15

sulaimanali

I think your revision guide is fine as I use CGP too for revision purposes but don't let that be the only thing you use. It's not the best for the top grades only...

Reply 16

sulaimanali

Get your official endorsed exam board textbook + CGP guide + past papers.

Reply 17

The RAR

Original post by HelpMe??

Apparently that's what my school said, revise from the revision guides and they told me to buy this exact CGP book.

Reply 18

sulaimanali

I am doing Edexcel SNAB by the way. Doing A2 at the moment.

Reply 19

sulaimanali

"Revise from the revision guides"...CGP is good for quick revision or getting complicated concepts clear because they don't have block texts or 24/7 sophisticaed language.