No four-digit code: BGCSE subjects are identified by name, so check your entry with your school and the BEC timetable. Shares the biology spine with the IGCSE subject, including the local ecology examples.
BGCSE subjects carry no four-digit code · no verification date claimed yet · 10 questions available on this subject's topics (28 marks)
A cell is 0.05 mm long. In a photograph it appears as 25 mm long. Calculate the magnification of the photograph.
2 marks · Calculate · Cells, microscopy and organisation
Answer: ×500
Both lengths must be in the same unit before dividing — here they already are. Convert first, then divide, then write the × sign with no unit.
A digestive enzyme works fastest at 37 °C. Explain why its activity falls sharply at 60 °C.
3 marks · Explain · Enzymes, digestion and absorption
Answer: The high temperature changes the shape of the enzyme active site (denaturation), so the substrate is no longer complementary and fewer enzyme–substrate complexes form.
Denaturation is a shape answer. Writing "the enzyme is killed" is a common phrasing and it is wrong: enzymes are molecules, not organisms.
Write the word equation for anaerobic respiration in human muscle.
2 marks · Write · Respiration, aerobic and anaerobic
Answer: glucose → lactic acid (energy released)
"Energy is made" is not acceptable — energy is released, not manufactured. Small wording, real mark.
Two parents are both carriers of a recessive condition (genotype Bb). State the expected ratio of unaffected to affected children, and explain your reasoning.
3 marks · State · Genetics, inheritance and variation
Answer: 3 unaffected : 1 affected (genotypes 1 BB : 2 Bb : 1 bb)
Draw the cross. A correct 3:1 with no visible gametes and no square is usually awarded fewer marks than the same answer with the working shown.
State two practical measures a settlement can take to reduce the spread of a water-borne disease such as cholera, and explain how each measure works.
3 marks · State and explain · Microorganisms, disease and prevention
Answer: Boil or treat the drinking water (kills the bacteria); wash hands with soap (removes bacteria from hands before food is handled); separate the washing area from the drinking point (removes the source of contamination).
The instruction "and explain how each works" means two marks per point: one for the measure, one for the mechanism. Two measures with no mechanism earns half.
Figure 1 describes a cross-section of a leaf: an upper layer of tightly packed cells containing many chloroplasts; a lower layer of loosely packed cells with air gaps; a waxy layer across the top surface; and small openings on the lower surface, each bordered by two curved cells.
4 marks · Describe · Transport in plants and water relations
Answer: Palisade layer: packed with chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Spongy layer: air gaps allow gas movement. Waxy cuticle: reduces water loss. Stomata with guard cells: allow carbon dioxide in and control water loss.
Describe means say what is there and what it does, in the order the figure presents it. Candidates lose marks by describing the whole leaf from memory instead of answering the figure in front of them.
Which structure is present in a plant cell but not in an animal cell?
1 mark · State · Cells, microscopy and organisation
Answer: Chloroplast
Watch the wording: cell wall is plant-only, but cell membrane is not. Questions like this are testing whether you read the word.
In an experiment, amylase digests 0.80 g of starch in 2.0 minutes. Calculate the rate of reaction in g per minute.
2 marks · Calculate · Enzymes, digestion and absorption
Answer: 0.40 g/min
Rates always carry two units — grams and minutes. A bare 0.40 loses the unit mark, and it is the easiest mark on the question.
A farmer ploughs a field and leaves the bare soil exposed for three weeks before planting. Compare the soil conditions on the ploughed field with those under the undisturbed grassland beside it, and explain why the ploughed field loses more topsoil.
4 marks · Compare · Ecology, food chains and energy transfer
Answer: Ploughed soil is loose, has little plant cover and dries out; the grassland has roots binding particles and a litter layer. Loose bare soil is lifted by wind and washed by rain, so both wind and water erosion remove more topsoil.
In compare questions, keep the two sides in the same sentence. A structure of "Field: ... Grassland: ..." repeated beats a long paragraph about one and a short afterthought about the other.
Figure 2 describes four features of a root hair cell: a long, thin extension of the cell surface; a large permanent vacuole filling much of the cell; no chloroplasts; and many mitochondria.
4 marks · Annotate / Label · Cells, microscopy and organisation
Answer: Root hair (extension) — increases surface area for water uptake. Large permanent vacuole — stores cell sap and keeps the cell rigid. No chloroplasts — the cell is underground, in darkness, so photosynthesis cannot occur. Many mitochondria — release energy for active transport of mineral ions.
Label questions are the cheapest marks on the paper and the most commonly rushed. Draw the line, name the part, then add its job in three or four words — the job is usually the mark you are actually being tested on.