2015-DSE

MOCK EXAM
BIO
PAPER 1A

BIOLOGY PAPER 1
by Andy Tse
2 hours 30 minutes
This paper must be answered in English

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

(1) There are TWO sections, A and B, in this Paper. You are advised to finish Section A in about
35 minutes.
(2) Section A consists of multiple-choice questions in this question paper. Section B contains
conventional questions printed separately in Question-Answer Book B.
(3) Answers to Section A should be marked on the Multiple-choice Answer Sheet while answers to
Section B should be written in the spaces provided in Question-Answer Book B. The Answer
Sheet for Section A and the Question-Answer Book B for Section B will be collected
separately at the end of the examination.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SECTION A (MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS)

(1) Read carefully the instructions on the Answer Sheet. After the announcement of the start of
the examination, you should first write your candidate number and seat number in the spaces
provided. No extra time will be given for writing this information after the Time is up
announcement.
(2) When told to open this book, you should check that all the questions are there. Look for the
words END OF SECTION A after the last question.
(3) All questions carry equal marks.
(4) ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. You are advised to use an HB pencil to mark all the answers on
the Answer Sheet, so that wrong marks can be completely erased with a clean rubber. You
must mark the answers clearly; otherwise you will lose marks if the answers cannot be
captured.

(5) You should mark only ONE answer for each question. If you mark more than one answer, you
will receive NO MARKS for that question.
(6) No marks will be deducted for wrong answers.

Andy Tse Not to be taken away before the

All Rights Reserved 2015 end of the examination session

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There are 36 questions in this section.
The diagrams in this section are NOT necessarily drawn to scale.

1. The electronmicrograph below shows a bacterial cell.

The cell is considered prokaryotic because of the presence of

A. P
B. Q
C. R
D. S

Directions: Questions 2 and 3 refer to the following experiment:

A student carried out an experiment to study the effect of an inhibitor on the rate of an
enzymatic reaction at 25C. (Note that the concentration of inhibitor used is relatively
low.)

2. Which of the following graphs would best indicate the result of this experiment?

3. Besides temperature, which of the following variables need to be kept constant for the results to be
comparable?

(1) the amount of enzyme

(2) the amount of substrate
(3) total volume of the reaction mixture

A. (1) only
B. (1) and (2) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

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4. The graph below shows the threshold intensity of sound waves of various frequencies that can be
detected by a young man and an old man.

Which of the following can be deduced from the graph?

A. The old man is more sensitive to sound waves of frequencies over 3000 Hz.
B. The young man is most sensitive to sound waves of frequencies around 5000 Hz.
C. Both the young man and the old man are not able to detect sound waves of frequencies
over 10000 Hz.
D. A sound wave of 1000 Hz cannot be heard by both men if its intensity is lower than 20
dB.

5. Which of the following forms of deafness is unlikely to be cured?

A. overproduction of wax in the ear canal

B. holes in the eardrum
C. inflammation of the middle ear
D. damage to the cochlea

6. When a long-sighted man looks at a near object, which of the following is a correct event that takes
place in his eyes?

A. His ciliary muscles remain relaxed.

B. His lenses recoil to a thicker shape.
C. His circular iris muscles relax.
D. His suspensory ligaments contract.

Directions: Questions 7 to 9 refer to the following historical event:

In 1961, Jacob and Monod proposed the involvement of a mobile messenger, mRNA, in
protein synthesis. After that, the genetic codes were decoded.

7. Which of the following provides the evidence that supports their guess?

A. Nuclear pores are present on the nuclear membrane of eukaryotic cells.

B. DNA can never be found outside the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.
C. Protein synthesis takes place in the cytoplasm instead of the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.
D. Protein synthesis can take place in prokaryotic cells in the absence of nucleus.

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8. They also guessed that the messengers were of different sizes. Which of the following is the reason
for this guess?

A. There are 20 different amino acids for making protein.

B. Proteins vary in shape.
C. Proteins vary in size.
D. DNAs vary in length.

9. It is known that an amino acid can be encoded by more than one codon. The significance of this is

A. to speed up the process of translation.

B. to reduce the errors in translation.
C. to increase the occurrence of some important amino acids in the protein.
D. to ensure the production of the normal protein even when there are minor mutations in
the codons.

10. In humans, a genetic disease P is caused by an allele located on the X chromosome. A couple, who
are without disease P, have given birth to a boy with the disease. Which of the following can be
deduced from this information?

A. The boy is homozygous recessive for this trait.

B. Both parents are heterozgyous for this trait.
C. Disease P is caused by a dominant allele.
D. If the couple were to have another son, the chance of this son having disease P is 50%.

Directions: Questions 11 and 12 refer to the following description of a form of weight-reduction

surgery. A silicone balloon is inserted into the patients stomach through the mouth and
filled up with physiological saline as shown in the diagram below.

11. The surgery helps obese people to lose weight by

A. enhancing the development of a sense of fullness.

B. shrinking the stomach.
C. decreasing the time of digestion.
D. increasing the amount of food egested.

12. Which of the following may occur after the surgery?

A. an increase in the production of gastric juice

B. a reduction in mineral absorption in the ileum
C. an increase in the digestion in the duodenum
D. an increase in the loss of vitamins in faeces.

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13. The pleural membrane on one side of the thorax of a man is punctured. Which of the following is
not a consequence?

A. The breathing rate of this man will decrease.

B. Air will leak into the pleural cavity on that side.
C. The lung on that side will collapse.
D. The lung on the other side still works.

Directions: Questions 14 and 15 refer to the graph below, which shows the gaseous exchange of a
green leaf from midnight to 8 p.m.:

14. The leaf carried out photosynthesis during the period

A. M to Q only.
B. M to P only.
C. N to P only.
D. N to Q only.

15. Based on the graph, we may conclude that the highest rate of photosynthesis was 30 units. What
assumption has to be made in order to arrive at this conclusion?

A. The leaf did not carry out respiration during daytime.

B. The rate of photosynthesis of the leaf is the highest at time O.
C. The rate of respiration of the leaf was constant throughout the whole period.
D. The rate of respiration of the leaf was 5 units at time O.

16. In a potato plant, mitotic cell division takes place in

(1) the tuber.

(2) the anther.
(3) the ovary.

A. (1) only
B. (1) and (2) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

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17. The photomicrograph below shows the transverse section of a leaf blade of a plant species:

The natural habitat of this plant species is most likely

A. a desert.
B. the surface of a pond.
C. the bottom of a river.
D. the shady floor of a forest.

Directions : Questions 18 and 19 refer to the diagram below which shows some of the stages in the
nitrogen cycle:

18. Compound X is

A. amino acid.
B. fatty acid
C. glucose.
D. urea.

19. Which of the following stages involved the action of microorganisms?

A. only (2) and (3)

B. only (1), (2) and (3)
C. only (2), (3) and (4)
D. (1), (2), (3) and (4)

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Directions : Questions 20 and 21 refer to the diagram below which shows the food web found in a
terrestrial habitat:

20. With reference to the food web, what do you think are the feeding habits of grasshopper, mouse
and snake?

Grasshopper Mouse Snake

A. herbivorous carnivorous carnivorous
B. herbivorous omnivorous carnivorous
C. omnivorous carnivorous omnivorous
D. carnivorous herbivorous omnivorous

21. Which of the following is the short-term effect of removing the bug from the food web?

A. The number of grasshopper will decrease.

B. The number of mouse will increase.
C. The number of frog will increase.
D. The number of grass will decrease.

22. The photograph below shows two moths with different phenotypes on the bark of a tree from an
unpolluted region.

In England, before the Industrial Revolution, the dark-coloured moth was rare. During the
Industrial Revolution, the number of dark-coloured moth rapidly increased. Which of the following
correctly explains this phenomenon?

A. Light-coloured moths mutated in order to escape predators.

B. Industrial pollutants had changed the phenotype of the moths.
C. Dark-coloured moths escaped predators better, survived and reproduced.
D. Light-coloured moths had adapted to the dark environment and became dark-coloured.

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Directions: Questions 23 and 24 refer to the differences between the amino acid sequences in the
polypeptide chains of haemoglobins of four primate species:

Number of amino acids in the polypeptide chain

Primate species
different from that of humans
Human (H) 0
Gorilla (Go) 3
Gibbon (Gi) 8
Chimpanzee (C) 1

23. The differences in the amino acid sequences are most probably caused by

A. gene mutation.
B. chromosomal mutation.
C. random segregation.
D. crossing over

24. Based on the above information, which of the following diagrams best represents the evolutionary
tree of these four species?

Directions : Questions 25 and 26 refer to the diagram below which shows the functional areas of
the cerebral cortex :

25. A patient who suffered from a stroke was diagnosed to have part of area Q damaged.
Which of the following is a possible effect?

A. loss of memory
B. loss of smell
C. loss of vision
D. loss of the ability to move his leg

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26. A boy ran out of the classroom upon hearing the fire alarm. Which of the following provides the
correct route of nerve impulse transmission in his brain to bring about this response?

A. R
T
Q
B. R
Q
P
C. S
T
P
D. S
T
Q

27. Old people often suffer from joint pain during movement. Which of the following is/are the possible
causes(s)?

(1) wearing down of cartilage

(2) reduced secretion of synovial fluid
(3) tearing of tendon.

A. (1) only
B. (1) and (2) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

28. The diagram below shows an experiment conducted to test the hypothesis that light causes lateral
movement of auxins from the illuminated side to the dark side. The agar block from each side is
placed on one side of a decapitated coleoptile and the degree of bending is measured.

Set-up 1 Set-up 2

Which of the following observation is in support of this hypothesis ?

A. The agar blocks in set-up 1 caused the same degree of bending in coleoptiles.
B. The agar block from the dark side in set-up2 caused a greater degree of bending than the
block from the illuminated side.
C. The total degree of bending caused by the agar blocks in set-up 2 is more or less the
same as that caused by the agar blocks in set-up 1.
D. Compared with set-up 1, the agar block from the dark side in set-up2 caused a greater
degree of bending while the block from the illuminated side caused a smaller degree of
bending.

29. Which of the following stages in respiration generates NADH?

(1) conversion of triose phosphate to pyruvate.

(2) conversion of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA.
(3) regeneration of the 4-C acceptor in Krebs cycle.

A. (1) only
B. (1) and (2) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

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30. The graph below shows the pressure changes of the left atrium, left ventricle and aorta in a cardiac
cycle:

Which of the following correctly describes the event that happens at the specified moment?

A. Blood starts to pass from the ventricle into the aorta at W.

B. The ventricle starts to relax at X.
C. The aortic valve (semi-lunar valve) is closed at Y.
D. The bicuspid valve is closed at Z.

31. The photomicrographs below show some stages of cell division of a plant cell in the root tip.

Which of the following correctly describes the event that is happening at the corresponding stage?

Stage Event
A. P separation of homologous chromosomes
B. Q replication of DNA
C. R lining up of individual chromosomes
D. S formation of nuclear membrane

32. The colour and shape of the seeds of pea plants are controlled by genes located on different
homologous chromosomes. A heterozygous pea plant developed from a yellow and smooth seed is
self pollinated to give 240 seeds. How many of these seeds will have the same phenotype as the
parent plant?

A. 135
B. 120
C. 45
D. 15

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33. The photomicrograph below shows the chromosomes from a body cell of a person with a certain
condition.

Which of the following can be deduced from the above photomicrograph?

A. The condition is caused by gene mutation.

B. The condition is a sex-linked disorder.
C. The person is a male.
D. The person has only one sex chromosome.

34. A child can obtain antibodies in various ways. Which of the following ways of antibody acquisition
gives rise to active natural immunity?

A. antibodies obtained from breast milk

B. antibodies obtained through placenta before birth
C. antibodies produced as a result of infection with a pathogen
D. antibodies produced as a result of injection with a vaccine

35. The diagram below shows a pair of set-ups used to investigate the conditions for seed germination.
The tubes were kept at 25C.

The seeds in tube A germinated while those in tube B did not. What conclusion can be drawn?

A. Oxygen is necessary for seed germination.

B. Water is necessary for seed germination.
C. Either oxygen or water is necessary for seed germination.
D. No conclusion can be drawn.

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36. The photograph below shows the vertical section of a flower of a certain plant :

Which of the following cannot be deduced from the appearance of the flower?

A. It is insect-pollinated.
B. It has a low chance of self pollination.
C. Its seeds are dispersed by animals.
D. It produces sticky or spiky pollen grains.

END OF SECTION A
Go on to Question-Answer Book for questions on Section B

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