Public Assessment of the HKDSE Biology Examination

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1 Public Assessment of the HKDSE Biology Examination 1. Public Assessment The public assessment of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) Biology Exam consists of a public examination component and a school-based assessment component. A. Public Examination component In Biology, the mark of the public examination component contributes 80% of the final subject mark. Paper Section Question types Weighing Duration Curriculum Section A Multiple-choice Questions 18% 2 hours Paper 1 Short Questions and Structured Compulsory Part Section B 42% 30 minutes / Essay-type Questions Elective Part Paper 2 Structured Questions 20% 1 hour (2 out of 4) B. School-based Assessment component In Biology, students are assessed by their teachers on their performance of a wide range of skills involved in practical related task throughout S.5 and S.6. The mark of the school-based assessment component contributes 20% of the final subject mark. Year of examination Assessment types Weighing Starting from 2012 Practical related component 20% 2. Standards-referenced Reporting The HKDSE makes use of standards-referenced reporting, which means candidates levels of performance will be reported with reference to a set of standards as defined by cut scores on the variable or scale for a given subject. The following diagram represents the set of standards for a given subject: Cut scores U Variable/ scale Within the context of the HKDSE there will be five cut scores, which will be used to distinguish five levels of performance (1 5), with 5 being the highest. The Level 5 candidates with the best performance will have their results annotated with the symbols and the next top group with the symbol. A performance below the threshold cut score for Level 1 will be labelled as Unclassified (U). II

2 Exam Strategies A. Time Allocation Paper 1 (Compulsory Part) 2 hours 30 minutes Section Suggested Time Allocation Approximate Time per Question A 35 minutes minutes B 105 minutes 5 10 minutes Allow 5 minutes for final checking. Paper 2 (Elective Part) 1 hour Time Allowed Approximate Time per Question 60 minutes (answering 2 out of 4 questions) minutes Allow 5 minutes for final checking. B. Answering Skills Paper 1A Multiple-choice Questions Mark only ONE answer for each question. DO NOT leave any questions unanswered even if you do not know the answer. Eliminate the incorrect options to choose the answer or even use wild guessing, if and only if you have no idea about the answer. DO NOT spend too much time in reading the options but pay attention to any key terms when you first read it. One or two incorrect terms make the whole concept incorrect. Pay attention to words like all, always, every, never,and none. Because there are no exceptions to the statement when these words are used the statement has higher chance to be incorrect. Circle questions that you are not sure about the answers so that you can identify and review the questions quickly in the final checking. Paper 1B and Paper 2 Short Questions and Structured / Essay-type Questions Skip the questions that you do not have confidence on. Go back to those questions after you have finished the others. Remember to write down both steps and answers for questions involving calculation. You can obtain marks for the steps even your answer is incorrect. Remember to write down a unit for your answer. Sometimes, you can copy the unit from the question. III

3 2012 and 2013 HKDSE Exam and Paper 1 (Compulsory Part) Paper 1A consists of 36 MC questions and Paper 1B consists of 84 marks. Distribution of Exam Questions: Topics 2013 HKDSE 2012 HKDSE Mock 1 Section A Section B Section A Section B Section A Section B I. Molecules of life 4 10 II. Cellular organization 1, 2, 3 1 1, 2, 3 III. Movement of substances across membrane 5, 23, 24, 25 18, 19, 20 IV. Cell cycle and division V. Cellular energetics 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 2, , 5, 6, 7, 8 1 VI. Basic genetics 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, , 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 35 VII. Molecular genetics 11, 12 18, VIII. Biodiversity and evolution 20, 21, , 15, 25, 26, 34 IX. Essential life processes in plants 6 3, 10, 11, 12 3, 5 11 X. Essential life processes in animals XI. Reproduction, growth and development 26, 30, , 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36 35, 36 13, 14, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 XII. Coordination and response 27, 28, 29 1, 2, 7 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 30 1, 10 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, , 22, 23 2, 5, 7, 10 XIII. Homeostasis 33, 34 7 XIV. Ecosystems 5, 8 16, , 17 6, 8 XV. Personal health XVI. Diseases XVII. Body defence mechanisms About 70% of the questions are set at the former HKCE Examination level. The rest (30% of the questions) are set at the former HKAL Examination level. Paper 2 (Elective Part) Paper 2 consists of four questions (20 marks each). Candidates should answer two questions. VI

4 Common Mistake Analysis 1. Title and labels are not given when drawing a labelled diagram. E.g.: Draw a labelled diagram of a plant cell. Wrong answer: Correct answer: Drawing of a plant cell cell wall cell membrane cytoplasm nucleus (Note: Draw simple 2-D line diagrams. Unless specified in the question, there is usually no need to draw 3-D diagrams. The labelling line for a label should touch the named part.) 2. For questions involving calculations, the unit of the answer is not given. E.g.: 5 cm 3 of water is loss by a plant in 30 minutes. Calculate the rate of water loss of the plant. Wrong answer: Correct answer: 5 30 = = cm3 /minute 3. No key or labels are given to a graph with two independent variables. E.g.: Plot a graph to show the yield of wheat when different amounts of inorganic fertilizers are added in the presence and in the absence of fungicides. Wrong answer: Correct answer: With the addition of fungicides Yield of wheat (arbitrary unit) Yield of wheat (arbitrary unit) Without the addition of fungicides Mass of inorganic fertilizers added (kg) Mass of inorganic fertilizers added (kg) VIII

5 There are 36 questions in this section. The diagrams in this section are NOT necessarily drawn to scale. 1. Which of the following processes in the nitrogen cycle is facilitated when the soil is waterlogged for a certain period of time during the rainy season? A. decomposition B. nitrification C. nitrogen fixation D. denitrification Directions: Questions 2 and 3 refer to the photograph below, which shows part of the human skeleton Which of the following joints are movable joints? A. 1 and 3 only B. 2 and 3 only C. 1, 3 and 5 only D. 1, 2, 3 and 5 only 3. Which of the following statements about structure 4 is correct? A. It has a rich source of calcium phosphate. B. It protects the upper legs. C. It breaks down old white blood cells. D. It stores fatty acids. MOCK 2 PAPER 1A Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.

6 4. The photographs 1 and 2 below show a kind of red flower and its fruit respectively. Structure A Structure B Answers written in the margins will not be marked. Structure C (a) Name structures A and B. Photograph 1 Photograph 2 (2 marks) Answers written in the margins will not be marked. (b) According to photograph 1, state the type of pollination that the flower carries out. Give one piece of evidence to support your answer. (3 marks) (c) Seeds can be seen after breaking open structure C. Suggest one possible reason why the space provided for holding seeds inside structure C sometimes is empty. (1 mark) Answers written in the margins will not be marked. MOCK 1 PAPER 1B Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co. Page total

7 Section A Human Physiology: Regulation and Control Answer ALL parts of the question. 1. (a) The diagram below shows two mechanical devices that have been surgically implanted into the chest of the patient suffering from total heart failure. These devices were proven to help pump blood out of the patient s heart after a series of animal trial. Heart Wire leading to the power supply Mechanical device (i) The device consists of durable turbines inside with two openings on the upper and lower sides respectively. The upper side of the device connects to a major blood vessel while the lower side of the device connects to a ventricle. (1) For a patient with total heart failure, suggest why two devices were essential instead of one. (2 marks) (2) The two devices replaced the functions of ventricles in a normal human heart. Briefly describe the pathway of blood flow returning from both ventricles to the first major organs after their contractions during a normal cardiac cycle. (2 marks) (3) Explain how a unidirectional blood flow could be maintained in a normal ventricle. (3 marks) MOCK 1 PAPER Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.

8 Mock Exam 3 3. (a) 0.5 A graph shows the change in lung volume in different time Lung volume (dm 3 ) Time (s) Title (T) 1 2 Correct choice of axes (A) 1 2 Labelling of axes with units (L) 1 Plotting (P) 1 The independent variable is normally placed on the lefthand side of a graph while the dependent variable is placed on the right-hand side. (b) The rate of breathing = ( 2 ) 6 60 = 20 breaths per minute (no unit, no mark) 1 The depth of breathing = 0.4 dm 3 (no unit, no mark) 1 (c) Lung pressure (mmhg) 4. (a), (b) 6s Time (s) 2 ph of Petri dish Final length of egg white cylinder (cm) Percentage change in length (%) Rate of protease activity (cm/minute) (c) Stomach 1 The optimum ph for protease activity is ph 1. 1 (d) Repeat the above experiment with more ph values / a narrower ph range (e.g. ph 1, ph 2, ph 3, ). Repeat the above experiment with two replicas for each ph value. Measure the weight of the egg white cylinder instead of measuring the length. Cut the egg white cylinder into smaller disks. any (a) From 8 to 12s, 1 the tension of the suspensory ligament was lowest. 1 The thickness of the lens was the highest because it was not pulled by the ligament. 1 This means that the person was watching the killer bee at the closest distance. 1 The ciliary muscle contracts to decrease the tension of the suspensory ligament. This increases the thickness of the lens in order to see a nearby object better Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.

9 Biology: Mock Exam Papers Second Edition Solution Guide 12. Development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria: Different bacteria can be found in a bacterial population. 1 Antibiotics kill the non-resistant bacteria. 1 More bacteria can be found in the population. 0 Consequences: Some antibiotics cannot kill bacteria. 1 Other pathogens have resistance. 0 More money is used. 0 The candidates fail to use specific terminology like genetic variation to explain the variety of different genes existing in the bacterial population. He/She simply states more bacteria can be found without explaining the reasons behind it. It is vague to say that More money is used is a consequence. Use specific terminology to explain the variety of different genes in the bacterial population. 12. Development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria: Genetic variation exists in the bacterial population, bacteria with antibiotic resistance and bacteria without antibiotic resistance. 1 Antibiotics kill the bacteria without resistance. 1 Bacteria with resistance survive and reproduce to produce more offspring. 1 Their proportion increases in the population and become the dominant species. 1 Consequences: Some antibiotics cannot kill bacteria and their effectiveness decreases. 1 The antibiotic resistance of bacteria may transfer to other pathogens. 1 More financial and human resources need to be invested to develop new antibiotics. 1 Communication max. 3 Mark award for communication: The candidates use specific terminology like genetic variation to explain the variety of different genes existing in the bacterial population. He/She clearly states that bacteria survive a n d r e p r o d u c e w h i c h increases the population of the resistant bacteria. It is more precise to divide resources into two different categories, financial and human resources, to explain a consequence. Mark Clarity of expression and relevance to the question Logical and systematic presentation 3 Answers are easy to understand. They are fluent showing good command of language. There is no or little irrelevant material. 2 Language used is understandable but there is some inappropriate use of words. A little relevant material is included, but does not mar the overall answer. A n s w e r s a r e w e l l s t r u c t u r e d showing coherence of thought and organisation of ideas. Answers are organised, but there is some repetition of ideas Hong Kong Educational Publishing Co.