GCSE
Science B
SCB1FP
Report on the Examination
4500
June 2014
Version: 1.0
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE SCIENCE B – SCB1FP – JUNE 2014
General
Schools and students should be aware that examiners can only award marks for what they can see
and read. Illegible writing was often compounded by a failure to conform to the rubric on the front
of the paper that black ink or ball point should be used. Students should be given the opportunity
to practice writing concise structured accounts to describe processes. Students who are not given
this opportunity are at a great disadvantage.
Students should avoid the use of ‘it’ and ‘they’ as it is often unclear to what they are referring and
so cannot gain that particular mark.
It was noted that there was significant disparity between the judgemental boundary for coursework
and the quality of written examination responses seen for the same skills. For example question
4(c).
Question 1 (Low Demand)
(a) (i)
A majority of students were able to gain at least one mark here, with most gaining both
marks available. ‘Food’ was the most common incorrect answer.
(a) (ii)
This part was well answered with most students gaining both marks. ‘Light’ was the most
common incorrect answer.
(b) (i)
Most students gained at least one mark here with just over half gaining both marks. ‘Long
stem’ was the most common incorrect answer.
(b) (ii)
Answers were required to be in the context of being very cold rather than being a
predator. Fur and fat had to be qualified to gain the marks. 80% of students gained at
least one mark here, usually for ‘thick fur’, with just over half gaining both marks.
Question 2 (Low Demand)
The most commonly correct response was for ‘the big bang’. There was some confusion
between the Doppler effect and the red shift. 40% of students gained all three marks and
most students gained at least one mark.
Question 3 (Low Demand)
(a)
A majority of students gained at least one mark here, with two thirds gaining all three. The
most common error was to give ‘characteristics’ instead of ‘genes’.
(b) (i)
80% of students gained the one mark here.
(b) (ii)
Opinion was equally divided here between ‘kingdoms’, the correct answer, and ‘species’.
(c)
The most common answers given were 6 legs, wings and antennae (however spelt!). A
majority of students gained at least one mark here.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE SCIENCE B – SCB1FP – JUNE 2014
Question 4 (Low Demand)
(a) (i)
Two thirds of students correctly identified ‘ores’, with ‘fossil fuels’ being the most common
incorrect answer.
(a) (ii)
Half of the students were able to identify iron oxide as a compound. ‘Mixture’ was the
most common incorrect answer.
(a) (iii) The correct answer, ‘an element’ was selected by half of the students, with ‘compound’
being the most common incorrect choice.
(b)
Only 14% of students gained all three marks here. Most students were able to complete
the word equation for the production of carbon dioxide, but very few were able to complete
the reaction of carbon monoxide with iron oxide to produce iron.
(c) (i)
A third of students gained both marks for this question with half gaining at least one mark.
The most common error was to add together all of the numbers given.
(c) (ii)
90% of students were able to gain both marks for this question.
(c) (iii) Only 20% of students were able to give the two mark answer, with about 50% gaining 1
mark for an answer which went no further than ‘more carbon means more lead’. The
commonly seen ‘change the amount of carbon means a change in the amount of lead’
was insufficient for a mark.
Question 5 (Low Demand)
(a) (i)
This part was well answered but 12% of students gained no marks.
(a) (ii)
30% of students were unable to gain any marks for this part. Some appear to be
unfamiliar with the idea of pyramids.
(a) (iii) Only 25% of students could give the correct answer with ‘photosynthesis’ a common
incorrect suggestion.
(b) (i)
Generally this part was well done, but 20% of students were not even able to substitute
numbers into the equation. A mark was available for correct working out shown even with
an incorrect final answer. If working out is not shown there is no possibility of any marks
for an incorrect answer.
(b) (ii)
It was surprising that so few students were able to suggest one of the acceptable
alternatives to this part.
Question 6 (Standard Demand)
(a) (i)
Most students managed to name at least two types of radiation for one mark. In spite of
the instruction to name the types of radiation a significant number gave letters which
constitute a partial answer.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE SCIENCE B – SCB1FP – JUNE 2014
(a) (ii)
Many students were able to explain that the reason for their choice was that the graph
was ‘on zero’, but often either made no further comment or suggested that the telescopes
were not able to detect those sorts of radiation. Very few students recognised that the
radiation was present in space but something, the atmosphere, was stopping them from
reaching the Earth’s surface.
(b)
Many students gave the intuitive answer ‘visible light’ in spite of the fact that figure 2
shows that about 20% of visible light from space does not arrive at the Earth’s surface.
Fewer than half of the students were able to give the correct answer for this part.
(c)
Earth based telescopes are not necessarily easier to maintain or build or repair than
space based telescopes, but they are inherently easier to access to carry out the tasks
listed. Many answers were in terms of advantages for space based telescopes.
Question 7 (Standard Demand)
This section of the specification (Our changing planet 3.3.1.2/6/7/8/9) would appear to be
poorly known.
(a)
Students are expected to know or be able to deduce that the surface of the Earth would
be very volcanic, and therefore, very hot and lacking in liquid water. Many students chose
to write about what was not on the surface including trees, houses and dinosaurs.
(b) (i)
Only 17% of students could supply an acceptable answer to this part. ‘Photosynthesis’
was a frequent incorrect suggestion. There is a clear lack of knowledge and
understanding of sequences and time scales suggested by answers such as big bang, by
trees, burning fossil fuels, and decay.
(b) (ii)
The atmosphere contained little or no oxygen (‘less’ does not have the same meaning),
and was mainly carbon dioxide. A surprising number of students responses were not
about the atmosphere, and included; no planes/cars/factories/radios/people/trees. A
number of students described the present day atmosphere but did not make clear that that
was what they were doing.
(b) (iii) Plants were responsible for increasing oxygen levels or decreasing carbon dioxide levels.
A significant number of students gave ‘photosynthesis’, which is not an answer to this
question.
Question 8 (Standard Demand)
No marks could be awarded for a simple description of Figure 3. ‘Carbon goes from the
atmosphere to plants and then some goes back to the atmosphere or to animals or to
decomposers’. Students were required to add value by at least naming one process
involved. ‘Plants take carbon from the atmosphere for photosynthesis.’ The level is raised
by a more detailed response. ‘Plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to
photosynthesise to make food.’ A high level response would be, ‘The atmosphere
contains the carbon containing compound, carbon dioxide. Plants take carbon dioxide out
of the atmosphere during photosynthesis to make carbohydrate for growth. Respiration
returns carbon from carbohydrates to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.’
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE SCIENCE B – SCB1FP – JUNE 2014
Responses made demonstrated a lack of skill in writing continuous prose or writing a
coherent description, which was disappointing since Figure 3 gave a framework from
which to work. A number of students’ confused respiration and photosynthesis, and think
that plants get carbon dioxide from the ground. Few students were able to follow the
pathway of carbon in compounds through the cycle.
Poor or very small handwriting often in other than black ink or black ball point does
nothing to help communication.
Mark Ranges and Award of Grades
Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics
page of the AQA Website.
Converting Marks into UMS marks
Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below.
UMS conversion calculator www.aqa.org.uk/umsconversion
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