SAT Questions for 9A Inheritance and Selection
Level by Level (1996 to 2006)
Commentary
Level
no. of qu.s
3
4
5
6
7
1
1
0
2
6
Implications of this for
planning/Revision?
Level 3
1.
Ben and Jason are identical twins. Ben plays football during break time. Jason has a
broken leg. He sits quietly in the classroom.
(a)
Tick the boxes by three sentences which can only describe Ben and not Jason.
He is sweating a lot.
He has brown hair.
His heart is beating faster
than usual.
He has blue eyes.
He is not sweating a lot.
He is breathing slowly.
His heart is beating slowly.
He is breathing very quickly.
3 marks
(b)
Which two sentences in the list above could describe both Ben and Jason during
that break time?
1. ..................................................................................................................
2. ..................................................................................................................
2 marks
Maximum 5 marks
1
Level 4
2.
The diagram shows two families. Some of the people in the diagram have freckles.
family A
family B
grandparents
Bob married to Emily
John married to Mary
parents
Rachel married to Bill
children
Pam married to David
Richard Penny Simon
Becca
Katie
key
(a)
(i)
and
person with
freckles
and
person without
freckles
Which children are most likely to have freckles?
Tick the correct boxes.
Richard
Simon
Katie
Penny
Becca
1 mark
(ii)
How did you decide?
.............................................................................................................
1 mark
(iii)
Suggest why Bill does not have freckles.
.............................................................................................................
1 mark
2
(b)
(i)
bone cell
muscle cell
Which two cells pass on information from parents to their children?
Tick the two correct boxes.
cheek cell
egg cell
red blood cell
sperm cell
1 mark
(ii)
Which organ system produces these two cells?
Tick the correct box.
circulatory system
digestive system
reproductive system
respiratory system
1 mark
maximum 5 marks
Level 6
3.
(a)
The drawings below show a stoat in summer and in winter.
stoat in summer
stoat in winter
In winter the ground is often covered by snow or frost. During this part of the
year a stoat’s fur is white.
Suggest two ways its white coat helps a stoat to survive in the winter.
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
2 marks
3
(b)
The diagram shows the family tree for a family of rabbits.
Use words from the list below to complete the sentences.
adapt
cytoplasm
letters
genes
membrane
grow
mutate
inherit
nuclei
Rabbits have the same fur colour all year round.
Young rabbits ............................................ fur colour from their parents.
Information about fur colour is passed on from one generation to
the next in the form of ................................... in the ..................................... of
an egg and sperm.
3 marks
Maximum 5 marks
4
4.
Uganda is a country close to the equator in Africa. Most Ugandan bred cows
produce only 1 litre of milk each day. In Britain, some cows can produce nearly
30 litres of milk each day. The milk yield of British cows exported to Uganda
drops dramatically, even though they get sufficient food.
(a)
Suggest why a British cow exported to Uganda would be less likely to
produce 30 litres of milk each day.
..................................................................................................................1 mark
By selectively breeding British and Ugandan cattle, it is possible to breed cows
which produce 10 litres of milk each day.
(b)
A Ugandan farmer wishes to continue the breeding programme to improve
his herd of cows further. When he is choosing which cows to use for
breeding, milk production is an important quality. Give two other important
qualities he could consider.
1. ..................................................................................................................
2. ...........................................................................................................2 marks
Maximum 3 marks
Level 7
5.
(a)
The diagram below shows the female reproductive system and a ciliated cell.
female reproductive
system
ciliated cell
not to scale
Ciliated cells move an ovum along part of the reproductive system.
(i)
In which part of the reproductive system are ciliated cells found?
.............................................................1 mark
(ii)
Describe how ciliated cells move an ovum along.
...............................................................................................................1 mark
5
(b)
The diagrams below represent what happens at fertilisation and after fertilisation
has taken place.
stage 1
stage 2
stage 3
not to scale
(i)
Some women find it difficult to become pregnant. Doctors have developed a
technique in which an ovum is fertilised in a test-tube. An embryo is then
implanted into the woman’s reproductive system.
Which stage in part (b) shows an embryo and which stage shows a foetus?
embryo ...........................................................foetus .........................................1 mark
(ii)
Into which part of the woman’s reproductive system is the embryo
implanted?
.............................................................1 mark
(c)
(i)
Explain why a child can look like both parents but is not identical to either of
the parents.
(ii)
In the table below, tick one box by each human characteristic to show
whether it is:
...............................................................................................................2 marks
inherited only
inherited and affected by environmental conditions.
human
characteristic
inherited only
inherited and
affected
by environmental
conditions
eye colour
skin colour
weight
1 mark
maximum 7 marks
6
6.
The quagga is an extinct animal that lived in Africa. Quaggas belonged to the same
group as zebras.
The drawings below show a zebra and a quagga.
(a)
Zebras and quaggas used to breed with each other. The offspring contained a
combination of both zebra and quagga genes (genetic information).
How were zebra and quagga genes passed on from the parents to their
offspring?
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
1 mark
(b)
These days there are some zebras that still show some quagga features.
Scientists are using zebras to try to produce quaggas by selective breeding.
Describe the steps in this selective breeding process.
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
3 marks
Maximum 4 marks
7
8
7.
A group of pupils recorded some different characteristics of pupils in their class.
The table below shows their results.
name
gender
height,
in cm
mass,
in kg
hand
span,
in cm
arm
span,
in cm
eye
colour
Julie
girl
152
48
17.2
160
blue
Laura
girl
157
54
15.0
141
green
Aftab
boy
159
49
18.4
172
brown
Jenna
girl
144
46
17.4
161
hazel
Barry
boy
148
49
17.4
162
blue
Oliver
boy
172
57
21.5
204
brown
Safina
girl
155
48
16.8
158
brown
Maria
girl
154
50
17.9
166
green
Amanat
girl
162
46
16.2
150
brown
Thomas
boy
157
49
19.9
186
blue
(a)
Oliver concluded that boys do not have green eyes.
Explain why his conclusion is not justified.
.....................................................................................................................
1 mark
(b)
Name two continuous variables in their table.
1. .....................................................
2. .....................................................
9
1 mark
(c)
Look at the scatter graphs below.
graph A
graph B
210
210
×
200
190
arm
180
span,
in cm 170
160
190
arm
180
span,
in cm 170
160
×
×
×
×
×
× ×
150
×
×
×
× ××
150
×
140
140
×
200
×
×
×
×
150 160 170
height, in cm
180
140
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
hand span, in cm
graph C
graph D
22
220
×
21
20
210
19
hand
span, 18
in cm 17
190
arm
span, 180
in cm 170
×
×
× × ×
×
×
16
15
150 160 170
height, in cm
×
×
160 ×
×
×
×
×
150 ×
×
14
140
×
200
×
180
140
×
46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60
mass, in kg
Use the data in the scatter graphs to show whether each of the conclusions
below is true, false or you cannot tell.
conclusions
true or false or cannot tell
Graph C shows that the shortest pupil
has the smallest hand span.
........................................
Graph B shows the strongest correlation
between two variables.
........................................
Graph A looks similar to graph C because of
the high correlation of arm span to hand span. ........................................
Boys are generally taller than girls.
........................................
2 marks
Maximum 4 marks
10
8.
Gareth was writing to a pen-friend. This is how he described himself:
I am a boy.
I weigh 600 N.
I am 16 years old.
I speak French.
I have brown eyes.
I have a scar on my chin.
I am 1.8 m tall.
(a)
From the list, choose two features which he must have inherited and which will
not have been affected by his environment.
1. ..................................................................................................................
2. ..................................................................................................................
2 marks
(b)
From the list, choose two features which will have been affected by both
inherited and environmental factors.
1. ..................................................................................................................
2. ..................................................................................................................
2 marks
(c)
Gareth measured the heights of the 16-year-old pupils at his school. He recorded
the distribution in a bar chart.
number of pupils in
each height range
height
He also collected data about the features in the list below.
11
Which two features would show a similarly shaped distribution to Gareth’s bar
chart?
Tick the two correct boxes.
Ability to roll the tongue.
Presence of ear lobes.
Mass of the pupil.
Circumference of the head.
Sex of the pupil.
2 marks
Maximum 6 marks
12