GCSE
BIOLOGY
BL3HP
Report on the Examination
4401
June 2013
Version: 1.0
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE BIOLOGY – BL3HP – JUNE 2013
General
A significant number of students displayed poor writing skills. Imprecise use of language often
meant that the meaning of the response was ambiguous and so could not be awarded the
available marks.
It is also important to note that scripts must be legible in order for examiners to read and credit
responses, and students need to be reminded to write in black ink and not to write too small. In
addition they must be encouraged to bring all correct equipment to the exam such as calculators.
Students need to ensure they read all the information in the question carefully and in particular pay
attention to the command word, for example ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ require very different
responses. In question 2, many students gave an explanation in part (a)(i) and a description in
(a)(ii) and then either swapped their answers around or crossed work out leaving only a small
space for a cramped answer.
Question 1 (Standard Demand)
(a)
This question was generally well answered, although a number of students confused the
atrium and ventricle.
(b) (i)
Many students were able to gain credit in this question.
(b) (ii)
The vast majority of students gave an appropriate method.
(b) (iii)
Many students who gained full marks for this question described the treatment
accurately and clearly. However, a worrying minority thought that the stent was
unblocking the artery by pushing the fat / cholesterol out of the artery and a number
were confusing the treatment with dialysis, pacemakers, gastric bands or valve
replacement. There was a significant number of students who described in detail the
mechanism of inserting the stent without referring to its role in holding the blood vessel
open and improving blood flow.
(c) (i)
Most students correctly identified the types of blood vessel. When students did not gain
full marks it was most commonly due to confusing the artery and vein.
(c) (ii)
Students found this question difficult and many did not seem to understand the term
composition as they were referring to general differences between arteries and veins
such as the thickness of the muscular wall and pressure differences. The most common
correct answer was to describe blood in F as deoxygenated.
Question 2 (Standard Demand)
(a) (i)
Most students correctly identified that the volume of the lungs increased and then
decreased, and often correctly identified the peak. Although there were many very good
answers which received maximum marks, there was a surprising amount of confusion,
resulting from misreading the question. There was a significant number of students who
correctly identified the peak at 1.2s and subsequently lost the mark by stating that this
peak was at 4.8dm3 as opposed to 0.48dm3.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE BIOLOGY – BL3HP – JUNE 2013
(a) (ii)
Many students struggled to clearly articulate their answers to this question or
contradicted themselves in their answers. For example, students talked about the ribs
expanding or that when breathing in the ribs move up and in.
(b) (i)
Students found this question difficult and often repeated the information in the stem of
the question. When students did gain marks it was often for the idea of the modern
ventilator forcing air into the lungs. Very few students identified that it was the
atmospheric pressure forcing air into the lungs in the iron lung.
(b) (ii)
In this question all the expected correct responses were seen, but students seemed to
be drawing solely on the information given in the question in spite of the clear
requirement in the specification to be able to evaluate artificial ventilators. A significant
number of students incorrectly talked about the cost of the equipment or the need for
doctors to be present.
Question 3 (Standard Demand)
(a) (i)
Most students identified that the wheat to human chain transferred more energy, but
they failed to gain the mark as they did not give an indication of the magnitude of this for
the comparison, i.e. ten times more.
(a) (ii)
The most common correct answer referred to pigs using energy for movement or in
maintaining body temperature. Very few students identified that some parts of the pig
are not eaten or that there is loss in waste materials. Many students were vague in their
answers and incorrectly stated ‘growth’ of the pig as the reason.
(b)
Most students gave a high Level 2 or a Level 3 response. There were a wide range of
methods, advantages and disadvantages described. The most common methods being
restricted conditions and controlled temperature leading to less energy lost. Controlled
feeding, prophylactic use of antibiotics and controlled lighting were all referred to in
responses. Although there were some weaker answers, many students included more
than the required number of responses, giving a range of advantages to their methods,
including more egg laying, protection from predators, ease of vaccination or of antibiotics
to treat infections. Disadvantages beyond the idea of cruelty and poor quality of living
ranged to spread of diseases, wasting fossil fuels and the effect of antibiotics in the food
chain. Many students kept focused on the topic though some wasted their valuable time
explaining about selective breeding and free range hens. A few wrote in quite a lot of
detail about advantages and disadvantages, without naming specific factory farming
methods which lost them marks.
Question 4 (High Demand)
(a)
Generally students clearly explained the method of active transport as related to ion
uptake, and they were clear that this method was against the concentration gradient.
However, many students did not explain the difference in the concentration of ions
between the soil and the plant, merely stating that ‘there was more in the plant’.
Students found osmosis more difficult to explain as they were not clear that it was the
concentration of water that was different, and so many students stated ‘water moves
from a high concentration to a low concentration’ which is incorrect.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE BIOLOGY – BL3HP – JUNE 2013
(b)
This question did not prove difficult for students to access and they typically gained 2 or
3 marks. The only confusion stemmed from students referring to phloem in their
answers.
(c) (i)
A disappointingly low number of students gained full credit in this question which in
many cases was due to poor rounding of the answer. The most common incorrect
response was to divide the two numbers the wrong way around, i.e. 150/100 = 1.5.
(c) (ii)
In this question students were asked to give an explanation for the difference between
two distinct sections of the graph. Unfortunately many students did not clearly indicate
which section of the graph they were explaining. For example, ‘it was hotter’ was not
creditworthy whereas the simple addition of ‘at first..’ would have gained a mark as the
student would have been indicating the first section of the graph. Very few students
clearly gave an explanation for the second mark as they rarely explained the effect on
the rate of evaporation.
Question 5 (Standard and High Demand)
(a)
The vast majority of students gained credit for identifying oxygen and occasionally
carbon dioxide.
(b)
Some students were able to give complete descriptions of what makes a good surface
for diffusion such as large surface area, thin, good blood supply and correctly linked this
to an increase in exchange. The majority of students gained two marks for linking the
increased surface area to the increase in exchange. In a number of cases, students did
not make it clear that there was an increase in exchange, merely stating that exchange
was ‘easier’ which is not creditworthy. Many students also identified the presence of
eyes and their use in avoiding predators or finding food, but a significant number also
discussed the adaptations in terms of locomotion.
Question 6 (High Demand)
(a)
There was a good spread of marks for this question and some clear descriptions.
However there were many misconceptions evident in the answers to this question.
Capillaries dilating and constricting, blood vessels moving or blood vessels dilating to
release more sweat are incorrect. In addition some students did not gain credit as they
were not clear that it was the blood vessels supplying the skin that dilated / constricted.
(b)
A quarter of students gained all three marks for the explanation of the difficulty for sweat
to evaporate due to the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere. Many students
failed to gain the second mark point because they didn’t expand on the idea of poor
evaporation being due to high humidity – simply saying evaporation is less in humid
conditions was not sufficient to gain the second mark point. There were a number of
incorrect responses that suggested there is less oxygen in humid air because of the
water content which decreases respiration rates. There were also suggestions that the
water particles in the atmosphere were warm and that they are absorbed by the skin,
heating the athlete up.
Question 7 (High Demand)
(a)
This was a challenging question aimed at giving students the chance to analyse data
and apply detailed higher level concepts to interpret and explain. Many students did not
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – GCSE BIOLOGY – BL3HP – JUNE 2013
gain full marks on this question due to imprecise language in which they failed to link
their explanation to the blood glucose level in the hepatic portal vein or hepatic vein. For
the second mark point, students needed to be clear in their answer that it was the action
of insulin that caused the lower concentration in the hepatic vein.
(b) (i)
Students found this question very difficult and there were many misconceptions evident
in the responses. These included glucose used in respiration, acted on by insulin,
filtered into the blood and the suggested involvement of the kidneys.
(b) (ii)
Of the students who gained credit on this question there was an even spread across the
mark range 1 to 3. A significant number of students incorrectly described the role of
insulin here and hybrid words such as glycose, glucagen and glycogon meant that marks
were lost. A significant number of potentially high-scoring answers were reduced to 0 or
1 due to poor spelling and / or lack of attention to detail. There was evidence of
confusion between the roles of the pancreas, liver and hepatic vein.
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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