Lifestyle, Health and Risk | Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) (9BN0)

Lifestyle, Health and Risk

200 questions
13 subtopics
Topics 1 to 4, examined on all three papers
Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3

Covers the biological molecules the body is built from and the circulatory system that carries them: the cardiac cycle, blood vessels and clotting, how atherosclerosis develops, and how risk factors for cardiovascular disease are identified and treated..

It covers water and the carbohydrates, condensation, hydrolysis and glycosidic bonds, lipids, food tests and units, the cardiac cycle and the structure of the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries, core practical: caffeine and the heart rate of Daphnia, the blood clotting cascade, thrombus, embolus and their consequences, atherosclerosis and the risk factors for CVD, treatments for CVD, and cholesterol transport, bMI, waist-to-hip ratio and energy balance, correlation, causation and the design of health studies and risk perception, and handling quantitative data.

Sample questions from Lifestyle, Health and Risk

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Water and the carbohydrates

What is a disaccharide?

Show the answer
A carbohydrate formed from two monosaccharide units joined together.
Condensation, hydrolysis and glycosidic bonds

Which monosaccharides combine to form maltose?

Show the answer
Two glucose molecules.
The cardiac cycle and the structure of the heart

Describe what occurs during ventricular systole.

Show the answer
The ventricles contract, closing the atrioventricular valves and forcing blood out through the semilunar valves into the arteries.
Arteries, veins and capillaries

What type of tissue forms the capillary wall?

Show the answer
A single layer of endothelium.
The blood clotting cascade

What reaction does thrombin catalyse?

Show the answer
Thrombin catalyses the conversion of soluble fibrinogen into insoluble fibrin.
Thrombus, embolus and their consequences

What can happen if a thrombus blocks a coronary artery?

Show the answer
It can cause a myocardial infarction (heart attack) by depriving heart muscle of oxygen.
Treatments for CVD, and cholesterol transport

How do anticoagulants reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease?

Show the answer
By decreasing blood clot formation, preventing blockage of narrowed arteries.
BMI, waist-to-hip ratio and energy balance

State three factors that affect a person's basal metabolic rate.

Show the answer
Body mass, the proportion of muscle to fat (so BMR is usually higher in males), and age, since BMR falls as people get older.

The 13 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Water and the carbohydrates	Recall questions on why water is a polar solvent, and on monosaccharides, disaccharides and the polysaccharides used for storage.	17
Condensation, hydrolysis and glycosidic bonds	Recall questions on how monosaccharides join, the glycosidic bond, and how condensation and hydrolysis reverse one another.	8
Lipids, food tests and units	Recall questions on triglycerides and ester bonds, saturated against unsaturated fatty acids, the food tests and their colour changes, and unit conversion.	15
The cardiac cycle and the structure of the heart	Recall questions on why large organisms need mass transport, the three stages of the cardiac cycle, and the chambers, valves and vessels of the heart.	19
Arteries, veins and capillaries	Recall questions on the wall structure and lumen of each vessel type, and on how each is suited to the pressure it carries.	10
Core practical: caffeine and the heart rate of Daphnia	Recall questions on preparing Daphnia, the variables in the investigation, and the ethical considerations of using invertebrates.	8
The blood clotting cascade	Recall questions on thromboplastin, prothrombin, thrombin, fibrinogen and fibrin, and the order in which they act.	13
Thrombus, embolus and their consequences	Recall questions on why clots form inappropriately, and on what happens when a thrombus or embolus blocks an artery.	8
Atherosclerosis and the risk factors for CVD	Recall questions on endothelial damage and plaque formation, and on genetics, diet, age, sex, blood pressure, smoking and inactivity as risk factors.	11
Treatments for CVD, and cholesterol transport	Recall questions on antihypertensives, statins, anticoagulants and platelet inhibitors and their risks, and on the roles of HDL and LDL.	13
BMI, waist-to-hip ratio and energy balance	Recall questions on calculating BMI and waist-to-hip ratio, how exercise, stopping smoking and diet cut heart disease risk, energy balance, investigating vitamin C with DCPIP, basal metabolic rate, and calculating energy budgets and the fat gained from a surplus.	27
Correlation, causation and the design of health studies	Recall questions on using illness and death figures to identify risk, correlation against causation, confounding variables and conflicting evidence, sample selection and size, validity and reliability, accuracy and precision, random and systematic error, and percentage error.	21
Risk perception, and handling quantitative data	Recall questions on why perceived risk differs from actual risk, measurement and instrumentation, serial dilutions and significant figures, choosing and reading graphs, estimating answers to check calculations, and the mathematical symbols and significance levels used in biology.	30

Lifestyle, Health and Risk is 200 of the 1,892 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.