Metabolism and Exercise | OCR A-Level Biology B (Advancing Biology) (H422)
Metabolism and Exercise
- 131 questions
- 9 subtopics
- Biology content, examined on all three papers
- Component 01, Component 02 and Component 03
Metabolism and Exercise is examined in all three written papers — the specification states that Components 01, 02 and 03 can each assess content from any of the five modules, so nothing is confined to one paper.
It covers the consequences of exercise on the body, aerobic fitness and VO₂ max, training, F.I.T.T. factors and investigating fitness, enhancing athletic performance, haemoglobin and the transport of oxygen, oxygen dissociation curves of different respiratory pigments, oxygen deficit and oxygen debt, the structure of skeletal muscle and the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction.
Sample questions from Metabolism and Exercise
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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The consequences of exercise on the body
How does contraction of skeletal muscle help to increase venous return during exercise?
Show the answer
Contracting muscles squeeze the deep veins running between them, and the valves in those veins ensure the blood is pushed only towards the heart. -
Aerobic fitness and VO₂ max
Describe how VO₂ max is measured directly in a laboratory.
Show the answer
The subject exercises on a treadmill or cycle ergometer at steadily increasing intensity to exhaustion while their expired air is collected and analysed, and VO₂ max is the oxygen uptake at which it plateaus despite a further increase in workload. -
Training, F.I.T.T. factors and investigating fitness
What does time refer to in an exercise programme?
Show the answer
Time is the duration of each individual session, typically twenty to sixty minutes for aerobic training. -
Enhancing athletic performance
How is recombinant erythropoietin produced?
Show the answer
The human gene for erythropoietin is inserted into cultured cells, which then transcribe and translate it to make the hormone in quantity. -
Haemoglobin and the transport of oxygen
Explain why the oxygen dissociation curve of haemoglobin is S-shaped.
Show the answer
Binding of the first oxygen molecule alters the shape of the molecule so that the remaining binding sites become more accessible, making each of the next two easier to bind, while the fourth is harder because so few sites remain free. -
Oxygen dissociation curves of different respiratory pigments
Explain why fetal haemoglobin must have a higher affinity for oxygen than the mother's.
Show the answer
The partial pressure of oxygen in the placenta is low, and fetal haemoglobin can only load oxygen there if its affinity is high enough to take oxygen from the maternal haemoglobin, which unloads it. -
Oxygen deficit and oxygen debt
State the key difference between the oxygen deficit and the oxygen debt.
Show the answer
The deficit builds up at the start of exercise and is oxygen that was not supplied, whereas the debt is consumed after exercise has stopped and is the extra oxygen taken in to restore the body to its resting state. -
The structure of skeletal muscle
Describe what is meant by the A band and the I band of a sarcomere.
Show the answer
The A band is the dark region occupied by the full length of the thick myosin filaments, including where actin overlaps them, and the I band is the light region containing only thin actin filaments.
The 9 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| The consequences of exercise on the body | Recall questions on the immediate changes in breathing, cardiac output, blood distribution and venous return during exercise, creatine phosphate and lactate in muscle, long-term respiratory, cardiovascular and muscle adaptations to training, reduced heart disease risk, and the harm of excessive exercise. | 14 |
| Aerobic fitness and VO₂ max | Recall questions on aerobic fitness and VO₂ max, its units and calculation, direct laboratory measurement and indirect shuttle run and step tests, submaximal prediction, the effects of age, sex, training and inheritance, and why VO₂ max alone does not predict race performance. | 14 |
| Training, F.I.T.T. factors and investigating fitness | Recall questions on the frequency, intensity, type and time of the F.I.T.T. factors, progressive overload, measuring resting heart rate, recovery time and breathing rate, controlling a step test, primary and secondary data, the t-test, and ethical requirements for human volunteers. | 15 |
| Enhancing athletic performance | Recall questions on carbohydrate loading and its drawbacks, recombinant erythropoietin and its health risks, blood doping and why it is hard to detect, anabolic steroids and their side effects, and the arguments over which methods of enhancing performance are allowed. | 16 |
| Haemoglobin and the transport of oxygen | Recall questions on the structure of haemoglobin, loading and unloading of oxygen, the S-shaped dissociation curve, the Bohr effect, carbonic anhydrase and the chloride shift, the effects of pH and temperature on oxygen release, and carbon monoxide poisoning. | 15 |
| Oxygen dissociation curves of different respiratory pigments | Recall questions on reading oxygen dissociation curves, fetal haemoglobin and its higher affinity, myoglobin's structure, hyperbolic curve and role as an oxygen store, diving mammals, the effect of a right shift, and adaptation to high altitude. | 14 |
| Oxygen deficit and oxygen debt | Recall questions on the oxygen deficit at the start of exercise and how ATP is supplied meanwhile, the oxygen debt and what its oxygen is used for, the fate of lactate, reaching a steady state, and how fitness and exercise intensity change the deficit and debt. | 12 |
| The structure of skeletal muscle | Recall questions on muscle fibres, the sarcolemma, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic reticulum and T-tubules, the sarcomere and its A band, I band and H zone, thick and thin filaments, slow and fast twitch fibres, and preparing, measuring and testing chicken muscle fibres with ATP. | 16 |
| The sliding filament theory of muscle contraction | Recall questions on the sliding filament theory and banding changes, calcium ion release, troponin and tropomyosin, actomyosin cross-bridges and the power stroke, the roles of ATP, relaxation and antagonistic muscles, rigor after death, and creatine phosphate. | 15 |
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.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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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.
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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.
Nearby topics
OCR A-Level Biology B (Advancing Biology) Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 2,895 questions with their answers.