Cells and Control | Edexcel GCSE Biology, Higher tier (1BI0)
Cells and Control
- 126 questions
- 9 subtopics
- Paper 1
- Paper 1
Cells and Control is examined in Paper 1, Biology 1.
It covers mitosis and the cell cycle, growth, repair and cancer, differentiation and percentile charts, stem cells in medicine, the structure of the brain and how it is investigated and treated, neurones, synapses and the reflex arc, and the structure of the eye and how its defects are corrected.
Sample questions from Cells and Control
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Mitosis and the cell cycle
Where do the chromosomes move to during metaphase?
Show the answer
They line up across the middle of the cell, attached to spindle fibres. -
Why mitosis matters: growth, repair and cancer
Why are offspring produced by asexual reproduction genetically identical to their parent?
Show the answer
They are made by mitosis, which produces cells with exactly the same chromosomes as the parent cell. -
Growth, differentiation and percentile charts
In which parts of an animal's body does cell division take place during growth?
Show the answer
Throughout the body, rather than only in special growth regions as in a plant. -
Stem cells and their use in medicine
What is a meristem?
Show the answer
A region at the tip of a plant shoot or root containing unspecialised cells that keep dividing. -
The structure and function of the brain
Which part of the brain coordinates movement and balance?
Show the answer
The cerebellum. -
Investigating and treating the brain
What can a PET scan reveal that a CT scan cannot?
Show the answer
How active each region of the brain is while the person is doing something, rather than only its structure. -
Neurones, receptors and the reflex arc
What is an axon?
Show the answer
A long fibre that carries the electrical impulse away from the cell body of a neurone. -
The structure and function of the eye
Describe how the eye focuses on a distant object.
Show the answer
The ciliary muscles relax, the suspensory ligaments are pulled tight and the lens is stretched thin.
The 9 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Mitosis and the cell cycle | Interphase, mitosis and cytokinesis as the cell cycle, the events of prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase, why the two daughter cells are diploid and genetically identical to the parent, and why DNA is copied before a cell divides. | 14 |
| Why mitosis matters: growth, repair and cancer | How mitosis brings about growth, repair and the replacement of gut lining cells, asexual reproduction such as strawberry runners, and cancer as uncontrolled cell division caused by changes in genes, forming tumours that damage healthy tissue. | 12 |
| Growth, differentiation and percentile charts | Growth by cell division, elongation and differentiation in plants and animals, how differentiation produces specialised cells such as red blood cells and root hair cells, and using percentile charts to monitor a baby's mass, length and head circumference over time. | 19 |
| Stem cells and their use in medicine | What a stem cell is, how embryonic and adult stem cells differ, what meristems can become, and the uses, sources, risks and objections in medical treatment. | 14 |
| The structure and function of the brain | The cerebral hemispheres, the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata, where each lies, what each controls, and which region is damaged when balance or breathing fails. | 8 |
| Investigating and treating the brain | Why the brain and spinal cord are hard to investigate and treat, how CT and PET scans work and what each reveals, how scans link brain regions to functions, and the limits of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and drugs for brain tumours and spinal cord injury. | 14 |
| Neurones, receptors and the reflex arc | Sensory receptors, sensory, relay and motor neurones, dendrons, axons and the myelin sheath, how neurotransmitters carry an impulse one way across a synapse, reflex actions and the parts of a reflex arc, effectors, and the reflex response to touching a hot pan. | 17 |
| The structure and function of the eye | The cornea and lens and how the ciliary muscles and suspensory ligaments focus on near and distant objects, the iris and pupil in bright light, rods and cones in the retina, the three types of cone cell, and the optic nerve. | 10 |
| Eye defects and how they are corrected | Cataracts and their replacement with an artificial lens, the causes of short- and long-sightedness and their correction with concave and convex lenses, contact lenses and laser surgery, and colour blindness, its cause in cone cells and why glasses cannot correct it. | 18 |
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
Edexcel GCSE Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,386 questions with their answers.