Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide (1SC0)
Edexcel · GCSE
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 1SC0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 968 questions across 9 topics and 69 subtopics, at Higher tier, covering Paper 1 and Paper 2.
- Edexcel
- GCSE
- Specification 1SC0
- 968 questions
Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science (specification 1SC0) is worth two GCSEs and is examined by six papers, two for each science. The biology content is sat as Paper 1, Biology 1, and Paper 2, Biology 2, each 1 hour 10 minutes and 60 marks, together a third of the qualification. This is the Higher tier: it carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, and on the 17-grade double-award scale grades 4–4 to 9–9 are available, with a grade 4–3 allowed for a mark a small number of marks below the 4–4 boundary.
Combined Science covers three sciences in the time most schools give to two, which makes it the qualification where forgetting costs the most. Working one subtopic at a time is what keeps the biology third from slipping while the other two are being taught.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Biology 1 |
Key Concepts in Biology Cells and Control Genetics Natural Selection and Genetic Modification Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.67% |
|
Paper 2 Biology 2 |
Key Concepts in Biology Plant Structures and Their Functions Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis Exchange and Transport in Animals Ecosystems and Material Cycles |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.67% |
What is in the guide
All topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells
Explain why muscle cells contain very large numbers of mitochondria.
Show the answer
Mitochondria are the site of aerobic respiration, and contracting muscle needs a large and continuous supply of energy. -
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. -
Meiosis and the formation of gametes
How does the chromosome number of a cell made by meiosis compare with that of the parent cell?
Show the answer
Each daughter cell has half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. -
Natural selection and antibiotic resistance
Explain how natural selection can eventually give rise to a new species.
Show the answer
If two populations become separated and face different conditions, different alleles are selected in each until the two groups can no longer breed together to give fertile offspring. -
Health, disease and susceptibility
Describe the difference between a communicable and a non-communicable disease.
Show the answer
A communicable disease can be passed from one organism to another, while a non-communicable disease cannot be transmitted. -
Photosynthesis as an endothermic reaction
Explain why animals depend on photosynthetic organisms for their food.
Show the answer
Animals cannot make their own food, so they must obtain it by eating producers or by eating other animals that ate producers. -
Hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasis
Which organ lying behind the stomach releases hormones that control blood glucose?
Show the answer
The pancreas. -
Why multicellular organisms need exchange surfaces
State why mineral ions must be transported to cells.
Show the answer
Cells need mineral ions to build substances such as haemoglobin and to keep their chemical processes working.
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.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Key Concepts in Biology147
- Cells and Control76
- Genetics111
- Natural Selection and Genetic Modification73
- Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines126
- Plant Structures and Their Functions104
- Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis112
- Exchange and Transport in Animals115
- Ecosystems and Material Cycles104
- What are the two main parts of the cell cycle?
- What happens to a cell during interphase?
- Name the four stages of mitosis in the order in which they happen.
- Describe what happens to the chromosomes and the nucleus during prophase.
- Where do the chromosomes move to during metaphase?
- Describe what happens during anaphase.
- What happens during telophase?
- What is cytokinesis?
- How many daughter cells are produced when one cell divides by mitosis?
- Interphase, in which the cell grows and copies its DNA, followed by mitosis and cytokinesis, in which the cell divides.
- The cell grows and makes more sub-cellular structures such as mitochondria and ribosomes, and each chromosome is copied.
- Prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase.
- The chromosomes condense so they become visible, and the membrane around the nucleus breaks down.
- They line up across the middle of the cell, attached to spindle fibres.
- The spindle fibres pull the two copies of each chromosome apart, so one copy moves to each end of the cell.
- A new membrane forms around each of the two groups of chromosomes, so the cell now has two nuclei.
- The division of the cytoplasm and cell membrane, which finally separates one cell into two.
- Two.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
I do the separate sciences, not Combined Science.
Then you need a different guide. The separate sciences are examined on their own specifications, Biology (1BI0) among them, and they carry more biology than Combined Science does.
The one you want is Edexcel GCSE Biology, Higher.
Higher or Foundation. Which do I need?
This is the Higher tier guide, offering grades 9-9 to 4-4 of the double award, with an allowed 4-3.
Edexcel sits the same numbered papers at either tier, so Paper 1 and Paper 2 is what you sit whichever tier you are entered for. The tier changes the content and the grades available, not the paper numbers.
Higher carries everything on the Foundation papers plus the higher-tier content, so a student later moved to Foundation has lost nothing.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1, Biology 1, covers Key Concepts in Biology, Cells and Control, Genetics, Natural Selection and Genetic Modification, Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines. Paper 2, Biology 2, covers Key Concepts in Biology, Plant Structures and Their Functions, Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis, Exchange and Transport in Animals, Ecosystems and Material Cycles.
Note that the first topic appears on both papers. The full breakdown is here.
Are the core practicals examined?
Yes, on the written papers. Edexcel does not assess them separately, so questions about method, apparatus, variables and results appear inside the topics: microscopy, food tests, enzyme rate and pH, osmosis, photosynthesis rate, respiration rate, and field investigations using quadrats and transects.
Those questions are in the guide in the topics they belong to.
Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.