Look inside the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier guide (1SC0)

Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers

Look inside the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier guide

Questions for a subtopic print together. The answers for that section print after them. Nothing else is in the file.

Edexcel · GCSE · 1SC0
Combined Biology Higher
Active Recall Guide
968 questions
Combined Biology HigherContents
Contents
9 topics, 69 subtopics
  1. Key Concepts in Biology147
  2. Cells and Control76
  3. Genetics111
  4. Natural Selection and Genetic Modification73
  5. Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines126
  6. Plant Structures and Their Functions104
  7. Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis112
  8. Exchange and Transport in Animals115
  9. Ecosystems and Material Cycles104
ii
Cells and ControlQuestions
Cells and Control
Mitosis and the cell cycle
  1. What are the two main parts of the cell cycle?
  2. What happens to a cell during interphase?
  3. Name the four stages of mitosis in the order in which they happen.
  4. Describe what happens to the chromosomes and the nucleus during prophase.
  5. Where do the chromosomes move to during metaphase?
  6. Describe what happens during anaphase.
  7. What happens during telophase?
  8. What is cytokinesis?
  9. How many daughter cells are produced when one cell divides by mitosis?
12
Cells and ControlAnswers
Answers
Mitosis and the cell cycle
  1. Interphase, in which the cell grows and copies its DNA, followed by mitosis and cytokinesis, in which the cell divides.
  2. The cell grows and makes more sub-cellular structures such as mitochondria and ribosomes, and each chromosome is copied.
  3. Prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase.
  4. The chromosomes condense so they become visible, and the membrane around the nucleus breaks down.
  5. They line up across the middle of the cell, attached to spindle fibres.
  6. The spindle fibres pull the two copies of each chromosome apart, so one copy moves to each end of the cell.
  7. A new membrane forms around each of the two groups of chromosomes, so the cell now has two nuclei.
  8. The division of the cytoplasm and cell membrane, which finally separates one cell into two.
  9. Two.
13
Natural Selection and Genetic ModificationQuestions
Natural Selection and Genetic Modification
Fossil evidence for human evolution
  1. How old is the fossil skeleton known as Ardi, and which species does it belong to?
  2. What does the shape of Ardi's feet suggest about how she moved?
  3. State the approximate brain volume of Ardi.
  4. How old is the fossil skeleton known as Lucy, and which species does it belong to?
  5. Give two features of Lucy's skeleton showing she walked upright more effectively than Ardi.
  6. State the approximate brain volume of Lucy.
  7. Whose team discovered the fossil skeleton known as Turkana Boy, and where was it found?
  8. How old is Turkana Boy, and which species does the skeleton belong to?
  9. Give two ways in which Turkana Boy's skeleton is more like a modern human's than Lucy's is.
34
Natural Selection and Genetic ModificationAnswers
Answers
Fossil evidence for human evolution
  1. It is about 4.4 million years old and belongs to Ardipithecus ramidus.
  2. Her big toe was long and stuck out sideways, like a grasping thumb, which suggests she spent much of her time climbing in trees.
  3. About 300–350 cm³, similar to a modern chimpanzee.
  4. It is about 3.2 million years old and belongs to Australopithecus afarensis.
  5. Her feet were arched with the big toe in line with the others, and her leg and hip bones were shaped much more like a human's.
  6. About 400 cm³, only a little larger than the 300–350 cm³ of the older fossil Ardi.
  7. Richard Leakey's team, near Lake Turkana in Kenya.
  8. It is about 1.6 million years old and belongs to Homo erectus.
  9. He was much taller at roughly 1.6 m with short arms and long legs, and his brain volume was about 880 cm³, more than twice Lucy's.
35
Animal Coordination, Control and HomeostasisQuestions
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis
Hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasis
  1. What is a hormone?
  2. How does a hormone travel from the gland that makes it to the part of the body it affects?
  3. What is meant by the target organ of a hormone?
  4. Which gland lies just beneath the brain and releases hormones that control several other endocrine glands?
  5. Where in the body is the thyroid gland found, and which hormone does it release?
  6. Which organ lying behind the stomach releases hormones that control blood glucose?
  7. Where are the adrenal glands found?
  8. Which reproductive hormone is released by the testes, and which by the ovaries?
  9. A hormone reaches every organ in the body, yet only some organs respond. Explain why.
56
Animal Coordination, Control and HomeostasisAnswers
Answers
Hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasis
  1. A hormone is a chemical messenger made by an endocrine gland and carried around the body in the blood.
  2. It is released straight into the bloodstream and carried dissolved in the blood plasma.
  3. The target organ is the organ a hormone acts on, because its cells carry receptors that the hormone binds to.
  4. The pituitary gland.
  5. It is found in the neck, and it releases thyroxine.
  6. The pancreas.
  7. There is one adrenal gland sitting on top of each kidney.
  8. The testes release testosterone and the ovaries release oestrogen and progesterone.
  9. Only the cells of the target organ have the specific receptor that the hormone can bind to.
57
Keep going
968
questions
69 subtopics

Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.

968 questions
Across 69 subtopics, every one of them from specification 1SC0.
One PDF
Print it, or work from a screen with a notebook beside you.
Answers after, not beside
Covering the answers is a matter of not turning the page, which is what makes the closed-book pass possible.

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.

  1. Step 1 · Closed book

    Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

Sent to your email on purchase as a PDF.Get the guide, £7

Edexcel GCSE Combined Science Biology, Higher tier Active Recall Guide

Every question paired with its answer, ready to work in three passes.

£7 GBP
Get the guide

Digital PDF, sent to the email address on your order.

Other Edexcel GCSE guides

Biology (Higher)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Chemistry (Higher)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Physics (Higher)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Biology (Foundation)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Chemistry (Foundation)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Physics (Foundation)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Combined Chemistry (Higher)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Combined Physics (Higher)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide
Combined Biology (Foundation)
Edexcel GCSE active recall guide

All Edexcel GCSE guides All GCSE guides