OCR GCSE Combined Science Biology, Foundation tier Active Recall Guide (J250)
OCR · GCSE
OCR GCSE Combined Science Biology, Foundation tier Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification J250 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 806 questions across 6 topics and 51 subtopics, at Foundation tier, covering Paper 1 (Biology) and Paper 2 (Biology).
- OCR
- GCSE
- Specification J250
- 806 questions
Guide overview All topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR GCSE Combined Science A (Gateway Science, specification J250) is worth two GCSEs and is examined by six papers, two for each science, each 1 hour 10 minutes and 60 marks. The biology content is sat as Paper 1 (Biology) and Paper 2 (Biology), together a third of the qualification. This is the Foundation tier, which sits its own pair of papers and offers grades 5–5 to 1–1 of the double award.
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) Paper 1 (Biology) |
Cell Level Systems Organism Level Systems Scaling Up |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.7% |
|
Paper 2 (Biology) Paper 2 (Biology) |
Community Level Systems Genes, Inheritance and Selection Global Challenges |
1 hour 10 minutes | 60 marks | 16.7% |
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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Microscopy, and sub-cellular structures
What is a plasmid, and which kind of cell contains one?
Show the answer
A small ring of DNA separate from the main genetic material, found in bacterial cells. -
Cycling materials, and the role of microorganisms
Explain why materials such as carbon and nitrogen must be recycled in an ecosystem.
Show the answer
The supply of them is limited, so they have to be returned to the non-living surroundings for other organisms to take up and use again. -
Genetic terms, and the genome
What does homozygous mean?
Show the answer
Carrying two identical alleles of a gene. -
Field investigations, and human impact on ecosystems
What is a pooter and how does it work?
Show the answer
A small jar with two tubes for collecting insects; the user sucks on one tube so the insect is drawn through the other into the jar, and gauze stops it being swallowed. -
The nervous system and coordinated responses
What is an effector?
Show the answer
A muscle or a gland that carries out the response when an impulse arrives from a motor neurone. -
Diffusion, osmosis and active transport
What happens to a plant cell placed in a concentrated salt solution?
Show the answer
Water leaves it by osmosis, so the cell loses its turgor and the membrane pulls away from the cell wall.
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.
- Cell Level Systems181
- Community Level Systems51
- Genes, Inheritance and Selection118
- Global Challenges233
- Organism Level Systems76
- Scaling Up147
- What is meant by saying that a material cycles through an ecosystem?
- Name two elements that are cycled between the living and non-living parts of an ecosystem.
- What are the abiotic components of an ecosystem?
- What are the biotic components of an ecosystem?
- Which cycled element do organisms need in order to make proteins?
- Which cycled element forms the framework of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins in living things?
- Explain why materials such as carbon and nitrogen must be recycled in an ecosystem.
- Name a material other than carbon and nitrogen that cycles between organisms and their surroundings.
- Which two groups of microorganisms act as the main decomposers in an ecosystem?
- It moves repeatedly between the living organisms and their non-living surroundings, being used and then returned rather than used up.
- Carbon and nitrogen.
- The non-living parts, such as the air, water, soil and rock.
- The living organisms, such as plants, animals, fungi and bacteria.
- Nitrogen.
- Carbon.
- The supply of them is limited, so they have to be returned to the non-living surroundings for other organisms to take up and use again.
- Water.
- Bacteria and fungi.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Gateway or Twenty First Century? Which am I on?
OCR runs two GCSE science suites. Gateway Science is Combined Science A, J250, which is this guide. Twenty First Century Science is Combined Science B, J260 and is organised completely differently.
The code is on your exam timetable. Gateway biology topics are numbered B1 to B6.
Higher or Foundation. Which do I need?
This is the Foundation tier guide, offering grades 5-5 to 1-1 of the double award.
At OCR the tier also changes the paper number. Foundation sits Papers 1 to 6 and Higher sits Papers 7 to 12. You are sitting Paper 1 (Biology) and Paper 2 (Biology).
Your teacher decides the entry, usually during Year 11. If you are moved up to Higher you will need the Higher guide, which adds the higher-tier content.
I do the separate sciences, not Combined Science.
Then you need a different guide. The separate sciences are Biology A (J247) and they examine more biology than Combined Science does.
The one you want is OCR GCSE Biology A, Foundation.
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 (Biology) covers Cell Level Systems, Organism Level Systems, Scaling Up. Paper 2 (Biology) covers Community Level Systems, Genes, Inheritance and Selection, Global Challenges.
The second paper assumes the content of the first, so nothing from the first half is ever safely dropped. The full breakdown is here.
OCR GCSE Combined Science Biology, Foundation tier Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.