Percentage Uniform Marks (PUM) Explained: A Comprehensive Guide
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11,161 responses
Is there anybody here who did Biology paper 3 variant 1 and not variant 2?
and if there is, what do u say about it?
It was very strange. I was so surprised (and annoyed) about there being no mention of digestion, excretion, respiration, pollution, plant reproduction, inheritance… where was the biology in that paper? and that 5 mark question about what happens after fertilisation, before implantation, oh God. A few topics people generally neglected (i.e menstrual cycle) came up and it felt a bit more like a paper 6 in some parts. Overall, i have mixed feelings about that paper, i was able to answer all questions except 1 but It was tough and i didn’t have time to check any of my answers so I’m pretty sure i dropped a lot of marks /:
what about you, how did you find it?
yeah the bio paper 31 was the worst… no genetics nothing!!! Was not like any other past papers that i have done and i did all the past papers before the exam.
easy but lengthy.
well, it was hard for some students
what did you write for the 5 mark fertilisation question then? oh and the social implications of the fertility hormones and the appearance of the flaccid plant cell?
fertilisation before implantation question:
1. the fertilisation membrane is formed preventing other sperms entering.
2. menstrualy cycle stops.
3. mammary glands stimulated.
4. oestrogen level increases to inhibit production of FSH and LH.
5. Mitosis occurs and the zygote becomes embryo.
6. cilia surrounding the oviduct push the fertilised egg cell into the utersus where it is implanted.
question about the implications:
1. alot pregnancies take place, this causes babie to weaken and die which has emotional problems.
2. in case the weak babies live, they undergo alot of medical attention and surgeries which is expensive.
question about the plant cell:
1. the appearane of the cell is because of plasmolysis.
the cell membrane teared away from the cell wall because of cytoplasm shrinkage and water loss.
2. the second question about water potential: th cell lost alot of water in the concentrated solution down the water potential gradient through a partially permeable membrane by osmosis.
so yeah, that sums it up.
I also think that I lost many marks in the human reproduction question, I tree it did feel more as a paper 6 :/
Agree, not tree ??
I found it alrightbut tooo lengthy! I dint have time to revise my answers. what did you do for the calculation question? last page?
You’re probably write about the calculation btw don’t worry 🙂 What did you write for the five mark question about what happens after fertilisation? Oh and for the question that asked for two features of molluscs is it fine if i said; 1. Muscular foot and 2. Tentacles.
And do you remember the names of all the blood vessels that were on the table in the question about the circulatory system? I just remember there was the vena cava, renal vein, renal artery, hepatic portal vein… what else?
pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein for sure.
the molluscs question i wrote: 1. soft bodies
2. unsegmented bodies.
as for the fertilisation question scroll up, i wrote it there.
ohh ok thanks. Do you think i would get the marks for saying molluscs have a muscular foot and tentacles?
Dear IGCSE centre,
I was looking through the english literature folder 0486, and I notice that the past papers are very different to the papers we are going to do now. So do you know if in paper 1 (poetry and prose) we will get the choice between poems and the choice between the novel or a short story? Also is there no mark schemes for the past papers? I only read the first few pages and then band descriptors but nothing else.
Thank you very much on your response. And thank you very much on your hard work for this website it really is very helpful.
Zeena
Hi Zeena,
There are lots of mark scheme “inside” the folder above. Just download them. You must look at the 2015 specimen mark scheme since there are changes of syllabus.
what are the poems and prose that are in your syllabus?
Hey guys, so right now I checked the 2016 specimen paper and it?s very different and has these weird questions so should I worry since i dont know half the paper?! Its not even in my book.
No dude you don’t need to worry. Those are for the batch of students giving their exams next year
for bio p31 I want to know the answers for a couple of questions…
1. What was the answer to the last question on the wolves remaining at 50? (5 marks)
2. What was region Y any why was it flat on the graph on photosynthesis?
3. Describe the appearance of the plant cell placed in conc. salt solution?
Any help would be appreciated as im itching to know if i got them right! 🙂
honestly these are the 3 questions that got me confused
i wrote like 2 points then got stuck not knowing how to continue it
but thats a summary about what i mainly wrote
1-> wolfs has only one kind of preys ,the moose, so they will be greatly effected by their increase or decrease in number. while the moose has 2 kind of foods/preys wtver, so if the young thinngies decrease in number they wont be greatly effected as there is another kind of preys to eat. i also mentioned that the energy level decrease so they are receiving small amount of energy by the large amount of moose present, thus limiting their number
2->region Y is flat as the CO2 is not the limiting factor anymore…a limiting factor is a factor as it increase the rate of photosynthesis increase…or the opposite…it has a direct effect on the rate of photo. so, since the graph showed a constant rate even the the CO2 % is increasing…then the CO2 is not the limiting factor anymore. it may be the light intensity or the temperature the plant is absorbing.
3-> in this question u have to DESCRIBE so u say cell wall and cell membrane got separated….. vacuole shrinked or decreased greatly in size….nucleus looks unaffected…..cytoplasm too…
idk thats what i wrote
———————————————————————————————————–
anyways
if someone wrote something different PLEASE post
i would like to compare my answers 🙂
and the question for calculating
what did u get as an answer?
i got 1.3%
also the very smart girls in our class got 1.3%
what did u guys get
1.3 % not sensiple !!!!!
For biology paper 31, I want to know the answers for a couple of questions…
1. What was the answer to the last question on the wolves remaining at 50? (5 marks)
2. What was region Y any why was it flat on the graph on photosynthesis?
3. Describe the appearance of the plant cell placed in conc. salt solution?
Any help would be appreciated as im itching to know if i got them right! 🙂
1. i kind of just rambled on about there not being enough energy to support a larger wolf population because energy is lost at each trophic level, I really don’t understand why it was worth 5 marks.
2. I wrote the carbon dioxide concentration was high enough for the plant so it was no longer a limiting factor
3. that one was tough, i said the cell was flaccid and there were ‘gaps’ (idk) on the edges of the cell membrane.. i answered that question really badly
What about you? Oh and what did you write for the 5 mark question on what happens after fertilisation after the embryo secretes HCG?
No, the question about the plant cell was plasmolysis.
the cell membrane teared away from the cell wall because of loss of water and cytoplasm shrinkage.
the question after it was describing why it looked like that and it was because it lost alot of water by osmosis and became plasmolysed
though plasmolysis wont work, its “osmosis”
i think the rest of ur answer is correct
plasmolysed? what? is that even in the book? hahaha I’m failing
for u najiya thats what i wrote:
after fertilization the following things happen:
the egg develops a membrane to prevent any more sperms to enter
the menstrual cycle stops
the corpus lutum continue secreting oestrogen n progesterone to prevent menstruation and to make walls ready for implaantation
No FSH or LH released to prevent any follicle to develop , n so prevent any ovulation
hmmm i think 2 points more but i forgot
You also have mention I guess that zygote is formed than by mitosis a ball of cell called embroy is formed!
for ur 1st qn, yes as i remember the last qn was was for 5 marks
for ur 2nd qn, in rejoin y the concentration of co2 is the limiting factor ( before it straighten)
because as the conc increase the rate of photosynthesis increase once the line is straight, the conc of co2 is not a limiting reagent.
for ur 3rd qn, the plant cell flacid, simple because it was placed in a salty solution, so water move out of it by osmosis from higher to lower water potntial throught partially permeable membrane.
btw, these were nt the most hard questions :/
Ya n for the wolf question I guess we could mention that the wolves didnt have any other food than the moose thats why it only feed on them!! N the environment might not be sutaible feo wolve breeding!
What did you get for the question with the Fertility drugs?