Biology — past papers by topic

DNA and RNA structure

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Gene expression: transcription and translation

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q41 markDetermine the correct tRNA anticodon corresponding to a given DNA triplet.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →
• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q51 markIdentify the event that marks the end of transcription in a eukaryotic cell.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Regulation of gene expression (prokaryotic operons; eukaryotic regulatory genes)

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Structure, function and post-translational modification of proteins

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DNA manipulation techniques (PCR, gel electrophoresis, DNA profiling, CRISPR-Cas9)

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Recombinant DNA technology and its applications

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Protein structure and function

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q21 markInterpret a temperature-vs-activity graph to identify which level of haemoglobin's protein structure is disrupted at a given temperature range.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Gene structure and regulation

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q61 markMatch descriptions of DNA regions to prokaryotic gene, operon, eukaryotic structural gene and regulatory gene categories.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

DNA manipulation techniques (CRISPR-Cas9)

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q7-93 marksInterpret an experimental design and gel electrophoresis results testing the role of guide RNA components in CRISPR-Cas9 function, and identify the resulting hypothesis.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

DNA manipulation techniques (DNA profiling, gel electrophoresis)

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q11-122 marksUse a DNA-profiling gel to identify a likely parent and explain what drives fragment migration through the gel.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

DNA manipulation techniques (PCR)

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q131 markIdentify a correct step in the polymerase chain reaction cycle.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

mRNA processing and recombinant DNA technology

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q15 marksDiagram the mRNA processing of a multi-exon gene with labelled modifications, and complete missing steps of a recombinant-plasmid method for producing a therapeutic protein in bacteria.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Operon regulation, gene expression modelling, evolution of the genetic code

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q211 marksExplain enzyme catalysis, interpret a graph of operon-controlled enzyme activity against a model simulation (covering repression and attenuation), critique limitations of the model, and reason about a consequence of a former stop codon evolving to code for an amino acid.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Enzyme structure, function and inhibition

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Photosynthesis: light-dependent and light-independent stages

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C3, C4 and CAM photosynthetic pathways and photorespiration

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Cellular respiration: glycolysis, Krebs cycle, electron transport chain

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Anaerobic fermentation pathways

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Biotechnological applications of biochemical pathway manipulation

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Photosynthesis and cellular respiration

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q14-218 marksA run of questions covering leaf arrangement and light capture, actual vs theoretical ATP yield, fermentation pathways producing acetic acid, inputs/outputs of photosynthesis and respiration stages, trends across limiting factors, and competitive enzyme inhibition of ATP synthase.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Rubisco activity in C3/C4/CAM plants; photorespiration; experimental design

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q39 marksComplete a table locating and timing Rubisco/photosynthetic activity across C3, C4 and CAM plants, explain temperature's effect on photorespiration rate, and design/critique a controlled experiment testing that relationship.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Cellular respiration, hypoxia, electron transport chain, research ethics

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q814 marksAnalyse an experiment injecting photosynthetic microorganisms into tadpoles to restore brain activity under hypoxia — covering choice of model organism, molecular requirements for oxygen production, why hypoxia halts neuron activity, a biochemical explanation for delayed activity restart, electron transport chain events, and evaluation of the study against bioethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Physical, chemical and microbiota barriers (first line of defence)

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Innate immune response (second line of defence)

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Adaptive immune response: humoral and cell-mediated immunity

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Antigens, antibodies and immunological memory

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Types of immunity: natural/artificial, active/passive

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Vaccination, herd immunity and monoclonal antibody therapies

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Antigenic drift and antigenic shift; emerging and re-emerging pathogens

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Innate and adaptive immune response

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q24-3310 marksA run of questions on pathogen/allergen classification, lymph node function, inflammatory response, innate immune molecules, plasma cell function, primary/secondary antibody response timing, vaccination and herd immunity, and antigenic drift vs shift.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Innate immune cells; extracellular vs intracellular pathogen response

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q56 marksState roles of neutrophils against a bacterial pathogen and contrast adaptive immune responses to an extracellular versus an intracellular pathogen.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Passive immunity, vaccination programs, monoclonal antibodies

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q610 marksIdentify and justify the immunity type conferred to infants via maternal vaccination, explain the need for repeat boosters across pregnancies, explain an economic benefit of the program, and explain how a monoclonal antibody treatment reduces infection severity.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Evidence for evolutionary relationships (fossils, biogeography, structural and molecular homology)

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Phylogenetic trees and classification

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Mechanisms of evolution: mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, founder effect, natural selection

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Patterns of evolution: convergent and divergent evolution, adaptive radiation

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Speciation (allopatric and sympatric) and isolating mechanisms

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Human evolution and hominin fossil/genetic evidence

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Evidence for evolutionary relationships

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q34-385 marksInterpret a phylogenetic tree of dingoes and dog breeds, identify a primate characteristic from an image, reason about a transitional fossil, use rock-layer fossil dating to infer relative ages, and evaluate evidence that would refute a biogeographic hypothesis.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Founder effect, genetic drift/mutation, natural selection

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q78 marksExplain the founder effect in an introduced insect population, identify the process behind observed DNA differences between founding and expanded colonies and its role in colony success, and explain a potential selection-driven genetic change in a competing native population.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Molecular homology, allopatric speciation

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q95 marksExplain how molecular homology data indicates relatedness between island bird populations, and explain the type of speciation shown by geographic isolation of one population.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Hominin fossil evidence, ancient DNA, human evolution

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q108 marksEvaluate fossil footprint evidence for hominin identity and species diversity, explain why two studies reached different interbreeding-timing conclusions from ancient-genome data, account for a change in Neanderthal-DNA percentage between ancient and present-day humans, and outline benefits of mtDNA for tracing hominin migration.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Genetic technologies: genetically modified vs transgenic organisms

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Application of biotechnology in agriculture and medicine

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Human impact on genetic diversity of populations

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Bioethical considerations of biotechnology and genetic manipulation

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Genetic modification vs transgenic organisms; gene editing applications

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section B Q44 marksClassify two crop gene-editing case studies as transgenic and/or genetically modified with justification, and explain how a specific gene edit could raise crop yield.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Formulating a research question and hypothesis

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Experimental design: variables, controls and validity

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Data collection, analysis and evaluation

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Scientific poster or report presentation of findings

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Experimental design: independent, dependent and controlled variables

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Qualitative vs quantitative data

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Types and quality of evidence (anecdotal, correlational, experimental)

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Validity, reliability and reproducibility of investigations

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Bioethical concepts: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, integrity

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Experimental design and variables

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q11 markIdentify the independent variable in a temperature/DNA-denaturation experiment.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Types of evidence (anecdotal vs scientific)

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q22-232 marksClassify student contributions to a discussion about plant compounds as antimicrobial defences, distinguishing scientific evidence from anecdote.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →

Experimental validity and data types

• 2025Study Design 2022–2026 (From 2022)Written examination Section A Q39-402 marksIdentify why a multi-variable lettuce-growth investigation lacks validity and identify the qualitative data option among a set of investigation measurements.Official paper ↗Examiner report ↗Work through it with a tutor →