UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 1 of 9
CHAPTER 5 :Living things in their Environment
CHAPTER 6 :People and the Planet

Write in dark blue or black pen.

You may use a soft pencil for any diagrams, Name :
graphs or rough working.
Do not use highlighters, glue or correction fluid.
Roll No.
Show all your working in the booklet.
Q.1
The drawing shows a plant called Tillandsia.
(a)(i) The leaves of this plant absorb light. Why do plants need light?
Ans

____________________________________________________
(ii)
Tillandsia plants grow on the high branches of
trees in rainforests. These plants cannot grow well on the
lowest branches. Explain why.
Ans____________________________________________
_______________________________________________
(b)
Tillandsia plants do not have root hairs on their
roots. What two substances do most plants absorb through
their root hairs?
Ans____________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Q.2
(a)
(i)

Bindweed is a plant that grows tightly around

other plants. The drawing below shows bindweed
growing around a rose bush.
Complete the sentences below. Choose from the
words in the list.
[air light support water minerals]
Bindweed grows as high as possible on the rose
bush so that the bindweed can get as much
____________________ as possible.

(ii)

Bindweed grows around the rose bush because

the rose bush provides

___________________ and _____________________for the

bindweed.
(b)

A gardener cut through the stem of the

bindweed at X. Two days later the bindweed
above X was dead. Why did the bindweed
die? Tick the correct box.

(c)

The gardener adds fertiliser to the soil to help

her rose bushes to grow well. What do plants get
from the fertiliser? Tick the correct box.

Q.3

The drawings below show four living things found in a wood.

(a)(i)

Caterpillars eat oak leaves. Owls eat blackbirds. Blackbirds eat caterpillars.
Complete the food chain for these four living things.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 2 of 9
oak tree _____________________ ____________________ ___________________
(ii) Why is an oak tree called a producer? Tick the correct box.

(b)

On one oak tree, there were two types of

caterpillar. All the caterpillars were eating
the leaves. The number of gypsy moth
caterpillars increased. What happened to the
number of orange-striped caterpillars?
Explain your answer.

Ans

__________________________________
__________________________________

(c)

There are no caterpillars on the oak tree in winter. Suggest a reason for this.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

Q.4

The drawing below shows part of a farmland food web.

(a)(i)
(ii)
Ans

Which living thing in the food web is an insect? ____________________________________

Farmers spray their plants with insecticide to kill insects. Suggest how insecticide on the
plants gets into the insects.
___________________________________________________________________________

(b)

From the food web above, give the names of one predator and its prey.
o Predator __________________________
o prey of this predator _________________________________

(c)

Why are the plants in the food web called producers? Tick the correct box.

(d)

The drawing below shows how partridges sit close together

and all face outwards. Give one reason why sitting close
together like this helps the partridges to survive.
________________________________________________

Ans

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 3 of 9

(e)
(i)

___________________________________________________________________________
Partridges lay their eggs in nests on the ground.
The eggs are the same colour as the ground. Why can this help partridges to survive?

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(ii)

Why could laying eggs on the ground result in fewer partridge chicks?

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

Q.5

The drawing below shows a barn owl. Barn owls hunt for small
animals such as mice.
Look at the drawing of the barn owl. Give two ways the barn owl is
suited for catching small animals.

(a)(i)
Ans

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

(ii)

Draw a line from each animal below to the word that describes it. Draw only two lines.

(b)

The photograph below shows two young barn owls.

They are covered with soft feathers. Why do the young barn owls
need feathers?

Ans

_________________________________________________

(c)
(i)
Ans

Barn owls build nests in farm buildings. Mice eat wheat seeds.
Many old farm buildings have been knocked down so that houses can be built on the
farmland. Give one reason why this has caused the number of barn owls to decrease.
___________________________________________________________________________

(ii)

Suggest one reason why farmers like to have barn owls on their farms.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

Q.6

The drawings show part of a farmland food chain.

(a)

A pyramid of numbers represents the number of organisms at each stage in a food chain. On
each line by the pyramid of numbers below, write the name of the correct organism from the
food chain above.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 4 of 9
(b)
Ans
(c)

Partridges feed mainly on insects and wild plants (weeds). Some farmers spray their crops
with chemicals to kill insects and weeds. How would this affect the number of foxes? Explain
your answer.
___________________________________________________________________________
Partridges build their nests on the ground among plants. They lay up to 18 eggs in the nest.
Suggest why partridges need to lay so many eggs.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(d)
Ans

Some farmers leave a strip of land around the edge of each field which they do not spray with
chemicals. Suggest two reasons why this will lead to an increase in the number of partridges
on these farms.
___________________________________________________________________________

Q.7

Some pupils visited a deer park. A poster showed different types of deer.

(a) Emily said, I saw a male deer. Look at the drawings in the poster. How would Emily know
that the deer was male?
Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(b)

Jimmy made some notes about a young deer. Give one reason
why he cannot identify the type of young deer from his notes.

Ans

____________________________________________________

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 5 of 9
(c)

Dan drew one of the deer. He said it was an adult male red deer.
Give two pieces of evidence from his drawing which suggest that
he got the name wrong.

Ans

____________________________________________________

(d)

Michael saw a deer like this.What two

pieces of evidence show it was not one of the
deer on the poster?
Ans _______________________________________________
Q.8

An ecosphere is a model habitat that can last for many years.

The ecosphere below is a sealed glass ball containing sea water, green algae, bacteria, a snail
and shrimps.
(a)

The ecosphere must receive plenty of light. Explain why light is necessary for the survival of
the green algae and the animals in the ecosphere.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(b)

When organisms in the ecosphere die, they are broken down by bacteria. Nutrients, such as
nitrates, are released back into the ecosphere. Why is this necessary for the survival of the
other organisms in the ecosphere?

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

(c)

The table shows how the mass of oxygen

dissolved in water changes with temperature.
This ecosphere was kept at a temperature
between 17C and 23C.
In this ecosphere, respiration in the organisms
is affected less if the temperature falls to 15C
than if it rises to 27C. Use information in
the table to explain this.

Ans

__________________________________
__________________________________

Q.9

__________________________________
The table below shows the number of boats
used for catching herring fish in the Norwegian Sea between 1963 and 1967.The bar chart
shows total mass of herring caught in Norwegian Sea between 1963 and 1967.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 6 of 9

Use the information above to help you answer parts (a) (i), (ii) and (iii).
(a)(i) Why did the mass of herring caught increase between 1963 and 1965?
Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(ii)
Ans

Suggest why the mass of herring caught decreased between 1965 and 1967.
___________________________________________________________________________

(iii)

Herring cannot breed until they are four years old. Fishing for herring was banned in the
Norwegian Sea from 1972 to 1976. Suggest one reason why fishing for herring was banned
for this period.
Ans
___________________________________________________________________________
Q.10(a) The average life span of a lion in a zoo is 22 years. The average life span of a lion in the wild
is 17 years. Suggest two reasons why lions
live longer in a zoo than in the wild.
Ans

________________________________
________________________________
________________________________

(b)
(i)

(ii)
Ans
(c)

John found following data about 5

mammals. He plotted points using data from
the table.
Using the points John plotted, draw a line of best fit.

From the graph, describe the relationship between the average length of pregnancy and the
average life span.
___________________________________________________________________________
John found data about three other mammals.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 7 of 9
(i)
(ii)

Plot these three points on the graph.

Do these points fit the relationship you
described in part (b) (ii)?
Yes No
Use the graph to give a reason for your answer.

Ans
___________________________________________________________________________
Q.11

Every autumn the BBC asks people all over the UK to

record when and where they see the first ripe conkers. The
results are shown on a website. Conkers only ripen in the
autumn.

(a)

Some pupils discussed these results and made some conclusions. Tick a box in each row to say
whether the conclusion is true or false or whether you cannot tell based on the results.

(b)
(i)

The map shows where members of the public saw ripe conkers in the UK.
Suggest one reason why it is a good idea to collect data by asking the public to
observe when conkers ripen.
____________________________________________________________

Ans
(ii)
Ans
(c)
Ans

Suggest one reason why it is not a good idea to collect data by asking the public to observe
when conkers ripen.
____________________________________________________________
The data was collected in one year. What data would the BBC need to collect to find out if the
time of year in which conkers ripen is changing?
___________________________________________________________________________

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 8 of 9
(d)
Ans

Conkers ripen earlier in the south of the

country than in the north. Suggest why
conkers ripen earlier in the south.
_________________________________

Q.12
(a)

__________________________________
This diagram shows a water lily plant.
Water lilies do not grow well in moving
water. Suggest a reason.

Ans

______________________________

(b)

During the winter, many water lily plants

do not grow new leaves. Suggest one reason why the plants do not grow new leaves in the
winter.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

(c)(i)
(ii)

Give one way water lily plants are adapted to live in water.
Explain how this adaptation helps the water lily to grow in water.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

(d)

In the summer, water lilies produce large yellow flowers. The

flowers float on the surface of the pond. Suggest one way these
colourful floating flowers help the water lily to reproduce.

Ans

_____________________________________________

(e)

When water lilies cover the pond surface with leaves, the pond does not get as hot during the
day. Explain why the pond does not get as hot.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________

Q13
(a)
Ans

The drawing below shows a mole. Moles dig tunnels through soil.
Give one way a mole is suited for digging through soil.
___________________________________________________________________________

(b)

Moles are part of the food chain shown below.

(i)

Which living thing in this food chain do moles eat?

(ii)

Which living thing in this food chain is a predator of

moles? .

(c)

Some people use mole-scarers to get rid of moles from

their gardens. Two different mole-scarers are shown
below. They both produce sounds that scare moles away.
Where does the energy come from for the solar-powered
mole-scarer?
_____________________________________________

(i)
Ans

_____________________________________________

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS | Methodist

High School
Cambridge Checkpoint SCIENCE [Biology] | Page 9 of 9
(ii)

Suggest one reason for using a solar-powered mole-scarer instead of a battery-powered one.

Ans

__________________________________________________________________________

(iii)

Some gardeners use poison to kill moles. Suggest one reason for using a mole-scarer rather
than poison to get rid of moles.

Ans

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________