IBH Higher Level Revision Guide 2006

A revision guide for IBH students

Part A – The meanings of terms used in the exam.
Sometimes students fail to make the most of their hard-won knowledge because they fail to follow the instructions given in
the questions. The following should clear up most of these problems. It is worth spending some time making sure you
understand fully what each term requires of you.

Term Meaning
Means calculate! Show your method of working as clearly as possible. You may get
Calculate marks for a correct approach, but only if the examiner can follow the steps. Units
must always be given.
Compare* (see Means point out the similarities and differences between two or more sets of data. Do
not simply describe one feature then the other and leave the examiner to do all the
essays section for comparisons for you! Use the word “whereas” or “in contrast to” to help guide your
more) answer.
Usually requires a simple explanation of the technical terms provided in the context of
Define
the question.
(i) Graphs and tables. This involves giving a written description of material
presented in a table or graph. In this case, simply write down what can be
seen. Imagine you are telling someone what a graph looks like on the phone!
It is a good idea to start your description with “As the (x axis value) increases,
Describe
the (y axis value) increases up to a peak value of (n units) at (e.g. 50oC) . An
explanation is not required.
(ii) General – give a step by step account of what happens. Use mark allocations
to guide the amount of detail required.

Means ‘give a reason for’. A description is NOT required and will not gain credit.
Explain
Check your own answers by asking yourself “Have I explained WHY?”

Give examples
Involved using material provided to illustrate a particular point. You MUST refer to
from/ Give the relevant material, and full marks will not be given unless you do.
evidence from
If a number of reasons are asked for, they must be different from each other. For
example, if a question asks for three examples of resources a weed and crop plant
Give two reasons/ compete for, ‘nutrients, water and light’ is better than nitrates, phosphates and
sulphates’.
give three examples Do not give more reasons than are asked for. This suggests that you don’t really know
the answer (which may be true, but…). Excess reasons will not be marked, even if
they are correct and the first ones you wrote were wrong!

List Usually requires a number of one-word answers, or brief points.

Usually requires no more than a single word answer. Don’t bother writing out the
Name question first!

Means ‘give a brief account’. Use the number of lines available and the mark allocation
Outline
to guide the detail of your answer.

State Means ‘give’. It requires a short, concise answer.

Has two uses. It is used when there is more than one valid answer, or it may be used
Suggest where it is not expected that you will be able to give an answer from memory. In
general, any sensible answer based on sound biological reasoning will gain credit.

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Part B – Common Misconceptions to avoid!

Biology is a very “wordy” subject. It contains many similar troublesome words, with sometimes subtle differences in their
meanings. The following worksheet should help you to identify these differences and avoid falling into the trap!

Lets start with the easy ones… there is a gap to add others you can think of at the bottom.

The confused terms Correct Definitions of the words

Mitosis is …
Mitosis and meiosis
Whereas meiosis is…

DNA Replication and

transcription of DNA

Condensation and hydrolysis

Cell wall and cell membrane

(yes, you still get it wrong!)

Hypo- and hyper-

Antigen, antibody and

antibiotic (nothing to do with
the first two!)

Nitrification and nitrogen

fixation

Pesticides and fertilisers –

especially their role (or not)
in eutrophication

Glucagon, glycogen and

glycerol

Excretion and egestion

Urea, urine and glomerular

filtrate

Wind pollination and wind

dispersal

Chromosomes, chromatids
and chromatin

Ureter and urethra

Competitive, non-
competitive and allosteric
inhibitors.

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Some further confusions to untangle…

1. DNA is not a protein. (What is it?) But chromosomes contain DNA and protein.

2. Adenine and guanine are purines think “Pure silver” (Ag)

Adenine and thymine are joined by two hydrogen bonds think “A tea for two”

3. The correct taxonomic groups are place in the following order

Kingdom Keep
Phylum pigs
Class clean But in humans, a sub-phylum of
Order or
Family farms vertebrata exists so watch out!
Genus get
species smelly

4. Meiosis does not take place in gametes! It leads to the formation of gametes.

5. You will NOT get a genuinely random sample by throwing a quadrat over your shoulder with your eyes closed!
Instead you should
a) Place two tapes at right angles to each other along the sides of the area being studied.
b) Use random number tables or similar to produce pairs of numbers
c) Use these numbers as co-ordinates to locate your quadrat.
And whilst we are on the subject, quadrats or NOT useful for sampling large mobile animals, such as rabbit
populations!

6. Food chains such as this one

Seeds insect bird cat

Will not gain much credit. At IB level you should use specific answers, such as this one:

Nettle plant large nettle aphid two-spot ladybird

…Much better!

7. People are normal and healthy, unless otherwise stated! Start with this assumption particularly when answering
genetics questions.

8. Nerves propagate impulses; they do not ‘send messages’!

9. You cannot tell whether or not an allele is recessive or dominant by simply counting the particular phenotype. In a
family tree for instance, if 7 out of 12 people have green eyes, it does not mean green is dominant. You must look
at the individual crosses.

10. The placenta does not hold the foetus in the uterus, nor protect it from bumps. The amniotic fluid does not
provide nutrients for the foetus.

11. There are no digestive enzymes in bile. Bile does, however, contain salts that help to break fats into smaller
droplets (or emulsify them)

12. Enzymes are not alive, so cannot be killed! They can be deactivated (reversible) or denatured (usually permanent)

13. Respiration is not breathing! What is the difference? (Also what is ventilation?)

14.

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Part C – Top ‘Exam Technique’ Tips

Here are some words of wisdom to help you gain maximum marks in the exams. Ignore them at your peril!

1. Be careful about using the words “it” and “them”. Make sure the examiner knows what you are talking
about. Look at this question: ‘Describe what happens to the energy contained in faeces…’ and this
answer: ‘It is broken down and turned into nitrates which are taken up by plants’

If you look carefully, you will see that ‘it’ refers to the energy, not to the fate of the faeces. The answer
will gain no credit. Start your answer with “the energy contained in the faeces…” and you shouldn’t
have any problem.

2. Look at mark allocations! They are there to help you. In general, each mark requires one distinct IB
point. If you produce an answer to a question worth three marks, make sure you have made three
worthwhile points.

3. Pushed for time? Don’t bother writing out the question first when it is not needed for clarification (see
section A).

4. ‘So that it will be a fair test’ will not get you much credit at IB level. If you want to use this expression, try
something like ‘ make it a fair test by…’ and then say what you intend to do to make the conditions
identical in all your experiments.

5. Expressing your answer as a percentage doesn’t make it more accurate but does allow you to make a
better comparison.

6. If you are not a native English speaker, or simply have trouble with writing clear English, then read this
carefully. The essays in paper 2 are not strictly ‘essays’. Do the following:
♦ Think carefully before you write.
♦ Underline the key words in the essay question. Ensure you fully understand what it is asking.
♦ Plan your essay – make a rough outline of what you will write.
♦ Choose an essay that requires you to draw and label a diagram.
♦ Simplify your English. Write in short sentences. Maybe use bullet points, like I am doing.
♦ Take your time.

7. For calculations, check that your answer makes sense. (See next section)

8. For Multiple Choice questions, ensure you write down an answer for every question, even if you really
have no idea. No attempt scores zero. A guess has a 25% chance of being correct! Not bad odds!

9. Often, your first gut instinct for an answer is the correct one. Alternative answers are often there to
check whether you are sure of your knowledge, but they can undermine your confidence.

10. You may well have extra time in the exam. Use it wisely. Check your answers thoroughly, by reading the
questions as if for the first time. Your answer may be excellent, but if you read the question incorrectly,
it may be utterly wrong!

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Part D – Calculations and things…

You are expected to be able to:

• carry out simple calculations involving the following: means, decimals, fractions, percentages, ratios, approximations,
reciprocals and scaling.

• Use standard notation, e.g.3.6x106

• Use the terms ‘direct-’ and ‘inverse proportion’

• Determine the mode and median of a set of data.

• Calculate rates - for instance the rate at which a population increases, is obtained by dividing the difference in
population by the difference in time. This is a common question, so learn how to do it without thinking!

• Work out the size of something shown on an electron micrograph.

‘An object is 40mm in length and the magnification is 2000 times. What is its actual size?’

Look at this simple diagram.

O = Observed size (what you measure with a ruler)

M = Magnification O
N = Natural size (What it really is)
M N
Cover up the thing you are trying to calculate.

In this case you want to find the natural size. Cover the letter N (natural size). This shows that to find the natural size, you
need to divide observed size by the magnification and you have got your answer. In this case 40mm divided by 2000. The
natural size is therefore 0.02mm

• A note on measuring length Learn

these!
1m = 1000mm
1mm = 1000µm most cells up to 100µm, organelles up to 10µm, bacteria 1µm
1µm = 1000nm viruses 100nm, membranes 10nm, molecules 1nm

Use your calculator for all calculations, and CHECK THAT YOUR ANSWERS MAKE SENSE!!! Too many times the
answer you come up with makes ludicrous sense if you only looked at it to check!

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Part E – Diagrams you must be able to draw.

The following comes straight from the syllabus. You should therefore be able to make fully labelled diagrams of these.
Remember:

• Make your diagrams large

• Use a sharp pencil
• Label everything, including molecules (you will not be told to do this, but DO IT ANYWAY!!!!)
• Make sure your labels actually point to the structures you mean them to. Do not use arrows.
• Give your diagram a descriptive title.

Syllabus
reference
Structure you need to be able to draw

CORE
1.2.1 Generalised prokaryotic cell
1.3.1 Ultrastructure of generalised animal cell as seen in electron micrograph
1.4.1 Fluid mosaic model of a biological membrane
2.2.2 Generalized amino acid
2.2.3 Ring structure of glucose and ribose
2.2.4 Structure of glycerol and a generalised fatty acid
2.2.6 Generalised dipeptide showing the peptide linkage
2.4.5 Shapes to represent DNA nucleotide structure
4.1.14 The carbon cycle to show the interactions of living organisms and the biosphere
4.4.6 Design a dichotomous key for a group of up to eight organisms
5.1.4 The digestive system
5.1.7 A villus
5.2.1 The heart
5.5.4 The ventilation system (Trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and lungs)
5.7.1 Male and female reproductive systems

AHL
7.1.3 Mitochondrion as seen in an electron micrograph
7.2.1 Chloroplast as seen in an electron micrograph
7.2.7 Action spectrum of photosynthesis
9.1.1 Testis as seen using a light microscope
9.1.4 Ovary as seen using a light microscope
9.1.6 Mature sperm and egg
11.1.2 Motor neurone
11.2.3 Human elbow joint
11.2.5 Skeletal muscle fibres as seen in an electron micrograph
12.2.1 Human kidney
12.2.2 Glomerulus and associated nephron
13.1.2 External parts of a named dicotyledonous plant
13.1.3 Plan diagrams to show distribution of tissues in the stem, root and leaf of a dicot plant
13.3.1 Dicotyledonous animal-pollinated flower
13.3.4 External and internal structure of a named Dicotyledonous seed ( be sure to name it!)

Option E – Neurobiology and Behaviour

E2.4 Human eye
E2.5 Annotate human retina
E3.3 Spinal cord and spinal nerves
E3.5 Gross structure of human brain
Option F – Further Human Physiology
H1.4 Hypothalamus and pituitary gland
H2.2 Exocrine glands, including secretory cells grouped into acini and ducts.
H3.1 Portion of the ileum in TS

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Part F - Essay writing:

a) How to choose a good essay

Essays can be deceiving! Sometimes you look at an essay, and are instantly horrified by the frightening words!
“hypertonic!”, “chemiosmosis!”, “depolarisation!” and of course, the utterly terrifying “Loop of Henle!” Others are
indicating that you should be answering an essay on a particular topic, without actually mentioning what the topic is!

So what do you do? You ignore these obviously impossible ‘sciency’ essays, in favour of much tamer ones, such as
“Evaluate the moral arguments for genetic engineering.” or “Outline the human impact on the environment”.

However, this is often a really bad idea…

The trouble with these “easy” ethical / opinion-based essays is that you don’t really know what the examiner is looking for
in an answer (and often, neither do I - if I’m honest!) The essays produced tend to be extremely wordy, and waffly, with a
lot of personal opinions – BUT LITTLE OR NO BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE AND NO REAL STRUCTURE.
The worst part about this type of essay, is that you often think you have done well, but in reality have gained very little
credit. It is such a shame…

Don’t get me wrong. You may be an expert in these areas, and if so, go ahead and write the essay. Just make sure you use
detailed, well-known real examples to back up your ideas – and do not be tempted to ‘invent’ a species to show how useful
genetic engineering has been for it. (Yes, it happens!)

Much better, is to go for an essay that has a built in structure to its answer. The best titles are ones that ask you to
describe or explain a process. Even if you do not remember all the details, the fact that it is a sequential process (A leads to
B, which joins with C and D to form E, etc.) means that you should be able to remember at least some of the relevant
information!

b) Some biological sequences that make good essay questions.

Draw a flow diagram of the following essay style questions.

♦ Explain how metabolic pathways in cells are controlled by means of negative feedback.

♦ Outline one example of control of gene expression in prokaryotes.

♦ Outline the role of positive feedback in the process of birth in humans.

♦ Explain how hypertonic urine is produced in the medulla of the human kidney.

♦ Describe a method for measuring the size of a population of plants using a quadrat.

♦ Outline the production of ATP by chemiosmosis in the mitochondrion.

♦ Explain the process of muscle contraction.

♦ Explain how DNA replication depends on the structure of DNA.

♦ Describe how replicated DNA molecules are separated to for two genetically identical nuclei during
mitosis in animal cells.

♦ Outline how enzymes in the cytoplasm of cells are produced.

♦ Describe the processes involved in spermatogenesis.

♦ Explain how a nerve impulse is transmitted from a motor neurone to a muscle.

♦ Explain the process of water uptake by roots.

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IBH Higher Level Revision Guide 2006
♦ Outline the changes that lead to the depolarisation of an axon as an action potential travels along a
neurone.

♦ Outline the cell mediated immune response

♦ Outline the humoral immune response.

♦ Describe the events involved in seed germination.

♦ Outline the process of blood clotting.

The above list is not exhaustive. You should go through your syllabus to find any more
sequences that might be used as essay questions.

c) Essay writing tips

• First spend time looking through all the essay questions. Prioritise the essays in terms of how many
marks you think you can gain from them.
• Circle/highlight the key words and make sure you understand what they mean. Remember, a three page
essay that does not answer the question gains zero.
• Plan your essay. A sketched table or flow diagram may help reduce confusion in the sequence of points.
Remember to draw a line through your working at the end.
• Make sure you have answered in sufficient detail, using examples to enforce your arguments.
• For “compare” questions, try to put the items into categories, and then try to see what features they all
share, or ones that none of them have, etc. You should use words like: whereas, more than, all, none,
most, greatest, least, etc.
• Use the marks as a guide to the depth of your answer. Each mark is worth one well described IB point.
• Use labelled diagrams, flow diagrams, and tables to clarify an answer. If you do not refer to your diagram at
all, then leave it out.
• A title may not actually say in words what the essay should be about. For example, “Describe one
example of control of gene expression in Prokaryotes” is about the lac –operon, but does not say so.
Watch out!
• READ over your essay to make sure it makes sense. Often they don’t on re-reading it.
• Manage your time properly! An excellent 4 page essay that answers everything and more is great, but not
if you don’t have time for the second one. Remember, each essay is worth 20 marks! Miss one and it is a
whole grade, at least.