Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
In the pulmonary circulation of a mammal, deoxygenated blood becomes oxygenated when red blood cells pass through alveolar capillaries and haemoglo...
Many substances can move through cell surface membranes between the cytoplasm of animal cells and the extracellular environment. (a) A student made...
Collagen is a fibrous protein found in many tissues in animals. Fig. 2.1 shows the composition of a collagen fibre.
(a) Describe the induced-fit hypothesis of enzyme action. (b) Many marine organisms can become attached to hard surfaces such as rocks or the surfa...
(a) Fig. 4.1 shows a phosphorylated nucleotide which is one of the monomers that is used to synthesise DNA during replication. (b) Fig. 4.2 shows a...
Inhibitors are substances that prevent biological processes in a variety of different ways. Table 5.1 shows some antibiotics, their modes of action...
(a) A student studied the structure of a mammalian heart. The student took a photograph of the left side of a dissected heart as shown in Fig. 6.1....
The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae is commonly found in the throat. S. pneumoniae produces hydrogen peroxide as it grows. A sample can be taken...
Dialysis tubing is a partially permeable membrane. Glucose molecules can diffuse through the dialysis tubing. You are required to investigate the d...
K1 is a slide of a stained transverse section through a root.
Guinea pigs, Cavia porcellus, vary in the length and colour of their fur. Fig. 1.1 shows a guinea pig with short black fur. [Figure 1.1] Two genes ...
Exserohilum turcicum is a fungal pathogen. The growth of the mycelium of the fungus damages the leaves of maize plants, Zea mays. Leaf damage reduc...
Plants have several different photosynthetic pigments in their chloroplasts. (a) A student separated and identified the chloroplast pigments presen...
The wolf, Canis lupus, lives in North America. Wolves may have a grey or a black coat colour. The colour of an individual wolf depends on the DNA i...
The endocrine system and the nervous system both coordinate responses in mammals. (a) Complete Table 5.1 to show the features of three cell-signall...
The distribution of the large blue butterfly, Phengaris arion, extends across Europe and Asia. It is assessed by the International Union for Conser...
In aerobic respiration, most ATP is produced by oxidative phosphorylation. (a) Outline the features of ATP that make it suitable as the universal e...
LibertyLink® soybean is a genetically modified crop. It was first grown in 1996 and used in food products from 1998. It has been grown in 6 countri...
(a) Fig. 9.1 shows a longitudinal section of a human kidney. [Figure 9.1] Name the regions of the kidney labelled X and Y in Fig. 9.1. X Y (b) A bi...
Explain the relationship between genes, proteins and phenotype, with reference to two examples of genetic diseases in humans.
Rice, Oryza sativa, is a crop plant that has adapted to grow in flooded fields. Fig. 1.1 outlines the effects on rice plants of growing in flooded ...
The lac operon is present in the genome of the bacterium Escherichia coli. When glucose is not available, the presence of lactose in the extracellu...
The evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria has occurred as a result of natural selection.
Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is a genetic disease that affects the nervous system. MLD is caused by mutations in the ARSA gene located on chr...
Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (PKB) are enzymes involved in the regulation of blood glucose concentration. Fig. 6.1 shows a...
The Venus fly trap, Dionaea muscipula, is a plant that can capture insects. Each leaf of a Venus fly trap is modified to form 2 lobes. Fig. 7.1 sho...
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil. It is obtained from the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis. Oil palms are the highest yielding veg...
The endocrine system and the nervous system both coordinate responses in mammals.
In aerobic respiration, most ATP is produced by oxidative phosphorylation.
Fig. 9.1 shows a longitudinal section of a human kidney.
Juglone is a chemical produced by plants in the genus Juglans, which includes different species of walnut tree. Fig. 1.1 shows a black walnut tree....
Compounds containing nitrite ions (NO₂⁻) are present in many foods eaten by humans. Scientists tested the effect of different concentrations of nit...
The plantain lily, Hosta plantaginea, as shown in Fig. 1.1, is a flowering plant found in Asia. [Figure 1.1] The hydrostatic pressure increases ins...
Scientists investigated the effect of abscisic acid (ABA) on reducing water loss in plants. The scientists predicted that ABA, as well as stimulati...
Seeds of the common stork's-bill, Erodium cicutarium, are shown in Fig. 3.1. [Figure 3.1] The awn is an extension on the E. cicutarium seed. The se...
Compounds containing nitrite ions (NO₂⁻) are present in many foods eaten by humans. Scientists tested the effect of different concentrations of ni...
A particle P of mass 0.3 kg is held in equilibrium above a horizontal plane by a force of magnitude 5 N, acting vertically upwards. The particle is...
A lorry of mass 25 000 kg travels along a straight horizontal road. There is a constant force of 3000 N resisting the motion.
Two particles A and B move in the same vertical line. Particle A is projected vertically upwards from the ground with speed 20m s⁻¹. One second lat...
A block of mass 3 kg is initially at rest on a rough horizontal plane. A force of magnitude 6N is applied to the block at an angle of θ above the h...
Two particles P and Q, of masses 0.3 kg and 0.2 kg respectively, are attached to the ends of a light inextensible string. The string passes over a ...
A crate of mass 500 kg is being pulled along rough horizontal ground by a horizontal rope attached to a winch. The winch produces a constant pullin...
A train of mass 150000 kg ascends a straight slope inclined at α° to the horizontal with a constant driving force of 16000 N. At a point A on the s...
Three coplanar forces of magnitudes 50 N, 60 N and 100 N act at a point. The resultant of the forces has magnitude R N. The directions of these for...
A car travels along a straight road with constant acceleration. It passes through points P, Q, R and S. The times taken for the car to travel from ...
A cyclist is travelling along a straight horizontal road. The total mass of the cyclist and his bicycle is 80 kg. His power output is a constant 24...
Particle P travels in a straight line from A to B. The velocity of P at time t s after leaving A is denoted by v m s⁻¹, where v = 0.04t³ + ct² + kt...