How are carbohydrates and
fats used by the human body?
How are proteins used by the
human body?
How are mineral ions and
vitamins used by the human
body?
What is meant when a person
is malnourished?
What can happen if a person
is malnourished?
What happens to a person’s
body mass if they take in less
energy from their food than
their body needs?
How does exercise affect the
amount of energy that the
body needs?
What is meant by a person’s
metabolic rate.
How is a person’s metabolic
rate affected by the amount of
muscle that they have?
How is our body affected by
inherited factors?
What is the effect of exercise
on our health?
What did Semmelweis
discover about preventing
disease?
What is meant by the word pathogen? Give two examples.
What is the key difference between bacteria and viruses in how they reproduce?
How do bacteria and viruses
make us ill?
State three ways in which white blood cells defend us against pathogens.
Which three diseases does the MMR vaccine protect us against?
How does vaccination protect
us from disease?
How can the use of vaccines protect people who have not been vaccinated.
What do medicines such as
painkillers do?
What do antibiotics such as
penicillin do?
Why do antibiotics not kill
viruses?
How are bacteria becoming
resistant to antibiotics?
How can we prevent resistant
bacteria (such as MRSA) from
developing?
Why is mutation of pathogens a problem?
Describe how natural selection leads to resistant strains of pathogens developing when antibiotics are used? (HIGHER TIER).
Why do we need to develop new antibiotics?
Describe the stages of culturing a microorganism (very common question).
Why is it important that schools and colleges do not culture microorganisms at temperatures higher than 25C?
Why are microorganisms used in industry cultured at temperatures higher than 25C?
What do scientists call changes in the environment that we sense e.g. light, sound etc.
What do we call cells that detect stimuli? Give examples.
What is meant by a reflex? What is the advantage of reflexes?
State the stages in a reflex.
What is meant by an effector. State two examples?
State three ways that water can leave the body.
State two ways that ions e.g.
the sodium ion are released
from the body.
Why is it important that the
body temperature is
controlled?
What are hormones?
Why must the blood sugar
levels be controlled?
State two glands which
release hormones controlling a
woman’s menstrual cycle.
Describe the stages of the
menstrual cycle.
Describe how hormones can
be used as an oral
contraceptive.
Describe the problems with
early contraceptive pills and
how these were solved in
modern versions.
Describe how hormones can
be used as fertility drugs.
Describe how plant shoots
are sensitive to light and
gravity.
What is the name given to the
plant hormones that control
growth towards light and
gravity?
Describe how plant roots are
sensitive to moisture and
gravity.
What is meant by the words
“phototropism” and
“gravitropism”?
Describe how auxins are used
in shoots to grow towards
light.
Describe how auxins are used
in roots to grow towards
gravity
How are plant hormones
used by gardeners?
What is the first stage in the
testing of new drugs?
When drugs are first tested on
humans, they are given in
very low doses. Explain why.
What is meant by a placebo?
What is meant by a doubleblind
drug trial?
What are statins used for?
What was thalidomide
originally developed for?
What was the problem with
thalidomide?
What is thalidomide used to
treat now?
State two legal recreational
drugs?
State three illegal
recreational drugs.
Why are ecstasy, cannabis
and heroine harmful to the
human body?
Why do people smoke
cannabis and what are the
negative side-effects?
Why do legal drugs (both
prescribed and recreational)
have a greater impact on
health than illegal drugs?
What is the definition of a
drug?
State two highly addictive
drugs.
If a person is addicted to a
drug, what can happen if they
stop taking it.
State two examples of
performance-enhancing
drugs and describe what they
do.
State four factors that plants
compete for with other plants.
State three factors that
animals compete for.
What do we call organisms
that live in very extreme
environments?
Describe how camels are
adapted to living in the dry
conditions of the desert.
Describe how polar bears are
adapted to living in the cold
conditions of the Arctic.
What can we say about the
surface area of animals living
in hot or cold conditions?
Describe how plants such as a
cactus are adapted to living in
dry conditions.
State three ways that
organisms can be adapted to
deter predators.
State three changes in the
environment that can affect
animals and plants.
Describe how lichens can be
used as air-pollution
indicators.
Describe how invertebrate
animals (animals without a
backbone) can be used as
indicators of dissolved
oxygen in water.
Describe how energy passes
into food chains.
What is meant by biomass?
Why does the biomass
decrease at each stage of a
food chain?
State three conditions that
increase the rate of decay of
waste materials.
How does the process of
decay allow plants to grow
faster?
Describe the stages of the
carbon cycle.
What is meant by the word
gametes?
Why do plants and animals
share similar characteristics
as their parents?
What do we find in the nucleus
of cells?
What is a gene?
Why are organisms of the same
species different?
What is meant by sexual
reproduction?
What is meant by asexual
reproduction?
How can new plants be
produced quickly?
Describe how plant cloning
can be carried out.
Describe how animals can be
cloned by embryo
transplants.
Describe the stages of animal
cell cloning.
Describe what happens during
genetic engineering.
What do scientists call crops
which have had genes
transferred into them from
different organisms?
Why are genetically modified
crops produced?
What concerns do some
people have about GM crops?
What was proposed by Darwin
in his theory of evolution by
natural selection?
State three reasons why
Darwin’s theory of evolution by
natural selection was only
slowly accepted.
What was Lamarck’s theory
on how organisms evolve?
Why is this wrong?
How can the similarities and
differences between
organisms give us clues about
their evolutionary links?
Describe how evolution by
natural selection takes place.
What can cause rapid
changes in a species?
What is glucose used for in plants?
What are glucose and nitrates used for in plants?
What are proteins used for?