Practical questions

During the GCSE Biology course you will complete practical activities from eight Practical Activity Groups (PAGs).

The exams will include questions about some of these experiments. You may also be asked to apply what you know to unfamiliar practical contexts, which will draw on your practical knowledge and understanding.

You could be asked to:

write or identify a hypothesis or prediction that could be tested in an experiment
name equipment and measuring instruments, and describe what they do and how they are used
identify factors that must be controlled, and explain why
describe how to work safely
process data by doing calculations and representing it graphically
identify patterns and trends in data
evaluate the accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility of data, and identify possible errors and anomalous results
suggest improvements to methods
interpret data and draw conclusions from it

Practical questions will appear throughout both exams papers (Breadth and Depth), and at both Foundation Tier and Higher Tier. Practical questions could be multiple choice or free-response, and could include calculations. A six-mark question could be asked in a practical context, so practise writing in detail about the practical work you have done.

It's important to look back at your lab book or your notes from the practical activities you have done when revising for your exams.

These questions have been written by Bitesize consultants as suggestions to the types of questions that may appear in an exam paper.

Sample question 1 - Foundation

Question

Describe a food test for fat. Specify how you would know if fat was present. [2 marks]

Sample question 2 - Foundation

Question

State the reagent used in the food test for glucose and describe the colour change you would observe if this sugar was present. [2 marks]

Sample exam questions - keeping healthy - OCR 21st CenturyPractical questions