GCSE Combined Science Inheritance & evolution questions by topic

This question compares the two types of reproduction.

1. (a)Give one advantage of sexual reproduction for a species.[1]
2. (b)Give one advantage of asexual reproduction.[1]
3. (c)Name the type of cell division that produces gametes.[1]
4. (d)State how many cells meiosis produces from one starting cell.[1]

This question is about DNA.

1. (a)Describe the structure of a DNA molecule.[2]
2. (b)State what a gene codes for.[1]
3. (c)Name the term for all the genetic material of an organism.[1]

Define the key terms of inheritance.

1. (a)Define allele.[1]
2. (b)State the difference between genotype and phenotype.[2]
3. (c)Name the genotype of someone with two identical alleles.[1]

Classify each example of variation.

1. (a)Classify: natural eye colour, a tattoo, blood group, a scar.[4]

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a recessive allele c. A carrier (Cc) has a child with someone who does not carry the allele (CC).

1. (a)Complete a Punnett square for this cross.[2]
2. (b)State the probability that a child will be a carrier.[1]
3. (c)Explain why no child will have cystic fibrosis.[1]

Explain how the sex of a human baby is determined.

1. (a)State the sex chromosomes found in female and male body cells.[2]
2. (b)Complete a Punnett square and state the probability of a male child.[2]

A field of wheat shows plants of many different heights.

1. (a)Name the two causes of variation in the plants’ heights.[2]
2. (b)Define mutation.[1]
3. (c)State whether most mutations change the phenotype.[1]

Explain how bacteria become resistant to an antibiotic.

1. (a)Describe the role of mutation and selection in this process.[4]
2. (b)Explain why doctors tell patients to finish their whole course of antibiotics.[1]

A farm wants to improve its potato crop.

1. (a)Describe how selective breeding could produce higher-yielding potatoes.[2]
2. (b)Give one risk of relying only on selective breeding.[1]
3. (c)Describe how genetic engineering could instead give the crop insect resistance, with one benefit and one concern.[3]

Explain how evolution by natural selection changes a population over many generations.

1. (a)Set out the four steps of natural selection.[4]
2. (b)Explain what is meant by saying the population “evolves”.[2]

A family tree shows two healthy parents with one child who has a recessive disorder.

1. (a)Deduce the parents’ genotypes, using N for the healthy allele and n for the disorder.[2]
2. (b)State the probability that their next child has the disorder.[1]
3. (c)Justify the probability with the Punnett square results.[2]

This question is about classification.

1. (a)Explain what a binomial name is, using an example.[2]
2. (b)State what the joining point of two branches on an evolutionary tree represents.[1]
3. (c)Name two sources of evidence used to build evolutionary trees.[1]