Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology · specification 4BI1 · Paper 2 | Whole paper: All content including bold B statements · Free · no account needed
2(h) Transport (4BI1 specification)
Transport systems in plants and humans: why large organisms need them, and how each vessel is built for its job.
Learn it on Incandio
The 7 Incandio pages that teach this — each explained in full, then proved in marked questions, taught back to an AI pupil and defended in a debate. Completely free.
- Why Transport Systems Exist, and the Two Plant Vessels — Diffusion is fast across a cell and hopeless across a body. That single fact explains why big organisms need plumbing — and what a plant's two pipes carry.
- Water Uptake and Transpiration — A tall tree lifts water a hundred metres with no pump and no moving parts. The force comes from water evaporating out of its leaves.
- Blood — Four components in one fluid — and each one is shaped, or shaped away, for exactly what it has to carry.
- Immunity and Clotting — You are a warm, wet, nutrient-rich environment. Two kinds of white cell — and one clever trick with a scab — are why nothing has eaten you yet.
- The Heart, and What Goes Wrong With It — Two pumps in one organ, and why the muscle that pushes blood everywhere can still starve for want of it.
- Blood Vessels and the Circulation — Three kinds of vessel, three different structures — and every difference between them comes down to pressure.
- Excretion: Getting Rid of What You Made — Excretion is not the same as going to the toilet — and knowing exactly why is worth more marks than any list of organs.
The teaching route this belongs to: Topic 2 · Structures and functions in living organisms (Biology) — the lessons in order, with every gate.
Specification coverage
Topic 2 Structures and functions in living organisms (h) Transport — statements 2.53–2.70B (includes bold B statements assessed on Paper 2 only)
Assessment objectives: AO1, AO2, AO3. Suggested learning time: 100 minutes.
Required knowledge
- Why simple diffusion is insufficient in large multicellular organisms
- The structure and function of xylem and phloem; transpiration and translocation
- The factors affecting the rate of transpiration
- The structure of the human circulatory system and the double circulation
- The structure and function of the heart, and of arteries, veins and capillaries
- The composition of blood and the function of each component
- Bold B statements: the cardiac cycle and blood clotting in greater depth
Required skills
- Explain a vessel's structure in terms of the pressure it carries
- Interpret potometer data on transpiration
- Trace a named substance through the circulatory system in order
- Describe and evaluate the required practical: Investigate the effect of environmental conditions on the rate of transpiration using a potometer.
How it is examined
- Multiple-choice and short-answer recall
- Application of the content to an unfamiliar context
- Extended open-response, marked on the quality of a connected explanation
- Practical questions on method, variables, data and sources of error
Common mistakes
- Saying arteries carry oxygenated blood. The pulmonary artery does not — the definition is direction of flow, away from the heart.
- Describing a potometer as measuring transpiration directly. It measures water uptake, which is closely related but not identical.
- Confusing transpiration (water, xylem, upwards) with translocation (sugars, phloem, in either direction).
This page maps the specification. The pages above teach it, and the Biology lessons hold the whole course — completely free.