Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Biology · 4BI1 · Free · no account needed
Fish Farming and Selective Breeding — exam questions
9 original Incandio exam-style questions on Fish Farming and Selective Breeding, 22 marks, about 22 minutes of writing. Each one carries the command word, the tariff and the specification statement it assesses, exactly as a paper presents them. This is an original Incandio practice question, written to reflect the structure and demands of the qualification. It is not an official Pearson Edexcel past-paper question.
This is the practice set for Fish Farming and Selective Breeding — the lesson that teaches it. Read the lesson first if the idea is new; come here when you want to find out whether you can turn it into marks. Completely free, no account needed to read.
What these questions ask of you
6 command words run through this set, and on Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology each one means something precise. Answering the wrong command is the commonest way a candidate who understands the lesson still loses the mark.
- Which (1 mark)
- one option chosen from the set given
- Give (1–2 marks)
- a short factual answer drawn from recall or from the data
- Describe (2–4 marks)
- developed, linked statements of WHAT happens — no reason required, but detail is Misread as: giving one bare statement where the tariff asked for a developed account
- Explain (2–4 marks)
- a causal chain — WHY it happens, each link a separate marking point Misread as: describing what happens without giving the reason it happens
- Suggest (1–3 marks)
- a plausible answer applying taught biology to a situation not taught
- Calculate (1–3 marks)
- a numerical answer, with working where the tariff implies steps
Assessed on Paper 1 (4BI1/1B) and Paper 2 (4BI1/2B), against AO1, AO2, AO3.
Where these sit in the specification
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology (4BI1) — statements 5.10 · 5.9 · 5.11. Incandio is aligned to this specification; it is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's wording.
The 9 questions
Answer them on paper, then open the lesson's exam practice to have them marked. The mark scheme, the accepted and rejected answers and the annotated model answer are in Incandio and are not printed here — an answer beside its question is not practice.
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Table 1 — mean milk yield per cow per year in one dairy herd, over six generations of selective breeding. Generation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean yield / litres 4200 4900 5600 6100 6400 6500 (a)
(2)Calculate
Calculate the mean gain in yield per generation across the whole of Table 1.
Table 1 — mean milk yield per cow per year in one dairy herd, over six generations of selective breeding. Generation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean yield / litres 4200 4900 5600 6100 6400 6500 mean gain = ............................ litres
(b)
(3)Explain
Explain why the increase in yield is smaller between generations 5 and 6 than between generations 1 and 2.
Table 1 — mean milk yield per cow per year in one dairy herd, over six generations of selective breeding. Generation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean yield / litres 4200 4900 5600 6100 6400 6500 (c)
(1)Suggest
Suggest one risk the farmer has taken on by breeding this herd for six generations.
Table 1 — mean milk yield per cow per year in one dairy herd, over six generations of selective breeding. Generation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean yield / litres 4200 4900 5600 6100 6400 6500 (Total for Question 1 = 6 marks)
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(1)Which
Which statement describes the first step of selective breeding?
Statement A Choose parents showing the desired characteristic. B Insert a gene from another species. C Take cuttings from the best plant. D Expose the organisms to a mutagen. (Total for Question 2 = 1 mark)
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(2)Give
Give two reasons why farmed fish are kept in cages or tanks.
(Total for Question 3 = 2 marks)
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(4)Describe
Describe how a farmer could use selective breeding to produce cattle that yield more milk.
(Total for Question 4 = 4 marks)
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(3)Explain
Explain why selective breeding over many generations reduces the genetic variation in a population.
(Total for Question 5 = 3 marks)
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(3)Explain
Explain why farmed fish given the same mass of food grow faster than wild fish of the same species.
(Total for Question 6 = 3 marks)
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(3)Suggest
Suggest why a breed of dog produced by many generations of selective breeding often suffers from particular inherited disorders.
(Total for Question 7 = 3 marks)
Have them marked, then defend the answer
Practice tells you the mark; teaching it back tells you whether you understand it. On Incandio a topic counts as mastered only once you have taught it and defended it.
- Mark these questions — 9 questions, marked on Incandio against the authored scheme, with the mistake you actually made named.
- Teach it — explain Fish Farming and Selective Breeding to Ember, an AI pupil who does not have it yet and asks the awkward question.
- Defend it — argue it against Charles Darwin over three rounds, marked against descriptors you can read first.
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Back to the lesson
- Fish Farming and Selective Breeding — Growing food by controlling every loss of energy — and by doing deliberately what the environment does by accident.
- All of Incandio Biology · Incandio Exam Practice