• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

General Thoughts: Biology (3 Viewers)

KateSinead

New Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
24
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
We'll see. I trust you on the past papers because I only managed about 4. Although I'm sure that the gaps can't really support punctuated equilibrium; thinking about it though, Darwin did use it to prove his theory which included gradualism... so its definitely posibble.
Textbook I've used throughout the year says that the reason punctuated equilibrium was suggested was because of the gaps. Fossils were formed mainly during the equilibium periods, as there was little change and lasted for longs periods of time which resulted in higher chance of fossils being formed. And the gaps are when rapid change occured, where there wasn't much chance for fossils to be made.
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,228
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
I talked about:
-Enzymes
-Enzymes increasing our understanding of biology
-How our increased understanding of belonging led to developments against disease/antibiotics
-Darwins theory of evolution leading to evolution in bacterial pathogens
-Golden staph
-Then I made a judgement that the continued development and widespread use of antibiotics had the potential to have negative implications for society as super bugs may develop from this then we all pretty much may die.
I spoke about:
Enzymes activity and understanding had allowed us to treat such disease.
Biochemistry had allowed us to see the differences in amino acids in the pathogenic bacterium's enzymes and ours so we could attack that part.
Knowledge of mutations allowed us to create such fungus
Antibiotics and Staphylococcus aureus.
Some other fun stuff too.
It was pretty shit, but I think I showed enough to get 5-6.
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,228
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
We'll see. I trust you on the past papers because I only managed about 4. Although I'm sure that the gaps can't really support punctuated equilibrium; thinking about it though, Darwin did use it to prove his theory which included gradualism... so its definitely posibble.
It's punctuated equilibrium.
 

-Jonny

New Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2010
Messages
23
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
What stuff did people talk about in the last 7 marker question?
- I talked about how biological advancements in identifying cause of disease (Pasteur/Koch) allowed treatments to be developed such as antibiotics (first developed by Fleming - penicillin) --> overall better health for society.
- Then I talked about Beadle/Tatum and their 'one gene-one polypeptide' hypothesis and how this proved that the mutation of a gene causes different proteins to be produced and therefore different alleles --> new traits. Thus, by irradiating the fungus, the new traits are beneficial for society as it can cure bacterial diseases.
- Then I bs'd the rest about enzymes... :)
I wasn't exactly sure how to explain the enzyme stuff it gave, but I tried anyway.
I talked about
- enzymes and related them to optimal and denaturing features or something
- radiation that lead to mutation, relating it the fungi
- biochemistry knowledge, linking to the amino acids
- penecillin
-impact on society
-fused the ideas together



Overall I thought it was a pretty difficult paper, looking further into skills and understanding rather than just memorising certain things. Expecting around 95+ RAW
 

bigbirdbanana

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
83
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
did you relate it back to the question a lot? Not as in the actual question, but the stimulus about the fungus.
Just in the first half of my answer, but I only really used it to say that the development of antibiotics like this help blah blah blah, so I used it as an example/starting point. I don't think you need to refer to it too much :)
 

2011_

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
348
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2011
Guys if you want to see the short answer questions again I think someone has posted them in another thread in this Bio exam thoughts section.
 

1981Grant

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Messages
121
Location
NSW
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
I spoke about:
Enzymes activity and understanding had allowed us to treat such disease.
Biochemistry had allowed us to see the differences in amino acids in the pathogenic bacterium's enzymes and ours so we could attack that part.
Knowledge of mutations allowed us to create such fungus
Antibiotics and Staphylococcus aureus.
Some other fun stuff too.
It was pretty shit, but I think I showed enough to get 5-6.
Yeah man. I think I got 19/20 for Multiple choice. I can only think of 3 possible marks that I dropped for core. I think I got everything for communication, perhaps I might lose a mark about the role of dendrites but I had everything else downpat.
 

premiumcbc

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
19
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
2011
na actually thats wrong.. lots of the trial papers last year used this as a trick question.
Even though punctuated equilibrium is short bursts of evolutionary changes and then long terms of stability, the reason why this backed up is because the fossil record is incomplete and so some scientists go with the other theory. Because otherwise the fossil record supports darwins gradualism, hence the answer was a,
In actual fact, you are wrong. The fossil record being incomplete provides no evidence at all, and if you read your textbook correctly you'd see that there is fossil evidence to prove punctuated equilibrium. The horseshoe crabs if you'd like an example. The fact that the fossil record is incomplete makes it hard to determine that rate of evolution, but does not give weight to punctuated equilibrium.
 

effylove

carpe vinum
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
967
Location
Interstellar Overdrive
Gender
Female
HSC
2011
Re: 2011 HSC Biology Paper

Also, 17, I was tossing up between C & D.
I went with C, as it said a pair of alleles, so i assumed it had to be the same letter B & b.
thoughts?
 

Dylanamali

Active Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
1,248
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Yeah man. I think I got 19/20 for Multiple choice. I can only think of 3 possible marks that I dropped for core. I think I got everything for communication, perhaps I might lose a mark about the role of dendrites but I had everything else downpat.
gg state rank, right here.
top 10 school?
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,228
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
Re: 2011 HSC Biology Paper

I'm posting here first so I can edit this after I do the exam with my very valuable knowledge and a scan of the exam. (option topic and multiple choice) I will attempt to steal an entire copy but no promises.

MC








OPTIONS:
Communication:



Biotechnology:



Genetics:



The Human Story



Biochemistry


I did a really quick scan...
 

-Jonny

New Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2010
Messages
23
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Re: 2011 HSC Biology Paper

Also, 17, I was tossing up between C & D.
I went with C, as it said a pair of alleles, so i assumed it had to be the same letter B & b.
thoughts?
It was codominance, and hence D.
 

Dylanamali

Active Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
1,248
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Re: 2011 HSC Biology Paper

Also, 17, I was tossing up between C & D.
I went with C, as it said a pair of alleles, so i assumed it had to be the same letter B & b.
thoughts?

if its B and b, then the kids would be BB, Bb, Bb and bb, as seen in the diagram..
however conventionally different sized letters relate to a dominant/recessive trait.
Therefore BB, Bb and Bb were also display the same phenotype - but if you look at the pedigree, this is not supported, thus its D, in which the traits are AB - and thus co dominant.
 

Riproot

Addiction Psychiatrist
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
8,228
Location
I don’t see how that’s any of your business…
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Uni Grad
2017
Yeah man. I think I got 19/20 for Multiple choice. I can only think of 3 possible marks that I dropped for core. I think I got everything for communication, perhaps I might lose a mark about the role of dendrites but I had everything else downpat.
I lost soooo much in the core. I feel so stupid, I know I could've done A LOT better. :/
 

Memi

Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
150
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
I kept alternating between Cytotoxic and Killer T's, then eventually chose killer T cells >_< I was always taught that they were exactly the same.
 

Dylanamali

Active Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
1,248
Gender
Male
HSC
2011
Re: 2011 HSC Biology Paper

you seem to have done preety well in MC's riproot IMO 18/20, according to my results, but maybe 17/20 according to others..
I think question 8 was a little dodgy.. asking students to differentiate between killer T cells and cytotoxic T cells..
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 3)

Top