Unit 3 Biology exam 2012 review
By Heath McGregor on Jun 12, 2012 in VCE Biology, VCE Exams, VCE Resources
Hi all,
Congratulations on finishing the Unit 3 VCE Biology exam for 2012. What did you think of the paper? What was hard? What was easy? How do you think you went?
Let us know your thoughts and comments below (please keep them clean – all comments are moderated anyway!)…cheers
(9 votes, average: 3.22 out of 5)
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I feel the same Caitlyn!
Yeah see I’m just like, “okay got it wrong then.” and you guys are like, ” according to the scientific study done by Harvard university in 1987 and the functioning neurons acquired in my abnormally large brain, that can’t be probable to be the correct answer.’
at least it’s not just me
biology seems so unjustified -.- all the work i put in, for an exam that doesn’t cover any of what i study 
Thanks khaber! now i can look back and think of everything i did wrong even more 
haha, any chance of solutions? 
This s what I did while I still remember. Feel free to argue against it and I’ll say why I did what I did.
1. C
2. A
3. D
4. C
5. C
6. A
7. C
8. C
9. C
10. B
11. C
12. B
13. C/D (forgot which one I put, but pretty sure answer is D)
14. C
15. B
16. D (changed answer from A to D last minute)
17. D
18. D
19. B
20. C
21. C
22. D
23. B
24. D
25. C
rattyg:
I think the questions were fairly worded as you should know where protein digestion begins and so should know whether or not enzymes would be present.. the change in temperature tells us whether enzymes are denatured(80) or if their activity is just decreased due to fewer collisions between enzyme and substrate(10)
for the DNA multiple choice it said ‘double helix’ and so would tell you that a strand with 100 base pairs would double to form a double helix and therefore 200 bases altogether, so that answer would’ve been 75
I couldn’t believe this exam. I studied so hard just to blitz all the other exams and to understand the major topics in detail. There was no real question on understanding the nervous system in detail, no experimental design (I had only just mastered that the day before), signal transduction, drug design, or even plant hormones. The only thing is that I panicked looking for the catch.
I am hoping that it doesn’t let me down and that I can go to Uni next year.
For the protein/polypeptide question, I put the 10 degree graph at the same height as the 37 degree one, because the digestive enzymes were inactive but the reaction was still occurring, just at an extremely slow rate (because the question said it was incubated for ten hours so I assumed it’d be done by then…) and I drew the 80 degree graph lower because the digestive enzymes had denatured so the reaction was not being catalysed at all… I’m starting to think I’m completely wrong though.
Also, cytoplasm = cytosol + organelles, whereas cytosol is just the plasma/ extra cellular fluid.
With the DNA multiple choice, I can’t remember the exact question, but I remember thinking that it meant it was 25 bases of the ENTIRE double stranded DNA, so I said 25. But that’s probably wrong too…
does any one remeber what the last question of the paper was was it about limiting factors ????
I was really disappointed. NO EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
I love those design experiments, it’s like an easy 3 marks.
Dammit I mixed the definitions of cytosol and cytoplasm up. And as for the protein one… I assumed that it slowly rose to 80 degrees stead of straight away going to 80 degrees. Soo… kinda stuffed that up cause I said there would be enzyme activity to some extent.
i thought the exam was today! OH NO CAN I SIT IT TOMORROW? CAN I STILL GET A 50?
Hey guys
Anyone found suggested answers yet?
so the protein question involving polypeptides did have something to do with enzymes? Because I wrote about enzymes breaking down the substrate (protein) and how the high temperatures denature the enzyme, thus the concentration of polypeptide is little as the protein hasn’t been broken down. Now I think this is completely wrong after reading all of the answers on this page. Hoping I only got 10 marks or so inncorrect.
yea I’m not sure caitlin :/ i mentioned enzymes, because it was taken from the stomach, so obviously there are enzymes present, and referred to the enzymes being denatured, rather then the protein itself :/ but im not sure
im pretty sure there are a range of factors, i wrote pH and light intensity but others wrote other things, there will be no “two” answers
ha ha funny daniel (i hope you are joking)…. ability to keep a relatively stable internal environment maybe??
ok 75/75 lets see you get an A+
I agree with Sally about the protein question. I put 10 and 80 degrees as lower than optimum because enzymes in the stomach break down whole proteins into smaller polypeptide chains, so wouldn’t the concentration be lower if there was less breakdown of proteins? although im not entirely sure…
meg,
why for question 8 did you do C?
I am fairly sure it is D, but i could be wrong.
I got 12 wrongs!!! Is it good or bad? High 40+s?
How do you know you got 12 wrongs? Might still scrape in to A+ range. Good job! That’s not bad!
After looking at the paper again and the possible solutions I think I got between 46-52.
What grade would that be? B or B+?
what did everyone answer for the 2 questions on the table with nucleotides and amino acid sequence?? It was probably simple but the wording of the question confused me
AT MEG
hey..wow..we had mostly the same answers which is good cause that means most likely we are right ! haha
but i have one problem :S i put 21 as B cause ATP is produced which is part of cellular respiration. Hence, original source of energy is glucose. Light is a original source in photosynthesis. But in my opinion, vcaa will accept both answers cause its controversaial.
And 13..its B cause trust me..ive done taht question like a million times and its been that answwer so yeah !
hey can some one explain the question asking where protein forms part of.
haemoglobin or phospholipid..? I wrote haemoglobin but wouldnt both be correct?
For the polypeptide question,
The protein gets broken down INTO polypeptides.
So if you put nothing for 80 degrees for polypeptide concentration, it would be right,
because the polypeptides are the product of the reaction, not the substrate
so the more of them the more enzyme activity has occured.
i think the question got interpeted in so many different ways, it will probably be one of the main questions that wasn’t done the best.
75 guanine bases is correct as my teacher did the exam and got the same answer!!!
phospholipids don’t contain any amino acids. Haemoglobin was the correct answer
It was a trick question, it mentioned a chain off *200* with 25 pairs of T/A = 50. leaving 150 bases left, 150 divided by 2 = 75. The answer was 75. Bad luck mayte
where are the suggested answers
It is as if they have run out of relevant questions to ask so are just brainstorming new types of questions that have little to do with the study design in order to screw us over and spread out the marks.
Hey guys
do u think they will give out those 4 marks for the poly peptide question if i wrote that the polypeptide conc will be low at 80 degrees cause it would have been denauered..they never mentioned anything about enzymes and hence, its ambiguous?
This is my theory to the poly peptide question. The 80c should be the highest because I believe it’s the break down of the polypeptides into amino acids and the 10c due to the decreased collisions is second highest someone please enlighten me if I am wrong
question 10 i got d? because i didn’t know if they were mast cells or phagocytes…. but i’m guessing it’s b now…
Hey guys I can tell you that q4 – 7 the answers are as follows:
Q4 – c
Q5 – c
Q6 – a
Q7 – c
As my teacher completed the exam!!!!
@ Sally..
cause if less polypeptide exists, then the enzyme concentration would lowwww!
Omg ur so right ! Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into polypeptide chains. Hence, both answers can be accepted.
Mine was 11 kg
mine wassssss 30 kg. Beat THAT !…HOT WHEELS
what? when did the bio exam happen? I thought it was next week on tuesday? :S
hello students, i’m a biology tutor and these are my answers, 99% sure they are correct
1.C
2.A
3.D
4.C
5.C
6.A
7.C
8.D
9.C
10.B
11.C
12.B
13.D
14.C
15.D
16.D
17.D
18.D
19.B
20.C
21.B
22.D
23.B
24.D
25.C
@pepa: I did C for 8 because I thought it was talking about the plasma membrane structure as a whole, buy yeah I think you’re right.
@ratyyg: I did light because I did a practice exam and it said ATP was produced as part of the loight dependent stage from light, but I think they should accept both, idk. :/
I prolly got 3 multis wrong then, which isn’t so bad, looking at other suggested answers.
@Sam: phagocytes can release histamine I read. I was going to do D but changed it to B ’cause it seemed the most general answer ’cause killer cells are phagocytes I think. & mast cells are fixed, they don’t move.
@rattyg: why is 13 B? Because if there’s low calcium, aren’t the hormones trying to increase the blood calcium level. The bones absorbing calcium would be decreasing the blood calcium level.
1.C
2.A
3.D
4.C
5.C
6.A
7.C
8.D
9.C
10.B
11.C
12.B
13.D
14.C
15.D
16.D
17.D
18.D
19.B
20.C
21.B
22.D
23.B
24.D
25.C
Please tell me that you are joking, the exam was on Tuesday…
@T If your teacher did the exam, could you maybe post up some suggested answers? Put us out of our misery. Pleaseeee?
Ceylon, wouldn’t question 13 be A? A fall in level of calcium in blood, action by parathyroid gland would raise it. This doesn’t mean increased absorption of calcium from the intestines, because that would lower blood calcium levels even further. Wouldn’t a rise in calcium in the urine result from an increased amount of calcium in the blood? Just a bit confused with that one…
Celine,
when blood Ca2+ falls, parathyroid hormone will increase absorption of Calcium back to blood in the small intestine thus less Ca is passed out of the body.makes sense? check 2008Q23.
q.13 will be D because an increased amount of calcium from intestines means that the body is getting more calcium form the food to put back into the bloostream right?
ceylon, why is q.18 D and not B?