Practice Paper: AQA A Level Biology 7402/03
(Paper 3)
Topics 1–8: practical skills, data analysis and essay
Question paper
Written by AcePapers
Independent practice paper written for revision. Not an official AQA paper and not
affiliated with or endorsed by AQA.
Time allowed: 2 hours Total: 78 marks
You will need
• A pen, a pencil, a ruler and a scientific calculator.
Instructions
• Answer every question, writing your answers in the lined spaces. You may not
need all of the lines.
• Show your working in calculations and give units where they are needed.
• Questions 01–05 (38 marks) are structured questions, including practical
techniques. Question 06 (15 marks) asks you to analyse experimental data.
Question 07 (25 marks) is an essay: choose ONE title.
• Spend about 35 minutes on the essay.
• The mark for each part is printed in brackets. Plan your time with it.
• Organisms and data labelled fictional, invented or illustrative were made up for
this paper.
Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 1
, Section A: structured questions (38 marks)
Question 01
A student used Benedict’s reagent and a colorimeter to find the concentration of
glucose in a solution. After heating, she filtered out the precipitate and measured
the absorbance of the blue solution that remained. More glucose leaves less blue
copper(II) ions, so the absorbance is lower.
01.1 Describe how she could make a series of glucose solutions of 0.1, 0.01 and
0.001 mol dm−3 from a 1.0 mol dm−3 stock solution.
[2 marks]
Glucose concentration (mmol
0 2 4 6 8 10
dm−3)
Absorbance (arbitrary units) 0.92 0.74 0.57 0.41 0.24 0.08
Table 1 Calibration data (invented)
01.2 The unknown solution gave an absorbance of 0.49. Use Table 1 to estimate its
glucose concentration. Assume the change between neighbouring values is
linear. Show your working.
[2 marks]
Answer: ______________________ mmol dm−3
01.3 Explain why the colorimeter was set to zero absorbance using distilled water
before readings were taken.
[1 mark]
01.4 Give two variables that the student should keep the same for every tube.
[2 marks]
01.5 Suggest one advantage of using a colorimeter rather than comparing colours
by eye.
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 2
, [1 mark]
Question 01 total: 8 marks
Question 02
Students estimated the size of a population of woodlice under logs in a wood. They
caught 64 woodlice, marked them with a small dot of non-toxic paint on the
underside and released them. Two days later they caught 70 woodlice, of which 16
were marked.
02.1 Estimate the size of the population. Show your working.
[2 marks]
Answer: ______________________ woodlice
02.2 Give two assumptions made when using this method.
[2 marks]
02.3 Suggest why the paint was put on the underside of each woodlouse.
[1 mark]
02.4 Explain why the students waited two days before taking the second sample.
[1 mark]
02.5 The students measured soil moisture and counted woodlice in 12 quadrats.
They found a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of 0.42. The critical value
for 12 pairs at the 0.05 level is 0.587. Explain what they should conclude.
[2 marks]
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 3
(Paper 3)
Topics 1–8: practical skills, data analysis and essay
Question paper
Written by AcePapers
Independent practice paper written for revision. Not an official AQA paper and not
affiliated with or endorsed by AQA.
Time allowed: 2 hours Total: 78 marks
You will need
• A pen, a pencil, a ruler and a scientific calculator.
Instructions
• Answer every question, writing your answers in the lined spaces. You may not
need all of the lines.
• Show your working in calculations and give units where they are needed.
• Questions 01–05 (38 marks) are structured questions, including practical
techniques. Question 06 (15 marks) asks you to analyse experimental data.
Question 07 (25 marks) is an essay: choose ONE title.
• Spend about 35 minutes on the essay.
• The mark for each part is printed in brackets. Plan your time with it.
• Organisms and data labelled fictional, invented or illustrative were made up for
this paper.
Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 1
, Section A: structured questions (38 marks)
Question 01
A student used Benedict’s reagent and a colorimeter to find the concentration of
glucose in a solution. After heating, she filtered out the precipitate and measured
the absorbance of the blue solution that remained. More glucose leaves less blue
copper(II) ions, so the absorbance is lower.
01.1 Describe how she could make a series of glucose solutions of 0.1, 0.01 and
0.001 mol dm−3 from a 1.0 mol dm−3 stock solution.
[2 marks]
Glucose concentration (mmol
0 2 4 6 8 10
dm−3)
Absorbance (arbitrary units) 0.92 0.74 0.57 0.41 0.24 0.08
Table 1 Calibration data (invented)
01.2 The unknown solution gave an absorbance of 0.49. Use Table 1 to estimate its
glucose concentration. Assume the change between neighbouring values is
linear. Show your working.
[2 marks]
Answer: ______________________ mmol dm−3
01.3 Explain why the colorimeter was set to zero absorbance using distilled water
before readings were taken.
[1 mark]
01.4 Give two variables that the student should keep the same for every tube.
[2 marks]
01.5 Suggest one advantage of using a colorimeter rather than comparing colours
by eye.
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 2
, [1 mark]
Question 01 total: 8 marks
Question 02
Students estimated the size of a population of woodlice under logs in a wood. They
caught 64 woodlice, marked them with a small dot of non-toxic paint on the
underside and released them. Two days later they caught 70 woodlice, of which 16
were marked.
02.1 Estimate the size of the population. Show your working.
[2 marks]
Answer: ______________________ woodlice
02.2 Give two assumptions made when using this method.
[2 marks]
02.3 Suggest why the paint was put on the underside of each woodlouse.
[1 mark]
02.4 Explain why the students waited two days before taking the second sample.
[1 mark]
02.5 The students measured soil moisture and counted woodlice in 12 quadrats.
They found a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of 0.42. The critical value
for 12 pairs at the 0.05 level is 0.587. Explain what they should conclude.
[2 marks]
Practice Paper 7402/03 (Paper 3) – Question paper Written by AcePapers | Page 3
