0
, PREFACE
With a growing emphasis on competency-based education globally, the educational landscape
in India has also steered towards high-quality learning experiences that allow learners to
incorporate critical thinking and problem-solving approaches. This approach goes beyond rote
memorisation and focuses on developing the skills and knowledge that students need to apply
in their real-world scenarios.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), as a national-level
progressive examination board, has taken several steps to infuse competency-based education
in CISCE schools through teacher capacity-building on item development for competency-
based assessments and the incorporation of competency-focused questions at the ICSE and ISC
levels from the examination year 2024.
To further facilitate the adoption of competency-based assessment practices in schools and to
support teachers and students towards the preparation for attempting higher-order thinking
questions in future board examinations, Item Banks of Competency-Focused Practice
Questions for selected subjects at the ICSE and ISC levels have been developed. This Item
Bank consists of a rich variety of questions, both objective and subjective in categories, aimed
at enhancing the subject-specific critical and analytical thinking skills of the students.
In this Item Bank, each question is accompanied by the topic and cognitive learning domain/s
that it intends to capture. The cognitive domains reflected in these questions include
understanding, analysis, application, evaluation and creativity, along with some questions of
the higher-order recall domain. The Answer Key at the end presents the possible answers to a
given question, but it is neither limiting nor exhaustive.
These practice questions are also meant to serve as teacher resources for classroom assignments
and as samplers to develop their own repository of competency-focused questions. Apart from
offering a good practice of higher-order thinking skills, engaging with these questions would
allow students to gauge their own subject competencies and use these assessments for learning
to develop individual learning pathways.
During the development of this Item Bank, a large pool of questions was prepared by a team
of experienced CISCE teachers. The questions that were finalised by the internal and external
reviewers as being higher-order competency-focused questions have been collated in this item
bank.
I acknowledge and appreciate all the ICSE and the ISC subject matter experts who have
contributed to the development and review of these high-quality competency-focused questions
for CISCE students.
We are hopeful that teachers and students will utilise these questions to support their
teaching-learning processes.
July 2024 Dr. Joseph Emmanuel
Chief Executive & Secretary
CISCE
,Biology ISC-Class XII
Table of Contents
S.No. Types of Questions Page Nos.
I. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) 1-6
II. Assertion-Reason Questions 7-8
III. Very Short Answer Questions 9-12
IV. Short Answer Questions 13-18
V. Long Answer Questions 19-24
VI. Very Long Answer Questions 25-27
Answer Key 28-37
ISC Competency-Focused Practice Questions
, Biology ISC-Class XII
COMPETENCY-FOCUSED PRACTICE QUESTIONS
ISC-CLASS XII
Biology
I: Multiple Choice Questions (1 Mark Each)
Please select ONE correct answer from the following options provided in MCQs.
S.No. Questions
1. [Genetics and Evolution]
A homozygous pea plant with axial flowers and inflated pods was crossed with another
homozygous pea plant with terminal flowers and constricted pods. When the plant of
F1-generation was self-pollinated, a total of 800 plants were produced in F2-generation.
Among these plants, how many would have terminal flowers and inflated pods?
(a) 50
(b) 300
(c) 150
(d) 450 (Application)
2. [Reproduction]
In a prescribed period, the same number of oogonia and spermatogonia produced by two
humans could yield different number of gametes subsequently. This occurs because of
which of the following options?
(a) The difference in the number of primary oocytes and primary spermatocytes formed.
(b) The difference in the number of secondary oocytes and secondary spermatocytes
formed.
(c) The difference in the number of polar bodies formed.
(d) The difference in their mode of cell divisions. (Analysis)
ISC Competency-Focused Practice Questions 1
, PREFACE
With a growing emphasis on competency-based education globally, the educational landscape
in India has also steered towards high-quality learning experiences that allow learners to
incorporate critical thinking and problem-solving approaches. This approach goes beyond rote
memorisation and focuses on developing the skills and knowledge that students need to apply
in their real-world scenarios.
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), as a national-level
progressive examination board, has taken several steps to infuse competency-based education
in CISCE schools through teacher capacity-building on item development for competency-
based assessments and the incorporation of competency-focused questions at the ICSE and ISC
levels from the examination year 2024.
To further facilitate the adoption of competency-based assessment practices in schools and to
support teachers and students towards the preparation for attempting higher-order thinking
questions in future board examinations, Item Banks of Competency-Focused Practice
Questions for selected subjects at the ICSE and ISC levels have been developed. This Item
Bank consists of a rich variety of questions, both objective and subjective in categories, aimed
at enhancing the subject-specific critical and analytical thinking skills of the students.
In this Item Bank, each question is accompanied by the topic and cognitive learning domain/s
that it intends to capture. The cognitive domains reflected in these questions include
understanding, analysis, application, evaluation and creativity, along with some questions of
the higher-order recall domain. The Answer Key at the end presents the possible answers to a
given question, but it is neither limiting nor exhaustive.
These practice questions are also meant to serve as teacher resources for classroom assignments
and as samplers to develop their own repository of competency-focused questions. Apart from
offering a good practice of higher-order thinking skills, engaging with these questions would
allow students to gauge their own subject competencies and use these assessments for learning
to develop individual learning pathways.
During the development of this Item Bank, a large pool of questions was prepared by a team
of experienced CISCE teachers. The questions that were finalised by the internal and external
reviewers as being higher-order competency-focused questions have been collated in this item
bank.
I acknowledge and appreciate all the ICSE and the ISC subject matter experts who have
contributed to the development and review of these high-quality competency-focused questions
for CISCE students.
We are hopeful that teachers and students will utilise these questions to support their
teaching-learning processes.
July 2024 Dr. Joseph Emmanuel
Chief Executive & Secretary
CISCE
,Biology ISC-Class XII
Table of Contents
S.No. Types of Questions Page Nos.
I. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) 1-6
II. Assertion-Reason Questions 7-8
III. Very Short Answer Questions 9-12
IV. Short Answer Questions 13-18
V. Long Answer Questions 19-24
VI. Very Long Answer Questions 25-27
Answer Key 28-37
ISC Competency-Focused Practice Questions
, Biology ISC-Class XII
COMPETENCY-FOCUSED PRACTICE QUESTIONS
ISC-CLASS XII
Biology
I: Multiple Choice Questions (1 Mark Each)
Please select ONE correct answer from the following options provided in MCQs.
S.No. Questions
1. [Genetics and Evolution]
A homozygous pea plant with axial flowers and inflated pods was crossed with another
homozygous pea plant with terminal flowers and constricted pods. When the plant of
F1-generation was self-pollinated, a total of 800 plants were produced in F2-generation.
Among these plants, how many would have terminal flowers and inflated pods?
(a) 50
(b) 300
(c) 150
(d) 450 (Application)
2. [Reproduction]
In a prescribed period, the same number of oogonia and spermatogonia produced by two
humans could yield different number of gametes subsequently. This occurs because of
which of the following options?
(a) The difference in the number of primary oocytes and primary spermatocytes formed.
(b) The difference in the number of secondary oocytes and secondary spermatocytes
formed.
(c) The difference in the number of polar bodies formed.
(d) The difference in their mode of cell divisions. (Analysis)
ISC Competency-Focused Practice Questions 1
