CBSE Class 12 Biology

Most Repeated Questions 2025 for Board Exam

Chapter 2 Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants

1. Angiosperms bearing unisexual flowers are said to be either monoecious or
dioecious. Explain with the help of one example each.
2. Draw a diagram of a mature microspore of an angiosperm. Label its cellular
components only.
OR
Draw a labelled diagram of a mature pollen grain.
3. A bilobed, dithecous anther has 100 microspore mother cells per
microsporangium. How many male gametophytes this anther can produce?
4. A pollen grain in angiosperm at the time of dehiscence from an anther could
be 2-celled or 3-celled. Explain, how are the cells placed within the pollen grain
when shed at a 2-celled stage.
5. Describe the process of megasporogenesis up to fully developed embryo sac
formation in an angiosperm. (All India 2019)
OR
Where does the process of megasporogenesis start in an angiosperm? Describe
the process up to the formation of the embryo sac.
6. (i) Describe the sequence of the process of microsporogenesis in
angiosperms.
(ii) Draw a labelled diagram of a 2-celled final structure formed.
OR
Trace pollen grain development from sporogenous tissue in the anther.
7. List the different types of pollination depending upon the source of pollen
grain.
OR
Differentiate between autogamy, geitonogamy and xenogamy.
8. (i) Draw an LS of the pistil showing the pollen tube entering into the embryo
sac. Label the following. (All India 2019)
(a) Nucellus
(b) Antipodals
(c) Synergids
(d) Micropyle
(ii) Write the functions of the following
(a) Synergids
(b) Micropyle
9. A biology student Ashu, read an article on apples being a false fruit. He asked
his teacher about how a fruit can be called false and was explained about the
development of fruits.
(i) What are false fruits? Give an example.
(ii) What is meant by parthenocarpy? Name a fruit developed by this method.
(iii) What are the values shown by Ashu?
Chapter 3 Human Reproduction
1. Why are human testes located outside the abdominal cavity? Name the
pouch in which they are present.
2. List the different parts of the human oviduct through which the ovum travels
till it meets the sperm for fertilisation.
3. (i) Draw a labelled diagrammatic view of human male reproductive system,
(ii) Differentiate between vas deferens and vasa efferentia.
4. Explain the role of pituitary and sex hormones in the process of
spermatogenesis.
OR
Spermatogenesis in human males is a hormone-regulated process. Justify.
OR
Explain the hormonal regulation of the process of spermatogenesis in humans.
5. Draw and label the parts of the head region only of a human sperm.
6. Differentiate between menarche and menopause.
7. Explain the events in a normal woman during her menstrual cycle on the
following days
(i) Ovarian event from 13-15 days.
(ii) Ovarian hormones level from 16-23 days.
(iii) Uterine events from 24-29 days.
8. (i) Explain the menstrual cycle in human females.
(ii) How can the scientific understanding of the menstrual cycle of human
females help as a contraceptive measure?
9. (i) Explain the process of spermatogenesis in humans.
(ii) Draw a human sperm and label the acrosome and middle piece. Mention
their functions.
10. Briefly explain the events of fertilisation and implantation in an adult
human female.
(ii) Comment on the role of the placenta as an endocrine gland.
Or
Explain the process of fertilisation and implantation in humans.
11. Charu got pregnant with her first baby. She asked her husband (who is a
doctor) to know about the changes which would take place in her body during
pregnancy.
(i) What is implantation?
(ii) What values does the Charu’s husband show?
Chapter 4 Reproductive Health
1. Our government has intentionally imposed strict conditions for MTP in our
country. Justify giving a reason.
2. Describe the lactational amenorrhea method of birth control.
3. At the time of Independence, the population of India was 350 million, which
exploded to over 1 billion by May 2000.
List any two reasons for this rise in population and any two steps taken by the
government to check this population explosion.
4. If implementation of better techniques and new strategies are required to
provide more efficient care and assistance to people, then why is there a
statutory ban on amniocentesis? Write the use of this technique and give a
reason to justify the ban.
5. An infertile couple is advised to adopt a test tube baby programme. Describe
two principal procedures adopted for such technologies. (Delhi 2015)
OR
Explain the Zygote Intra Fallopian Transfer Technique (ZIFT). How is the Intra
Uterine Transfer (IUT) Technique different from it?
6. Suggest and explain any three Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) to
an infertile couple.
7. A large number of married couples in the world are childless. It is shocking to
know that in India, the female partner is often blamed for the couple being
childless.
(i) Why in your opinion the female partner is often blamed for such situations
in India? Mention any two values that you as a biology student can promote to
check this social evil.
(ii) State any two reasons responsible for the cause of infertility.
(iii) Suggest a technique that can help the couple to have a child where the
problem is with the male partner.
Chapter 5 Principles of Inheritance and Variation
1. Name the pattern of inheritance where the F1phenotype
(i) resembles only one of the two parents.
(ii) does not resemble either of the two parents and is in between the two.
2. Mention any two contrasting traits with respect to seeds in pea plants that
were studied by Mendel.
3. A garden pea plant (A) produced an inflated yellow pod and another plant
(B) of the same species produced constricted green pods. Identify the
dominant traits.
4. Why did TH Morgan select Drosophila melanogaster to study sex-linked
genes for his lab experiments?
OR
Write the scientific name of the fruit fly. Why did Morgan prefer to work with
fruit flies for his experiments? State any three reasons.
5. Linkage and crossing over of genes are alternatives to each other. Justify with
the help of an example.
6. In snapdragon, a cross between true-breeding red-flowered (RR) plants and
true-breeding white-flowered (rr) plants showed a progeny of plants with all
pink flowers.
(i) The appearance of pink flowers is not known as blending. Why?
(ii) What is this phenomenon known as?
7. In a dihybrid cross, white-eyed, yellow-bodied female Drosophila crossed
with red-eyed, brown-bodied male Drosophila produced in F2-generation 1.3%
recombinants and 98.7% progeny with parental type combinations. This
observation of Morgan deviated from the Mendelian F2-phenotypic dihybrid
ratio. Explain, giving reasons for Morgan’s observation.
8. (i) Explain linkage and recombination as put forth by TH Morgan based on his
observations with the Drosophila melanogaster crossing experiment.
(ii) Write the basis on which Alfred Sturtevant explained gene mapping.
9. Explain with the help of a suitable example, the inheritance of a trait where
two different dominant alleles of a trait express themselves simultaneously in
the progeny. Name this kind of inheritance pattern.
10. State and explain the ‘law of independent assortment’ in a typical
Mendelian dihybrid cross. (Delhi 2017)
OR
Using Punnett square show the F2 result of a dihybrid cross where the pure
breed parents have contrasting traits with reference to seed shape and seed
colour in Pisum sativum. Give the phenotypic ratio.
Chapter 6 Molecular Basis of Inheritance
1. Why is RNA more reactive in comparison to DNA?
2. Name the enzyme and state its property that is responsible for continuous
and discontinuous replication of the two strands of a DNA molecule.
3. What is the origin of replication in a chromosome? State its function.
4. Describe the structure of a nucleosome. (Delhi 2017)
OR
Draw a labelled diagram of a nucleosome. Where is it found in a cell?
(Foreign 2014; All India 2012)
OR
How do histones acquire a positive charge?
5. Differentiate between exons and introns.
6. (i) Describe the structure and function of a tRNA molecule. Why is it referred
to as an adapter molecule?
(ii) Explain the process of splicing of hnRNA in a eukaryotic cell. (All India 2017)
7. Sketch a schematic diagram of the lac operon in a switched-on position. How
is the operon switched off? Explain.
8. (i) Why is tRNA called an adapter?
(ii) Draw and label a secondary structure of tRNA. What does the actual
structure of tRNA look like?
9. Given below are the sequences of nucleoside in a particular mRNA and
amino acids coded by it.
UUUAU GUUC GAGUUAGU GUAA
Phe – Met – Phe – Glu – Leu – Val
Write the properties of genetic codes that can be and cannot be correlated
from the above-given data.
Chapter 7 Evolution
1. Name the type of evolution that has resulted in the development of
structures like the wings of a butterfly and birds. What are such structures
called?
2. During the biology lecture on theories of evolution, Mrs. Sharma was
teaching the topic of Lamarckism. Kapil was in a confused state after the
lecture, so he went to his teacher and asked about his doubts. He asked if
characters can pass on to the next generation, and why he does not have the
tattoo that his mother had on her arm.
The teacher smiled and told him the actual facts about it. She also explained to
him the reasons for the rejection of Lamarck’s theory.
(i) Name the book in which Lamarckism was explained.
(ii) What are the three postulates of this theory?
(iii) What are the values shown by the teacher?
3. Explain the salient features of Hugo de Vries's theory of mutation. How is
Darwin’s theory of natural selection different from it? Explain.
4. (i) How does the Hardy-Weinberg equation explain genetic equilibrium?
(ii) Describe how this equilibrium gets disturbed which may lead to the founder
effect.
OR
(i) Describe the Hardy-Weinberg principle
(ii) List any four factors, which affect genetic equilibrium.
(iii) Describe the founder effect.
5. Branching descent and natural selection are the two key concepts of the
Darwinian theory of evolution. Explain each concept with the help of a suitable
example.
6. Describe the three different ways by which natural selection can affect the
frequency of a heritable trait in a population. (Foreign 2014)
OR
Explain the three ways in which natural selection operates on different traits in
nature.
7. Explain the phenomenon of evolution by natural selection as supported by
the variations observed in white-winged and dark-winged moth populations in
England between 1850 and 1920.
8. Name the first human-like hominid. Mention his food habits and brain
capacity.
9. Differentiate between homology and analogy. Give one example of each.
OR
Differentiate between divergent and convergent evolution. Give one example
of each.
10. Explain with the help of an example the type of evolution homology is
based on.
OR
Divergent evolution leads to homologous structures. Explain with the help of
an example.
Chapter 8: Human Health and Diseases
1. You have attended a birthday party hosted by one of your classmates. You
found some guests at the party sitting in a corner making a lot of noise and
consuming ‘something’. After a while one of the boys from the group started
screaming, behaving abnormally and sweating profusely.
(i) Would you inform your parents/school authorities? Yes/No? Give a reason in
support of your answer.
(ii) Prepare a note to be circulated amongst the schoolmates about the sources
and dangers of any two drugs.
(iii) Write any two ways that you will suggest to your school principal, to
promote awareness amongst the youth against the use of these drugs.
2. It is commonly observed that parents feel embarrassed to discuss freely with
their adolescent children about sexuality and reproduction. The result of this
parental inhibition is that the children go astray sometimes.
(i) Explain the reasons that you feel are behind such embarrassment amongst
some parents to freely discuss such issues with their growing children.
(ii) By taking one example of a local plant and animal, how would you help
these parents overcome such inhibitions about reproduction and sexuality?
3. ‘Prevention is better than cure’ is an apt slogan to safeguard adolescents
from drug abuse. List any 6 steps that could be taken in this regard.
4. A person in your colony has recently been diagnosed with AIDS.
People/residents in the colony want him to leave the colony for the fear of the
spread of AIDS.
(i) Write your view on the situation, giving reasons.
(ii) List the possible preventive measures that you would suggest to the
residents of your locality in a meeting organised by you so that they
understand the situation.
(iii) Write the symptoms and the causative agent of AIDS.
5. (i) Name and explain giving reason, the type of immunity provided to the
newborn by the colostrum and vaccinations.
(ii) Name the type of antibody
(a) present in colostrum.
(b) produced in response to allergens in the human body.
6. (i) HIV and Hepatitis B are STDs. Mention the two other ways by which they
can be transmitted to a healthy person.
(ii) Why is early detection of STDs essential? What can it lead to otherwise?
Explain.
7. Name the parasite that causes filariasis in humans. Mention its two
diagnostic symptoms. How is this transmitted to others?
8. Differentiate between active and passive immunity.
9. State the function of interferons.
Chapter 10 Microbes in Human Welfare
1. (i) How do organic farmers control pests? Give two examples.
(ii) State the difference in their approach from that of conventional pest control
methods.
2. How does the activity of each one of the following help in organic farming?
(i) Mycorrhiza
(ii) Cyanobacteria
(iii) Rhizobium
3. Draw a labelled sketch of a typical biogas plant.
4. State one reason for adding blue-green algae to the agricultural soil.
5. How can sewage be used to generate biogas? Explain.
Chapter 11 Biotechnology- Principles and Processes
1. Why is it not possible for an alien DNA to become part of a chromosome
anywhere along its length and replicate normally?
2. Why is making cells competent essential for biotechnology experiments? List
any two ways by which this can be achieved.
3. Industrial production of biologically important recombinant products utilises
bioreactors. Sohan was aware of this information but was curious to know
about the process involved. He asked his teacher about this, who explained the
process in detail to him.
(i) What are bioreactors? Name the most common type of bioreactor utilised
by industries.
(ii) What is the sequence of events after the completion of the biosynthetic
phase in the bioreactor?
4. Write the steps you would suggest to be undertaken to obtain a foreign-gene
product.
5. How are the following used in biotechnology?
(i) Plasmid DNA
(ii) Recognition sequence
(iii) Gel electrophoresis
6. (i) Explain the significance of palindromic nucleotide sequences in the
formation of recombinant DNA.
(ii) Write the use of restriction endonuclease in the above process.
7. Explain the role(s) of the following in biotechnology
(i) Restriction endonuclease
(ii) Gel-electrophoresis
(iii) Selectable markers in pBR322
8. List the key tools used in recombinant DNA technology.
9. Explain the mode of action of Eco RI.
OR
What is Eco RI? How does Eco RI differ from an exonuclease?
OR
How does a restriction nuclease function? Explain.
10. Why do DNA fragments move towards the anode during gel
electrophoresis?
Chapter 12 Biotechnology and its Applications
1. Biopiracy should be prevented. State why and how?
2. Mention any four benefits derived from transgenic animals.
3. (i) Name the source from which insulin was extracted earlier. Why is this
insulin no longer in use by diabetic people?
(ii) Explain the process of synthesis of insulin by Eli Lilly company. Name the
technique used by the company.
(iii) How is the insulin produced by the human body different from the insulin
produced by the above-mentioned company?
4. Name the host plant and its part that Meloidogyne incognita infects. Explain
the role of Agrobacterium in the production of dsRNA in the host plant.
5. Explain the various steps involved in the production of artificial insulin.
OR
Recombinant DNA technology is of great importance in the field of medicine.
With the help of a flow chart, show how this technology has been used in
preparing genetically engineered human insulins.
6. How does ‘RNA interference’ take place in eukaryotes? Mention its
importance. (Delhi 2012C)
OR
Explain the process of RNA interference.
7. Write the functions of
(i) cry IAc gene
(ii) RNA interference (RNAi)
Chapter 13: Organisms and Populations
1. (i) Explain with the help of a graph the population growth curve, when
resources are (A) limiting (B) not limiting.
(ii) Nature has a carrying capacity for a species. Explain.
2. What is the association between the bumble bee and its favourite orchid
Ophrysl How would the extinction or change of one affect the other?
3. During a school trip to ‘Rohtang Pass’, one of your classmate suddenly
developed ‘altitude sickness’. But, he/she recovered after some time.
(i) Mention one symptom to diagnose the sickness.
(ii) What caused the sickness?
(iii) How could she/he recover by her/himself after some time?
4. Explain with the help of suitable examples the three different ways by which
organisms overcome their stressful conditions lasting for short duration.
OR
Explain by taking three different examples how do certain organisms pull
through the adverse conditions when unable to migrate under stressful period.
5. Following are the responses of different animals to various abiotic factors.
Describe each one with the help of an example.
(a) Regulate
(b) Conform
(c) Migrate
(d) Suspend
(ii) If 8 individuals in a population of 80 butterflies die in a week, calculate the
death of the population of butterflies during that period.
6. (i) Explain with the help of a graph the population growth curve, when
resources are (A) limiting (B) not limiting.
(ii) Nature has a carrying capacity for a species. Explain
Chapter 14 Ecosystem
1. How does a detritivore differ from a decomposer? Explain with an example
of each.
2. Write the equation that helps in deriving the net primary productivity of an
ecosystem. (Delhi 2013)
OR
How is the net primary productivity of an ecosystem derived?
3. Write the relationship between productivity, gross primary productivity, net
primary productivity and secondary productivity.
4. (i) Healthy ecosystems are the base of a wide range of (ecosystem) services.
Justify.
(ii) Explain the differences and the similarities between hydrarch and xerarch
successions of plants.
5. Explain the carbon cycle with the help of a simplified model.
6. How does the phosphorus cycle differ from the carbon cycle?
Chapter 15 Biodiversity and Conservation
1. (i) Why should we conserve biodiversity? How can we do it?
(ii) Explain the importance of biodiversity hotspots and sacred groves.
2. List six advantages of ‘ex situ’ approach to conservation of biodiversity.
3. Write the importance of cryopreservation in conservation of biodiversity.
4. Write the importance of species diversity to the ecosystem. Support your
answer with the finding of Tilman.
5. Name the type of biodiversity represented by the following
(i) 1000 varieties of mangoes in India.
(ii) Variations in terms of potency and concentration of reserpine in Rauwolfia
vomitoria growing in different regions of “Himalayas.