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Cambridge IGCSE™
* 2 7 7 5 6 2 8 6 0 0 *

BIOLOGY 0610/62
Paper 6 Alternative to Practical February/March 2021

1 hour

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams or graphs.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use a calculator.
● You should show all your working and use appropriate units.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 40.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 12 pages.

DC (LK/CGW) 203215/3
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1 A student investigated osmosis. They used a model cell made from dialysis tubing. Dialysis tubing
is permeable to water but is not permeable to larger molecules such as sucrose, which is a type of
sugar.

Step 1 One test-tube was labelled DW and a second test-tube was labelled S.

Step 2 Two dialysis tubing bags were made by knotting lengths of dialysis tubing at one end.

Step 3 A syringe was filled with 10 cm3 of sucrose solution.

Step 4 The 10 cm3 of sucrose solution was transferred from the syringe to a dialysis tubing bag,
as shown in Fig. 1.1.

syringe
sucrose solution
open end of the
dialysis tubing bag

sucrose solution inside

the dialysis tubing bag
knotted end of the
dialysis tubing bag

Fig. 1.1

Step 5 A ruler was used to measure the distance from the knot to the meniscus of the sucrose
solution in the bag, as shown in Fig. 1.2.

finger

dialysis tubing bag

the distance
from the knot to bottom of the meniscus
the meniscus

knot

Fig. 1.2

Step 6 The dialysis tubing bag was placed into test-tube S and secured with an elastic band.

Step 7 A measuring cylinder was used to pour 30 cm3 of distilled water into test-tube S, as
shown in Fig. 1.3.

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elastic band

open end of the

dialysis tubing bag

test-tube

30 cm3 of distilled water

Fig. 1.3

Step 8 The student filled the second dialysis tubing bag with 10 cm3 of distilled water.

Step 9 The student measured the distance from the top of the knot to the bottom of the meniscus
of the distilled water in the dialysis tubing bag.

Step 10 The dialysis tubing bag containing distilled water was then placed into test-tube DW and
secured with an elastic band. 30 cm3 of distilled water was poured into test-tube DW.

Step 11 Test-tubes S and DW were left for 15 minutes.

Step 12 At 15 minutes the dialysis tubing bags were removed from test-tubes S and DW.

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(a) Fig. 1.4 shows the dialysis tubing bags at 0 minutes and at 15 minutes.

0 minutes 15 minutes 0 minutes 15 minutes

dialysis tubing bag from test-tube S dialysis tubing bag from test-tube DW
Fig. 1.4

(i) Measure the distance from the top of the knot to the bottom of the meniscus at 0 minutes
and 15 minutes for the dialysis tubing bags from test-tubes S and DW.

Prepare a table and record these measurements in your table.

[3]
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(ii) Calculate the change in distance from the knot to the meniscus of the liquids in the
dialysis tubing bags in test-tubes S and DW.

S ........................................................ mm

DW ........................................................ mm
[1]

(iii) Explain why it is important to take the measurements from the same place on the dialysis
tubing bags shown in Fig. 1.4.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(iv) State a conclusion for the results of this investigation.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(v) Identify the variable that the student decided to change (independent variable) in this
investigation.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(vi) Only one set of results was collected during this investigation.

Explain why it is better to collect several sets of results.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(b) Another student repeated the investigation but their results were not the same. The student
only used one syringe during the investigation and did not wash it.

Suggest why the results of their investigation were not as expected.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

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(c) Sucrose can be broken down into reducing sugars.

Describe how you would test for the presence of reducing sugars.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(d) Students investigated the effect of sucrose concentration on the mass of potato cylinders.

• A potato was cut into cylinders.

• The potato cylinders were all cut to 2 cm in length.
• The initial mass of each potato cylinder was measured and recorded.
• Each potato cylinder was put into a different concentration of sucrose solution.
• The potato cylinders were left in the sucrose solutions for one hour.
• The potato cylinders were removed from the sucrose solutions and the final mass of
each potato cylinder was measured and recorded.

(i) State two variables that were kept constant in this investigation.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

2 ........................................................................................................................................
[2]

The results of the investigation are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1

concentration initial mass of final mass of percentage

change in
of sucrose potato cylinder potato cylinder change in
mass / g
/ mol per dm3 /g /g mass

0.00 2.13 2.29 0.16 7.5

0.20 2.05 2.08 0.03 1.5

0.40 2.52 2.42 –0.10 –4.0

0.60 1.68 1.52 –0.16 –9.5

0.80 1.56 1.32 –0.24 –15.4

1.00 2.51 2.08 –0.43

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(ii) Calculate the percentage change in mass of the potato cylinder that was immersed in
1.00 mol per dm3 sucrose solution.

Give your answer to one decimal place.

Space for working.

.............................................................%
[3]

(iii) Plot a line graph on the grid of the concentration of sucrose solution against the
percentage change in mass. One axis has been started for you.

Include a curved line of best fit on your graph.

0.0

[4]

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(iv) Estimate the concentration of sucrose solution at which there was no percentage change
in the mass of the potato cylinder.

....................................... mol per dm3 [1]

(v) Explain why the percentage change in mass is more useful than the change in mass
when analysing the results in Table 1.1.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(e) State the name of the solution that is used to test for the presence of starch and give the
result of a positive test.

test solution ..............................................................................................................................

positive result .............................................................................................................................

[2]

[Total: 24]

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2 Fig. 2.1 is a photograph of a tomato fruit that has been cut in half.

Fig. 2.1

(a) (i) Draw a large diagram of the tomato fruit shown in Fig. 2.1.

[4]
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(ii) Describe how you could show that a tomato fruit contains vitamin C.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [3]

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(b) Fig. 2.2 is a photomicrograph of a tomato seed.

magnification ×50

Fig. 2.2

Measure the length of line PQ on Fig. 2.2.

length of PQ ................................................. mm

Calculate the actual size of the tomato seed using the formula and your measurement.

length of line PQ
magnification = actual length of the tomato seed

Include the unit.

Space for working.

................................................................
[3]

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(c) Plan an investigation to determine the optimum (best) temperature for germination of tomato
seeds.

...................................................................................................................................................

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............................................................................................................................................. [6]

[Total: 16]

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reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

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