AQA GCSE Biology Biology Paper 2 (Foundation), November 2021: Question 1

✅ Correct Choices (2 Marks)

• ☑ Alfred Russel Wallace [1 mark]
• ☑ Charles Darwin [1 mark]

💡 Key Knowledge

Darwin is most famous for publishing On the Origin of Species (1859), but Wallace independently proposed the same theory at the same time, prompting their joint presentation in 1858.

❌ Distractor Breakdown

• Alexander Fleming: Discovered penicillin (antibiotics).
• Carl Linnaeus: Devised the binomial classification system (Kingdom to Species).
• Carl Woese: Introduced the 3-domain system based on RNA evidence.

✅ Mark Scheme Answer (2 Marks)

• Remains of an organism (or plant/animal) [1 mark]
• From a long time ago (or thousands/millions of years ago) [1 mark]

🧠 Exam Technique

Notice that this definition question is worth 2 marks. You must state what it is (remains/traces of living things) and when it is from (millions of years ago / a long time ago). Giving only one part caps your score at 1 mark.

❌ Common Errors

• Writing just "old bones" (too vague; leaves, impressions, and insects in amber are also fossils).
• Forgetting to mention the timescale (must state "from a long time ago").

✅ Correct Choice (1 Mark)

☑ The animal walked on mud. [1 mark]

💡 Types of Fossilisation

• Impressions/Traces: Footprints, burrows, and root tracks left in soft mud that later hardens into sedimentary rock.
• Mineral replacement: Hard parts (teeth, bones, shells) slowly replaced by minerals as they decay.
• Preservation: Organisms trapped in amber, ice, or peat bogs where decay cannot happen (no oxygen or warmth).

🧠 Look at the Clue in the Image

The image shows a hollow 3D print in stone (a trackway). It is clearly not a bone or a preserved body, meaning it must be an impression in sediment.

✅ Acceptable Answers (Any 2, 1 Mark Each)

• Catastrophic events: Asteroid collision or volcanic activity.
• Climate changes: Global warming, ice age, drought, or flooding.
• Biotic factors: A new predator (or human hunters), a new disease / pathogen.
• Competition: Competition for food or mates.
• Habitat loss: Loss or rapid change of natural habitat.

❌ Common Errors & Uncredited Words

• "Weather" (ignored — weather is day-to-day; climate change is required).
• "Competition" on its own without stating what is being competed for (must say food, mates, or territory).
• "Pollution" or "Isolation" (specifically rejected by the mark scheme for this dinosaur context).

🧠 Top Tip

Group your revision into abiotic factors (e.g. asteroid collision, temperature drop) and biotic factors (e.g. new disease, introduction of a new predator). This makes recalling two distinct factors straightforward.

✅ Correct Choices (2 Marks)

• ☑ Bacteria can become resistant to an antibiotic. [1 mark]
• ☑ Older fossils are simpler than more recent ones. [1 mark]

💡 Why These Support Evolution

• Antibiotic resistance: Demonstrates natural selection happening in real time. A random mutation confers resistance, non-resistant bacteria die, and resistant bacteria survive and reproduce.
• Fossil record progression: Deeper, older rocks contain simple single-celled and marine life; younger rocks show increasing complexity and biodiversity over geological time.

❌ Why the Others Are False

• "Older layers of rock are closer to the surface": Factually incorrect — older rock strata lie deeper underground (Law of Superposition).
• "Early forms of life lived in the ocean": A true statement about early Earth, but by itself does not demonstrate the mechanism or progression of evolution.