plumiMovement of substances into and out of cells: Edexcel International GCSE Biology questions
Every Edexcel International GCSE Biology exam question on Movement of substances into and out of cells (specification points 2.15–2.17), 2019–2025, with its mark scheme and examiner’s report.
Paper
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Exam
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Calculations
Q6(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)(iii)
The whole paper ↗Q6(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q6(b)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q1(d)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q1(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q1(b)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q2(a)
The whole paper ↗Q2(b)
The whole paper ↗Q2(c)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q2(c)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q3(b)
The whole paper ↗Q3(c)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q3(c)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q1(a)(iii)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q6(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Q6(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗Q6(b)(ii)
The whole paper ↗
All 43 questions on Movement of substances into and out of cells, as a list
- June 2025 (R), Paper 1, Q6(a)(i) (5 marks): Draw a line graph to show the student’s results. Join your points with straight lines. (5)
- June 2025 (R), Paper 1, Q6(a)(ii) (2 marks): Describe the change in mass of the bag during the 30 minutes. (2)
- June 2025 (R), Paper 1, Q6(a)(iii) (2 marks): Explain the change in mass of the bag during the 30 minutes. (2)
- June 2025 (R), Paper 1, Q6(b)(i) (2 marks): Describe how the student could repeat the experiment safely at a higher temperature. (2)
- June 2025 (R), Paper 1, Q6(b)(ii) (3 marks): Explain how repeating the experiment at a higher temperature would affect the results. (3)
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q1(d)(i) (2 marks): Read the passage below. Use the information in the passage and your own knowledge to answer the questions that follow. Extinctions During the evolution of livin
- June 2024 (R), Paper 1, Q1(b)(i) (2 marks): Describe how to make 10 cm3 of a 5% sucrose solution from a 10% sucrose solution and pure water. (2)
- June 2024 (R), Paper 1, Q1(b)(ii) (3 marks): Explain the change in appearance of the onion cells shown in the images after being in the 5% sucrose solution for one hour. (3)
- November 2023, Paper 1, Q2(a) (1 mark): Complete the table by writing the volume of distilled water for test tube 2. (1)
- November 2023, Paper 1, Q2(b) (2 marks): This is the student’s method. Step 1 cut six equal-size cylinders of potato each 5 cm in length Step 2 dry the cut surfaces using filter paper Step 3 measure th
- November 2023, Paper 1, Q2(c)(i) (2 marks): Calculate the percentage change in mass for the 0.4 mole per litre sucrose solution. (2) percentage change = %
- November 2023, Paper 1, Q2(c)(ii) (5 marks): Comment on the effect of the different concentrations of sucrose on the potato tissue. (5)
- June 2023, Paper 1, Q3(b) (3 marks): A cell is shaped like a cube. Each side has a length of 0.053 mm. Calculate the surface area to volume ratio of this cell. Give your answer in the form n : 1 (3
- June 2023, Paper 1, Q3(c)(i) (3 marks): Explain how this difference affects red blood cells when placed in distilled water. (3)
- June 2023, Paper 1, Q3(c)(ii) (2 marks): Explain how this difference affects red blood cells when placed in a concentrated salt solution. (2)
- June 2023 (R), Paper 1, Q1(a)(iii) (3 marks): Lactobacillus cells do not burst when placed in distilled water. Red blood cells burst when placed in distilled water. Explain why the Lactobacillus cells do no
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(a)(i) (2 marks): Describe what is meant by the term osmosis. (2)
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(a)(ii) (1 mark): State the independent variable in the student’s investigation. (1)
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(b)(i) (2 marks): Calculate the surface area of each cylinder using this formula. surface area = 2πrl +2πr2 [l = length of cylinder, r = radius of cylinder and π = 3.14] (2) surf
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(b)(ii) (2 marks): Explain how surface area would affect the rate of osmosis. (2)
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(b)(iii) (1 mark): State another variable the student should control in the investigation. (1)
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(c)(i) (3 marks): Explain the changes in the mass of the potato cylinder in each test tube. (3)
- January 2023, Paper 1, Q6(c)(ii) (3 marks): The student also measured the change in length of each potato cylinder. Assuming the length has the same percentage change as the mass, calculate the final leng
- June 2022, Paper 1, Q6(b)(i) (1 mark): Give the name of the liquid found in the gap labelled O in the cell in the concentrated solution of sodium chloride. (1)
- June 2022, Paper 1, Q6(b)(ii) (4 marks): Explain the differences in the appearance of the cell in distilled water and the cell in the concentrated solution of sodium chloride. (4)
- June 2022, Paper 1, Q6(c) (4 marks): Describe an experiment you could do to show how different concentrations of sodium chloride solution affect the appearance of plant cells. (4)
- January 2022, Paper 2, Q1(f) (2 marks): Read the passage below. Use the information in the passage and your own knowledge to answer the questions that follow. Making Enough Blood for the World A blood
- January 2022 (R), Paper 2, Q6(a) (1 mark): State the independent variable in this investigation. (1)
- January 2022 (R), Paper 2, Q6(b) (1 mark): Give one variable that the teacher controls in this investigation. (1)
- January 2022 (R), Paper 2, Q6(c)(i) (2 marks): Explain the differences in the teacher’s observations. (2)
- January 2022 (R), Paper 2, Q6(c)(ii) (2 marks): When the teacher looks down a microscope for cells on each slide, these are the teacher’s observations. • slide from tube A – no cells are seen • slide from tub
- January 2022 (R), Paper 2, Q6(d) (2 marks): Blood samples can be separated into different layers using a centrifuge. This is a machine that spins blood at a high speed. A new sample of blood is shown afte
- June 2021, Paper 2, Q3(a)(ii) (1 mark): Give one difference between osmosis and diffusion. (1)
- January 2021, Paper 1, Q7(b)(ii) (4 marks): Explain the effect of increasing the concentration of salt solution on germination. (4)
- January 2021, Paper 1, Q10(a) (5 marks): Explain the factors that affect the rate of movement of substances into and out of cells. (5)
- January 2021, Paper 1, Q10(b) (4 marks): Describe the differences between diffusion and active transport. (4)
- January 2021 (R), Paper 1, Q9(b) (3 marks): A scientist investigates the rates of aerobic respiration of some animals. The scientist calculates the rate of respiration per gram of each animal. The results
- November 2020 (R), Paper 1, Q5(a)(i) (3 marks): Explain how some of these molecules allow active transport to occur in cells of the fetus. (3)
- January 2020 (R), Paper 1, Q3(d)(ii) (2 marks): The respiration rate shown on the graph is measured in cm3 of oxygen used per minute. When the respiration rate is measured in cm3 per minute, a human has a hig
- June 2019, Paper 1, Q4(a) (3 marks): Explain what happens to the level of the sucrose solution in the glass tube. (3)
- June 2019, Paper 1, Q4(b) (3 marks): Describe how this apparatus could be modified to measure the rate of osmosis at different temperatures. (3)
- June 2019, Paper 2, Q6(a)(i) (2 marks): Complete the table by giving the missing information. (2) Side length in Surface area of Total surface area Volume of one Total volume in cm one cube in cm2 in
- June 2019, Paper 2, Q6(a)(ii) (1 mark): Calculate the ratio of the total surface area of the small cubes to the surface area of the large cube. (1) ratio =
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