plumiMitosis: OCR A‑Level Biology A questions
OCR A-Level Biology A past-paper questions on 2.1.6.2 Mitosis, 2016–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.
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Q21(b)(i)
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All 43 questions on Mitosis, as a list
- June 2025, AS Paper 1, Q21(b)(i) (1 mark): State one other role of mitosis in organisms. [1]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(a)(i) (1 mark): Name the stage of mitosis shown in the image. [1]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(a)(ii) (2 marks): Describe how the image would look different if the cell was in interphase. [2]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(a)(iii) (1 mark): The cell in the image is from the root of an onion. State why root tissue is frequently chosen to study mitosis. [1]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(b)(i) (2 marks): At the beginning of mitosis and meiosis, the nuclear envelope disintegrates. Identify two other similarities between prophase in mitosis and prophase 1 of meios
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(b)(ii) (1 mark): Identify one difference between prophase in mitosis and prophase 2 of meiosis. [1]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q21(c) (2 marks): The cell cycle of an onion cell is estimated to be 15 h. A root-tip squash from an onion contained 124 cells. 16 of the cells were undergoing mitosis. Calculate
- June 2024, AS Paper 1, Q12 (1 mark): The photomicrograph shows a group of cells prepared from an onion root tip squash. A B D C Which of the label lines shows a cell that is in metaphase? Your answ
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q16(a) (1 mark): State two other roles of mitosis in organisms. 1 2 [1]
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q16(b)(i) (2 marks): Explain why mitosis, and not meiosis, is used for asexual reproduction in plants. [2]
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q16(b)(ii) (2 marks): Bacteria reproduce asexually by a process called binary fission. Suggest why bacteria are unable to reproduce asexually by mitosis. [2]
- June 2023, AS Paper 2, Q6(a)(i) (2 marks): Describe the role of mitosis in fragmentation. [2]
- June 2023, AS Paper 2, Q6(a)(ii) (1 mark): State one other function of mitosis in starfish. [1]
- June 2023, AS Paper 2, Q6(b) (2 marks): HeLa cells and RPE1 cells are cell lines that are commonly used in research. Scientists can use these cell lines to observe mitosis in human tissues outside the
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(a)(ii) (1 mark): Assuming that the growth of the larva follows a relationship of y = mx + c, use Fig. 2.3 to determine the length of the larva at 0 years, when it emerges from t
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(a)(iii) (2 marks): Calculate the growth rate of the larva. Growth rate = mm year –1 [2]
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(b)(i) (1 mark): Describe how Fig. 2.4 shows the importance of differential staining for observing cells undergoing mitosis. [1]
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(b)(ii) (1 mark): Identify one piece of evidence that would have led the students to conclude that the cell in Fig. 2.4 is at metaphase. [1]
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(b)(iii) (2 marks): Three students were studying onion root tip squashes under the microscope. They recorded the number of cells at each stage of mitosis. A record of their observa
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q2(c) (4 marks): Compare prophase in mitosis with prophase in meiosis. [4]
- November 2021, Paper 3, Q2(a) (6 marks): (a)* Fig. 2.1 shows three images, C to E, of animal cells undergoing mitosis. C D E Fig. 2.1 7 Describe the events taking place in cells C, D and E. [6] Additio
- November 2021, Paper 3, Q2(c) (2 marks): Mitosis does not occur in bacteria. Bacterial cells divide using binary fission. Binary fission is shown in Fig. 2.2. Fig. 2.2 Bacteria do not have a nucleus. D
- November 2021, AS Paper 1, Q12 (1 mark): The enzyme microtubule depolymerase is responsible for the breakdown of spindle fibres in mitosis. Which of the phases, A to D, will have the highest number of
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q19(a)(i) (2 marks): Hydra is a small animal that lives in fresh water. When environmental conditions are favourable, Hydra reproduces asexually. Large numbers of offspring can be p
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q19(a)(ii) (2 marks): Suggest why Hydra reproduces asexually when conditions are favourable. .. [2]
- November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q12 (1 mark): The image below shows onion root tissue. Some of the cells in the tissue are undergoing mitosis. A B C D Which of the label lines, A to D, shows a cell that is
- November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q21(a) (2 marks): Explain why the type of nuclear division in a zygote is mitosis and not meiosis. [2]
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q23(a)(i) (1 mark): Write the letters of the images, P to S, in the correct mitotic sequence. [1]
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q23(a)(ii) (2 marks): Describe in detail what is happening in image Q. [2]
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q23(b) (3 marks): In the space below produce a labelled diagram of the cell in image S from Fig. 23. [3]
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q23(c) (2 marks): A student observed a prepared slide of an onion root tip under a microscope. The total number of cells in the field of view was 265. The number of cells at the
- June 2018, Paper 2, Q16(a)(i) (1 mark): Name the stage of mitosis shown in cell A. [1]
- June 2018, Paper 2, Q16(a)(ii) (4 marks): In the space provided below draw cell A. Label your drawing to show visible features. [4]
- June 2018, Paper 2, Q16(b)(iii) (1 mark): Mitosis is involved in growth and repair of tissues. State two other roles of mitosis in multicellular organisms. 1 2 [1]
- June 2017, Paper 1, Q5 (1 mark): During cell division, the chromosome number in the cells changes. The following sequences describe the chromosome number in cells before, during and after diffe
- June 2017, AS Paper 1, Q21(a)(i) (2 marks): Explain why onion root tips were used to view cells undergoing mitosis. [2]
- June 2016, AS Paper 1, Q14 (1 mark): The image shows a stage in mitosis. Which of the following options, A to D, is the stage of mitosis shown above? A anaphase B metaphase C prophase D telophase Y
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(a) (3 marks): Mitosis and meiosis play an important role in the life cycles of organisms. Fig. 2.1 and Fig. 2.2 represent an outline of the life cycles of two different organ
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(d)(i) (1 mark): Identify the pieces of evidence in Table 2.2 that caused the student to suspect that the results for tissue type W might be significantly different from those f
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(d)(ii) (1 mark): The student decided to analyse the data using a statistical test. A friend suggested using Student’s t-test. Why is Student’s t-test not suitable for dealing wi
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(e)(i) (3 marks): Complete the rows for metaphase and telophase in the table below and calculate the χ2 value for the data. The χ2 value is calculated using the following formula
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(e)(ii) (1 mark): The value of chi-squared (χ2) can be used to conclude whether the results for cells in tissue type W differ significantly from those for tissue type V. The numb
- June 2016, AS Paper 2, Q2(e)(iii) (2 marks): The student had expected that the results observed for tissue type W would not be significantly different from those for tissue type V. Use your calculated valu
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