plumiPathogens and transmission: OCR A‑Level Biology A questions
OCR A-Level Biology A past-paper questions on 4.1.1.1 Pathogens and transmission, 2016–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.
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Q7(a)(i)
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All 32 questions on Pathogens and transmission, as a list
- June 2025, Paper 3, Q7(a)(i) (1 mark): Suggest one additional piece of information that is needed to assess the validity of the scientists’ conclusion. [1]
- June 2025, Paper 3, Q7(a)(ii) (1 mark): Suggest why climate change might result in more cases of diseases caused by animal vector‑transmitted pathogens. [1]
- June 2024, Paper 3, Q6(b) (2 marks): Potato plants can be naturally cloned from tubers. Many diseases can infect potato plants. State one disease that can infect potato plants and state the type of
- June 2024, AS Paper 1, Q13 (1 mark): Ring rot is an infection that can kill potato plants. Which kingdom does the organism that causes ring rot belong to? A Fungi B Prokaryotae C Protoctista D Viru
- June 2024, AS Paper 1, Q14 (1 mark): What is an example of a disease transmitted by a vector? A Hepatitis C from sharing needles B Herpes simplex virus from sharing lipstick C HIV from unprotected
- June 2024, AS Paper 2, Q2(a)(i) (2 marks): Suggest two ways in which the ant’s behaviour helps to increase the spread of the zombie-ant fungus. 1 2 [2]
- June 2024, AS Paper 2, Q2(a)(ii) (6 marks): (ii)* Scientists carried out a study in 2017 in Taiwan to see if various climatic factors affected the numbers of zombie-ant fungus infections. Fig. 2.2 and Fig
- June 2024, AS Paper 2, Q2(b) (3 marks): Complete the table with the type of pathogen that causes the communicable disease. Communicable Disease Type of Pathogen Influenza Malaria Black sigatoka in ban
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q3 (1 mark): Which of the following changes of lifestyle is/are likely to reduce the spread of a disease that is transmitted by droplets of moisture? 1 Clean drinking water
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q4 (1 mark): Ash trees are an important part of the British landscape. In 2012, a fungal disease known as ash dieback arrived in the UK from mainland Europe. Which of the fo
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q6 (1 mark): Different types of microorganism can act as pathogens. Which of the diseases is caused by a pathogen without mitochondria in its cells? A Black sigatoka in bana
- June 2022, AS Paper 1, Q16 (1 mark): Diseases can be caused by many different types of pathogen. Which row matches the disease to the correct pathogen? Fungus Protoctist Virus A black sigatoka toma
- November 2021, Paper 3, Q3(c) (3 marks): Callose production reduces the spread of pathogens in plants. The table below lists pathogens that infect plants together with features of the pathogens and exa
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q1 (1 mark): Which of the following human diseases, A to D, is caused by a fungus? A athlete's foot B influenza C malaria D tuberculosis Your answer [1]
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q2 (1 mark): Which of the following plant diseases, A to D, is caused by a pathogen from the kingdom Protoctista? A black sigatoka in bananas B ring rot in tomatoes C tobacc
- November 2020, AS Paper 1, Q8 (1 mark): Which of the following, A to D, is an example of disease transmitted by a vector? A athlete’s foot from a shower B bubonic plague from rat fleas C catching bird
- November 2020, AS Paper 2, Q3(a) (2 marks): Different types of pathogen cause communicable diseases in plants and animals. Complete the table by adding the correct type of pathogen for each communicable d
- November 2020, AS Paper 2, Q3(b)(i) (2 marks): Calculate how many of the children who were suffering from malaria were correctly identified by the dogs. number of children = [2]
- November 2020, AS Paper 2, Q3(b)(ii) (1 mark): Suggest one limitation of this trial. [1]
- June 2019, Paper 3, Q6(c) (2 marks): Some microorganisms can be used by humans in industry. Some microorganisms are pathogenic. Pathogenic microorganisms are transmitted in various ways. Complete t
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q12 (1 mark): The diagram below shows a pathogen. reverse transcriptase capsid protease RNA lipid envelope glycoprotein Which of the options, A to D, is the disease caused by
- June 2019, AS Paper 1, Q13 (1 mark): Which of the following, A to D, is the percentage increase from the number of cases of malaria in 1995 to 2000? A 85% B 550% C 650% D 55 000% [1] Your answer
- June 2019, AS Paper 2, Q6(a)(ii) (1 mark): Suggest how the potyviruses enter the sweet potato cell. [1]
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q14 (1 mark): Three methods of pathogen transmission between animals or plants are listed below. 1 direct contact 2 vectors 3 droplets Which of the methods of pathogen transm
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q18(a) (2 marks): State two ways in which an individual S. tuberosum plant could respond to infection by P. infestans. 1 2 [2]
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q18(b)(iii) (3 marks): The extent of infection is estimated by comparing the area under the curve from the graph. The area under the curve for clone B is 1250. (Units can be ignored i
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q18(b)(iv) (1 mark): Calculate the area under the curve for clone C as a proportion of the area under the curve for clone B. Answer [1]
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q18(b)(v) (2 marks): Using Fig. 18, suggest why the area under the curve is used as a measure of infection rather than the area of leaf that is visibly affected on a given day. [2]
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q18(b)(vi) (2 marks): The clones were planted in adjacent fields in order to control variables such as temperature, wind speed and rainfall. Suggest two other abiotic variables that
- June 2017, AS Paper 2, Q4(c) (6 marks): Lymphocytes form an important part of the specific immune system in humans. They can be classified into B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes. (c)* In West Africa dur
- June 2016, AS Paper 1, Q20 (1 mark): Pathogens cause disease and are transmitted from individual to individual in a variety of ways. Which of the rows, A to D, in the table below is correct? Type o
- June 2016, AS Paper 1, Q24(b)(ii) (2 marks): Viruses do not use erythrocytes as host cells, whereas the malarial pathogen Plasmodium spends part of its life cycle inside erythrocytes. Suggest why. [2]
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