GED-Science

Chapter end test (life science)

A majority of teenagers develop acne, but scientists still struggle to explain its cause. It has long
been thought that bacteria play a role, although until recently it was assumed that role was purely
detrimental—contributing to acne. However, a team of researchers began to wonder whether
different strains of bacteria might impact acne in different ways.

The research team studied 49 individuals with acne and 52 individuals without acne, and the
researchers collected samples of bacteria from the nasal pores of all those individuals. The
researchers found that some combinations of bacterial strains were highly likely to be found in clear-
skinned individuals, while other combinations were highly likely to be found in individuals with
acne.

After carefully analyzing their data, the scientists concluded that, while some bacterial
combinations likely contribute to acne, other bacterial combinations may actually help to ward it off.
The researchers suggested that, if further studies confirm these findings, we may want to treat acne
by encouraging the growth of helpful bacteria.

1. Use below to identify the researchers’ independent and dependent variables

 acne symptoms
 teenagers
 combinations of bacteria
 treatments for acne

2. What was the researchers’ hypothesis?

A. Combinations of bacteria are a major cause of acne.

B. Different kinds of bacteria may impact acne differently.

C. We may want to change the way we treat acne, treating it by encouraging the growth of
beneficial bacteria.

D. Some combinations of bacteria may actually help ward off acne.

3. What conclusion did the researchers reach based on their data?

A. Combinations of bacteria are a major cause of acne.

B. Acne sufferers have more types of bacterial strains in their facial pores than do non-sufferers.

C. The way we currently treat acne is misguided.

 D. Some combinations of bacteria may actually help ward off acne.

4. Luke is conducting a survey to determine how effective his high school’s ban on vending machines
has been in reducing the amount of junk food students eat. The survey asks students how much junk
food they used to eat and how much they eat now. Luke sends the survey to the members of his soccer
team, many of whom used to get a snack from the vending machines after practice. If half of the team
members respond to the survey, will Luke have reliable data? Why or why not?

A. no, because Luke did not survey the team members before the vending machines were
removed

B. no, because the survey is not a random sample of the relevant population

C. yes, because at least some of the survey respondents used the vending machines

D. yes, because the soccer team members likely come from a variety of backgrounds

5. Researchers for a healthcare network want to determine whether complications are more likely
when women give birth in a hospital or at home. They identify records of 200 women who have given
birth in the last year, half in the hospital and half at home, and compare the number of complications
in each group. Which of the following correctly explains a potential source of bias in this study?

A. The researchers did not take into account the number of women in each group.

B. Some women do not give birth in either a hospital or at home, and those women are not
included in the study.

C. Some complications are more serious than others, and this study does not weight the severity
of complications.

D. The women were not randomly assigned to groups, so another factor besides where they give
birth could affect complications.

6. Inertia causes an object to resist changes in its state of motion. In other words, inertia causes an
object at rest to resist any attempt to set it in motion. Similarly, inertia causes an object in motion to
resist any attempt to stop its motion. Objects with greater mass have greater inertia.

These figures represent the mass of two objects:

Brick: 100 grams

Block of wood: 70 grams

Which of the following is supported by the information above?

A. It would require more effort to break the brick than to break the block of wood.
 B. If both objects were currently sitting still, it would require more effort to push the block of
wood across the floor than it would to push the brick across the floor.

C. If both objects were currently sitting still, it would require more effort to push the brick across
the floor than it would to push the block of wood across the floor.

D. The brick would absorb water more readily than would the block of wood.

7. In the last several decades, the spider population has exploded on the island of Guam: parts of the
island have as many as 40 times more spiders than nearby islands do. One scientist has concluded that
the explosion in the Guam spider population is due to an increase in the popula tion of an invasive
species of brown tree snake. The snake was introduced into Guam in the 1940s but was not introduced
into the neighboring islands. The brown tree snake preys on birds.

Which one of the following, if true, makes the scientist’s conclusion more likely?

A. The birds that the brown tree snake eats are the primary predators of spiders on Guam.

B. The brown tree snake is typically introduced into islands via ships carrying tourists. Guam
and the islands nearby have long been popular tourist spots.

C. Brown tree snakes eat spiders as well as birds.

D. In the rainy season, the island of Guam can have more than 40 times as many spiders as it did
ten years ago.

Question 8 to 10 use the following information and graph.

Metabolism is a set of chemical processes that occur in the tissues of living organisms. One example
of a metabolic process in animals is the breaking down of carbohydrates from food into substances the
body can store. Another example is the transformation of those same substances into energy that the
animal can use. The rate of metabolism describes the speed at which these processes take place.
Metabolic rate varies among different species.

The graph below compares several animal species by both average metabolic rate and average
body weight.
 Metabolic Rates of Seven Species
1.2
Shrew
1
relative metabolic rate

0.8 Cactus mouse

0.6
Human
Flying squirrel Dog

0.4
Rabbit Horse

0.2

0
body weight

8. Of the species in this graph, which has the median body weight? ------------

9. Of the species in this graph, which has the median metabolic rate? -----------

10. Imagine that you could calculate the average (mean) of metabolic rates of all the animal species in
this graph. Now imagine that the shrew were removed from the graph and that you recalculated the
average of the remaining species. Without the shrew, the new average metabolic rate would be-------- .

 higher than the previous average

 lower than the previous
 about the same as the previous average

11. Which of the following are the products of cellular respiration?

A. glucose and light energy

B. carbon dioxide and oxygen

C. glucose, oxygen, and energy

D. carbon dioxide, water, and energy

12. Carbon dioxide is one of the “greenhouse gases” that help keep Earth warm by trapping radiated
heat in the atmosphere. Global warming is thought to be caused in part by increased amounts of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Which of the following would help reduce the level of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere and thus perhaps slow the global warming trend?

A. increasing the population of domestic animals

 B. increasing the number of green plants

C. increasing the harvest of trees

D. increasing the amount of glucose in our food

13. A student is trying to repeat Mendel’s experiments using the trait of fur color in rabbits. Black fur
is dominant, and white fur is recessive. She starts with what she assumes is a purebred white female
rabbit and a purebred black male rabbit. She crosses them and is surprised when one of the offspring
has white fur. What probably was wrong with the student’s experiment?

A. The white female was actually a hybrid.

B. The black male was actually a hybrid.

C. Most of the offspring were hybrids.

D. Most of the offspring were purebred.

14. What are adaptations ?

A. traits that make an organism better able to survive in its environment

B. traits that all members of a species possess

C. traits that are learned and not inherited

D. traits that appear only when two recessive alleles are inherited

Question 15 to 17

A plant scientist developed a new hybrid grass by crossing a desert grass with a shade grass. To
determine the hybrid’s ideal growing conditions, an experiment is performed in which the hybrid is
grown in four different planters. Each planter is provided sunlight and water, as shown in the table
below. The average height of the grass in each planter is recorded weekly.

Planter Watering Schedule Amount of Sunlight

Planter A 3 times per week 8 hours or more per day
Planter B 3 times per week 4 hours or less per day
Planter C Once every two weeks 8 hours or more per day
Planter D Once every two weeks 4 hours or less per day

15. Which of the following conditions, if not met, would LEAST affect the results of the experiment?
 A. The depth of the soil should be identical in four planters.

B. The planters should be weed-free.

C. The same type of soil should be placed in all four planters.

D. The four planters should be kept on the same table.

16. Which two planters should be compared to determine the effect of water on the growth of the
hybrid grass when it receives the maximum amount of sunlight?

A. A and B

B. A and D

C. C and A

D. C and B

Write your answers in the blanks.

17. Identify the independent and dependent variables in this experiment.

Independent: _______watering schedule_____ and _____Amount of Sunlight ________.

Dependent: ____grass height_________.

Question 18 to 20

The term symbiosis is used when two species live and associate closely together and depend on each
other. There are three symbiotic relationships– commensalism, parasitism, and mutualism.

• Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits from the relationship,
while the other is not affected.

• Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits from the relationship and
the other is harmed by it.

• Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the relationship.

Each of the following three questions contains a blank marked . Beneath it is a set of choices. Indicate
the choice that is correct and belongs in the blank

18. Tapeworms attach themselves to the intestines of animals, such as cows and pigs, and feed on the
partly digested food from the host’s intestines, thereby depriving the host of nutrients. This
relationship can be classified as ------parasitism------.

 commensalism
  parasitism
 mutualism

19. The remora fish forms a symbiotic relationship with sharks. The remora has special suckers
attached to its fins that help it attach itself to the bodies of sharks, and it uses the shark for
transportation as well as protection from predators. It also eats up the scraps of food that are left over
when the shark eats its prey. This relationship can be classified as----------- .

 commensalism
 parasitism
 mutualism

20. The honeybee sucks nectar from flowers and, in the process, pollen grains from the flower stick to
the body of the bee. When the bee goes to suck nectar from another flower, the grains get transferred
to that flower, thereby helping in the reproduction of flower-bearing plants. This relationship can be
classified as ----------.

 commensalism
 parasitism
 mutualism

21. Nebraska’s Sand Hills are home to a deer mouse that is one of the quickest evolving animals. The
deer mouse is normally dark brown, which is a good color for mice living in the woods and
surrounding areas since it allows them to hide better and avoid predators. The deer mouse that lives in
the Sand Hills, however, has evolved into a much lighter, sandlike color. Without this change, the
deer mouse would be easily spotted by predators against the area’s light terrain. This is an example of

A. natural selection

B. extinction

C. artificial selection

D. invasion

22. Trout are known to survive best in cool water shaded by overhanging branches. Cool water
contains more dissolved oxygen than warm water. Trout may die if they are constantly warmed by
sunlight. How would global warming and deforestation most likely affect trout population in a lake?

A. The population would increase.

B. There would be no overall effect on the population.

 C. The trout population in that lake would completely die off.

D. The population would decrease.

23. Seen from the top, trout are dark in color with a speckled appearance, similar to the bottom of a
river or lake. Seen from the bottom, trout are lighter in color, similar to the water surface as seen by an
underwater swimmer. What is this characteristic called?

A. behavior

B. camouflage (အရောင်ပြောင်းခြင်း)

C. stimulus–response

D. hybridization

24. The peppered moth is found in two varieties–light and dark. The moths live in trees, but in a
certain area where they live, industrial development has caused the trees to become covered with soot.
In this area, the number of dark moths is now much greater than the number of light moths. Which
term describes this phenomenon?

A. natural selection

B. artificial selection

C. extinction

D. speciation
The owner of a small freshwater aquarium notices bubbles rising from the leaves of one of the aquatic
plants. She researches the process of photosynthesis in aquatic plants and makes more observations.
She concludes that the bubbles are oxygen gas.

25. Which statement supports her conclusion?

A. Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts of leaf cells.

B. Leaves use oxygen to make glucose during photosynthesis.

C. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and water for photosynthesis.

D. Leaves release oxygen as they make glucose during photosynthesis.

26. A normal human body cell contains 46 total chromosomes. When reproductive cells (egg and
sperm cells) unite, how many total chromosomes exist in the new cell they create?

A. 2
 B. 23

C. 46

D. 92

27. The addition of an extra base to a segment of DNA produces a new

A. trait.

B. gene.

C. allele.

D. chromosome.

28. The cladogram was created using which type of evidence for common ancestry?

A. fossil records

B. biogeography

C. molecular homologies

D. homologous structures

Question 29 is based on the following passage.

In a scientific study, a change in the independent variable results in a change in the dependent
variable. For example, a change in tree trunk color resulted in a change in wing-color frequencies
in England’s peppered moth population.

29. When studying natural selection, which of the following observations would provide the clearest
proof that selection is happening?

A. a change in the dependent variable

B. no change in the dependent variable

C. a change in the independent variable

D. no change in the independent variable

30.The best model of organisms’ complex feeding relationships is a(n)

A. food web.

B. food chain.
 C. energy link.

D. energy pyramid.

31. A person taking antibiotics for a long time might be at risk for which of the following?

A. anemia

B. reduced energy

C. vitamin K deficiency

D. toxicity of the kidneys

32. Which characteristic best explains why most scientists do not consider viruses to be living things?

A. Viruses lack cells.

B. Viruses have no nucleus.

C. Viruses contain no DNA.

D. Viruses can contain enzymes.

33. Which of the following is an example of a mutualistic relationship?

A. tapeworms living in the intestines of a cat

B. intestinal bacteria that make vitamins B and K

C. hermit crabs using gastropod shells for shelter

D. a wisteria vine growing up and over an oak tree

34.When populations increase and use up the available resources, the result can be

A. disease.

B. competition.

C. exponential growth.

D. more available food.

Questions 35 and 36 are based on the following passage.

A goby fish sometimes lives together with a shrimp. The shrimp digs and cleans up a burrow in the
sand, and both the fish and shrimp live in the burrow. The shrimp is almost blind and at risk of being
eaten when above ground. The goby fish will touch the shrimp with its tail to warn it of danger, and
then both will retreat into the burrow.
35. Complete the statement with a term .

When the shrimp is above ground, it takes on the role of ______ prey___________ in the
predator-prey relationship.

36. What type of relationship exists between the goby fish and the shrimp?

A. parasitism

B. mutualism

C. predator-prey

D. commensalism

37.Prolonged exposure to the sun at the beach would most likely disrupt homeostasis in the

A. skin because of the potential for a sunburn.

B. liver because of increased liquid consumption.

C. muscles because of exhaustion from swimming.

D. lungs because of secondhand smoke and exhaust fumes.

38.The best way to prevent Salmonella poisoning is by

A. boiling your water.

B. using mosquito repellant.

C. covering your mouth when you sneeze.

D. not consuming raw foods such as eggs

39.A heterotroph is an organism that must consume other organisms to obtain nutrients and energy.
Which process can heterotrophs not perform?

A. mitosis

B. respiration

C. fermentation

D. photosynthesis

40.How many different combinations of alleles would produce a guinea pig with dark fur and red
eyes?

Guinea Pig Inheritance

Gene Dominant Allele Recessive Allele
Fur color Dark (F) Light(f)
Eye color Black (E) Red(e)

A. 1

B. 2

C. 3

D. 4