Cambridge International AS & A Level

BIOLOGY 9700/34
Paper 3 (Advanced Practical Skills 2) May/June 2022
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 40

Published

This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the
examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the
details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have
considered the acceptability of alternative answers.

Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for
Teachers.

Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.

Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the May/June 2022 series for most
Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge International A and AS Level and Cambridge Pre-U components, and some
Cambridge O Level components.

This document consists of 8 printed pages.

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 9700/34 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme May/June 2022
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Generic Marking Principles

These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers. They should be applied alongside the
specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these
marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

 the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
 the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
 the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

 marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit is given for valid answers which go beyond the
scope of the syllabus and mark scheme, referring to your Team Leader as appropriate
 marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
 marks are not deducted for errors
 marks are not deducted for omissions
 answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these features are specifically assessed by the
question as indicated by the mark scheme. The meaning, however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently, e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed instructions or in the application of generic level
descriptors.

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GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question (however; the use of the full mark range may
be limited according to the quality of the candidate responses seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should not be awarded with grade thresholds or
grade descriptors in mind.

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Science-Specific Marking Principles

1 Examiners should consider the context and scientific use of any keywords when awarding marks. Although keywords may be present, marks
should not be awarded if the keywords are used incorrectly.

2 The examiner should not choose between contradictory statements given in the same question part, and credit should not be awarded for any
correct statement that is contradicted within the same question part. Wrong science that is irrelevant to the question should be ignored.

3 Although spellings do not have to be correct, spellings of syllabus terms must allow for clear and unambiguous separation from other syllabus
terms with which they may be confused (e.g. ethane / ethene, glucagon / glycogen, refraction / reflection).

4 The error carried forward (ecf) principle should be applied, where appropriate. If an incorrect answer is subsequently used in a scientifically
correct way, the candidate should be awarded these subsequent marking points. Further guidance will be included in the mark scheme where
necessary and any exceptions to this general principle will be noted.

5 ‘List rule’ guidance

For questions that require n responses (e.g. State two reasons …):

 The response should be read as continuous prose, even when numbered answer spaces are provided.
 Any response marked ignore in the mark scheme should not count towards n.
 Incorrect responses should not be awarded credit but will still count towards n.
 Read the entire response to check for any responses that contradict those that would otherwise be credited. Credit should not be
awarded for any responses that are contradicted within the rest of the response. Where two responses contradict one another, this
should be treated as a single incorrect response.
 Non-contradictory responses after the first n responses may be ignored even if they include incorrect science.

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6 Calculation specific guidance

Correct answers to calculations should be given full credit even if there is no working or incorrect working, unless the question states ‘show
your working’.

For questions in which the number of significant figures required is not stated, credit should be awarded for correct answers when rounded by
the examiner to the number of significant figures given in the mark scheme. This may not apply to measured values.

For answers given in standard form (e.g. a  10n) in which the convention of restricting the value of the coefficient (a) to a value between 1
and 10 is not followed, credit may still be awarded if the answer can be converted to the answer given in the mark scheme.

Unless a separate mark is given for a unit, a missing or incorrect unit will normally mean that the final calculation mark is not awarded.
Exceptions to this general principle will be noted in the mark scheme.

7 Guidance for chemical equations

Multiples / fractions of coefficients used in chemical equations are acceptable unless stated otherwise in the mark scheme.

State symbols given in an equation should be ignored unless asked for in the question or stated otherwise in the mark scheme.

Mark scheme abbreviations:

; separates marking points

/ alternative answers for the same marking point
R reject
A accept
I ignore
AVP any valid point
AW alternative wording (where responses vary more than usual)
ecf error carried forward
underline actual word underlined must be used by candidate (grammatical variants accepted)
max indicates the maximum number of marks that can be given
ora or reverse argument
mp marking point

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Question Answer Marks

1(a)(i) 1 0.5%, 0.25%, 0.125%, 0.0625% (labels under the correct sequence of beakers) ; 3
2 shows transfer of 10 cm3 to each of the four beakers ;
3 shows addition of 10 cm3 to each of the four beakers ;

1(a)(ii) 1 heading for independent variable: 5

concentration of reducing sugar and percentage (concentration) or % ;
2 heading for dependent variable:
time and s or seconds and no units in the body of the table ;
3 records times for each concentration ;
4 results record the correct trend ;
5 results recorded as whole seconds ;

1(a)(iii) difficult to judge the time to the first colour change ; 1

1(a)(iv) repeat experiment three times and calculate the mean ; 1

1(a)(v) records time for U and units ; 1

1(a)(vi) estimates concentration of reducing sugars in U from results in (a)(ii) and (a)(v) ; 2
reference to sucrose being hydrolysed to fructose and glucose so only half of reducing sugars is fructose ;

1(b)(i) 1 x-axis: concentration of sucrose solution / mol dm–3 4

and
y-axis : change in mass / g ;
2 scale on x-axis: 0.2 to 2 cm, labelled at least every 2 cm
and
y-axis: 0.2 to 2 cm, labelled at least every 2 cm ;
3 correct plotting of all points using small crosses or small dots in circles ;
4 plots joined with the lines passing through all points and line is either a smooth curve or joined plot to plot ;

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Question Answer Marks

1(b)(ii) 1 the potato piece in 0.4 mol dm–3 stayed the same mass because the water potential in the cells was equal to the 3
solution ;
2 the potato piece in 1.0 mol dm–3 lost mass because the water potential in the cells was higher than the surrounding
solution so water moved out of the cells ;
3 correct reference to osmosis ;

must have difference and explanation for mp1 and mp2

Question Answer Marks

2(a)(i) 1 uses most of the available space and draws at least two layers of tissue ; 4
2 draws whole root and no cells ;
3 draws at least two layers around the vascular tissue in the centre of the root ;
4 label line and label to the epidermis ;

2(a)(ii) 1 uses most of the available space and all the lines sharp and continuous ; 5
2 draws only four cells and each cell touching at least two other cells ;
3 cell wall drawn as two lines and three lines where cells touch ;
4 correct proportions of the cells ;
5 label line and label to one cell wall ;

2(b) records only differences ; 4

any three correct differences from e.g.:

feature M1 Fig. 2.1.

epidermis thinner thicker ;

cortex wider narrower ;

endodermis present absent ;

central tissue parenchyma cells xylem vessels ;

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Question Answer Marks

2(c)(i) 1 correct measurement of the scale bar and correct measurement of the line X–Y ; 3
2 to find the magnification, shows the length of the scale bar divided by 3.4 and shows the length of the line X–Y divided
by the figure for the magnification ;
3 correct answer with the appropriate units ;

2(c)(ii) shows the diameter of the root divided by 2 ; 2

records the answer to area in m2 or mm2 or cm2 ;

2(c)(iii) the root section is not a true circle /AW ; 1

2(c)(iv) take more measurements of the diameter at different points and calculate the mean ; 1

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