Which topic carries the most marks in the QCE Biology Alternative Sequence external exam?

Infectious disease and epidemiology carries 26.3% of the marks across the 4 QCAA papers from 2021 to 2023, ahead of Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology on 21.8%.

How are marks split between question types in the QCE Biology Alternative Sequence exam?

Short answer carries 80.5% of the marks and multiple choice carries 19.5% of the marks, measured across 4 papers and 205 marks from 2021 to 2023.

Has the topic balance changed in recent QCE Biology Alternative Sequence papers?

Yes. Infectious disease and epidemiology moved up 15.9 percentage points, Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology moved up 3.3 percentage points, Homeostasis moved down 5.6 percentage points and Cells as the basis of life moved down 13.6 percentage points between the 2021 and 2023 papers.

How many past papers is this QCE Biology Alternative Sequence analysis based on?

4 QCAA external papers from 2021 to 2023, covering 82 questions and 205 marks. 0.0% of those marks carry no dot-point mapping and sit outside the percentages.

QCE Biology Alternative Sequence most tested topics

Across the four QCAA Biology Alternative Sequence external papers from 2021 to 2023, Infectious disease and epidemiology carries 26.3% of the marks against 1.0% for Genetics and heredity, so the paper rewards Infectious disease and epidemiology more than any other topic. At dot-point level 2.2.7 carries 5.4% of paper marks, and 75 of the 133 dot points that the board assesses externally have not appeared in one of these papers. Every percentage below covers the 100.0% of marks that map to a syllabus dot point.

Computed from 4 QCAA Biology Alternative Sequence external papers, 2021 to 2023: 82 questions, 103 question parts and 205 marks.

Unit, topic and dot-point shares below are of the 205 marks that map to a dot point, so each of those tables adds to 100%. 28 of the 103 parts are assessed against more than one dot point, and their 72 marks are divided evenly between the dot points they cover.

What these papers are

Year	Paper	Questions	Marks
2023	Paper 1	29	45
2023	Paper 2	11	46
2021	Paper 1	30	59
2021	Paper 2	12	55

Marks by unit

Unit	Share of marks
Unit 1: Cells and multicellular organisms	51.5%
Unit 2: Maintaining the internal environment	47.6%
Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life	1.0%

Marks by topic

Topic	Share of marks	Papers it appears in	Years
Infectious disease and epidemiology	26.3%	4 of 4	2 of 3
Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	21.8%	4 of 4	2 of 3
Homeostasis	21.2%	4 of 4	2 of 3
Cells as the basis of life	17.5%	4 of 4	2 of 3
Exchange of nutrients and wastes	12.2%	4 of 4	2 of 3
Genetics and heredity	1.0%	1 of 4	1 of 3

Marks by dot point

Dot-point numbers and wording are QCAA's own. Where a dot point is written as a list, its items run together here separated by semicolons.

Dot point	Content	Topic	Share of marks	Papers
2.2.7	Explain the adaptive immune response, including the humoral response (B lymphocytes, antibodies); cell-mediated response (T lymphocytes); role of memory cells	Infectious disease and epidemiology	5.4%	3 of 4
1.3.7	Describe the process of photosynthesis, identifying the location in the cell and net inputs and outputs of light-dependent reactions; light-independent reactions; the overall reaction ( $6CO_2 + 6H_2O + \text{light energy} \rightarrow C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2$ )	Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	4.6%	3 of 4
1.2.6	Explain how glomerular filtration, selective reabsorption and secretion across nephron membranes contribute to the removal of waste	Exchange of nutrients and wastes	4.1%	4 of 4
2.1.5	Explain the passage of a nerve impulse in terms of transmission of an action potential and synaptic transmission, referring to neurotransmitters, receptors, synaptic cleft, vesicles, postsynaptic and presynaptic neurons and signal transduction	Homeostasis	4.1%	3 of 4
1.3.8	Compare the structure and function of xylem and phloem tissues	Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	4.1%	4 of 4
2.2.11	Interpret data from an experiment investigating the effect of an antimicrobial agent on the growth of a microorganism	Infectious disease and epidemiology	3.9%	2 of 4
1.1.1	Compare prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells	Cells as the basis of life	3.4%	3 of 4
1.1.8	Explain how the cell membrane regulates movement of substances into and out of the cell via osmosis; simple diffusion; facilitated diffusion; protein-mediated active transport; endocytosis and exocytosis	Cells as the basis of life	3.2%	3 of 4
1.3.3	Describe the process of aerobic respiration, identifying the location in the cell and net inputs and outputs of glycolysis; Krebs cycle and electron transport chain; the overall reaction ( $C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2 \rightarrow 6CO_2 + 6H_2O + 36–38\ \text{ATP}$ )	Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	3.2%	2 of 4
2.1.12	Explain how structural and homeostatic mechanisms maintain water balance in plants, including the roles of stomata, vacuoles, cuticle and abscisic acid	Homeostasis	3.2%	2 of 4
1.1.2	Identify key organelles and their functions, including the nucleus, mitochondria, rough ER, ribosomes, smooth ER, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, vacuoles and chloroplasts	Cells as the basis of life	2.9%	3 of 4
1.2.10	Explain how enzyme activity is affected by factors such as temperature, pH, presence of inhibitors and substrate concentration	Exchange of nutrients and wastes	2.9%	4 of 4
2.2.15	Analyse data to predict outbreaks; determine the source of an outbreak; infer the mode of disease transmission; determine the effectiveness of different strategies in controlling the spread of disease	Infectious disease and epidemiology	2.9%	3 of 4
2.2.8	Compare active and passive immunity, both naturally acquired and artificially acquired	Infectious disease and epidemiology	2.9%	2 of 4
2.1.8	Analyse feedback-control diagrams to identify the stimulus, receptor/s, control centre, effector/s and communication pathway/s in different scenarios	Homeostasis	2.7%	3 of 4
2.2.12	Describe modes of disease transmission, including direct contact, contact with body fluids, contaminated food, contaminated water and disease-specific vectors	Infectious disease and epidemiology	2.4%	2 of 4
1.3.9	Explain how stomata and guard cells facilitate gas exchange in plants	Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	2.2%	2 of 4
2.1.1	Explain how the nervous and endocrine systems use negative feedback to coordinate responses to internal/external stimuli and maintain homeostasis (stimulus-response model)	Homeostasis	2.2%	2 of 4

These 18 dot points carry 60.3% of the paper marks between them. Another 40 assessed dot points share the rest, and 75 of the 133 externally assessable dot points have not been assessed in any of these 4 papers. Content that has not appeared is still examinable.

What has moved between papers

Comparing the 2021 papers with the 2023 papers, four topics have moved by more than 3.0 percentage points.

Topic	2021 share	2023 share	Movement
Infectious disease and epidemiology	19.3%	35.2%	up 15.9 points
Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology	20.3%	23.6%	up 3.3 points
Homeostasis	23.7%	18.1%	down 5.6 points
Cells as the basis of life	23.5%	9.9%	down 13.6 points

How the papers are built

Short answer carries 80.5% of the marks across these 4 papers.

Question type	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
Short answer	80.5%	165	63
Multiple choice	19.5%	40	40

Verb	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
explain	32.2%	66	20
describe	20.0%	41	16
identify	15.1%	31	16
justify	4.9%	10	3
predict	4.9%	10	3
compare	2.9%	6	2
determine	2.0%	4	1
draw	2.0%	4	1

What these percentages do not tell you

Where to practise

Every topic above links to its own page of real QCAA questions with marking criteria and average scores attached: Infectious disease and epidemiology, Cellular energy, gas exchange and plant physiology, Homeostasis, Cells as the basis of life, Exchange of nutrients and wastes and Genetics and heredity. For the full question bank start at QCE Biology Alternative Sequence.

Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is © State of Queensland (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority), licensed under CC BY 4.0. See our QCAA licensing notice. AusGrader is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the QCAA.