CBSE SAMPLE PAPER-03

CBSE Class – XI
BIOLOGY

Time allowed: 3 hours, Maximum Marks: 70

General Instructions:
a. The question paper comprises of five Sections A, B, C, D and E.
b. All questions are compulsory.
c. There is no overall choice. However, internal choice has been provided in one question of
2 marks, one question of 3 marks and all the two questions of 5 marks category. Only one
option in such question is to be attempted.
d. Questions 1 to 5 in section A are very short questions of one mark each. These are to be
answered in one word or one sentence each.
e. Questions 6 to 9 in section B are short questions of two marks each. These are to be
answered in approximately 20-30 words each.
f. Questions 10 to 20 in section C are questions of three marks each. These are to be answered
in approximately 30-50 words each. Question 21 is of 4 marks.
g. Questions 22 to 23 in section D are questions of five marks each. These are to be answered
in approximately 80-120 words each.
h. Questions 24 to 26 in section E is based on OTBA of 10 marks.

Section – A

1. What are the functions of major proteins?

Ans. Fibrinogen, Globulins and Albumins are the major proteins. Fibrinogens are needed for
clotting or coagulation of blood. Globulins primarily are involved in defense mechanisms of
the body and the Albumins help in osmotic balance.

2. Give two similarities of kingdom monera and protista.

Ans. (a) Both the kingdom contains unicellular organisms.
(b) Both of them includes aquatic organisms.
3. Define cell cycle.
Ans. The sequence of events by which a cell duplicates its genome, synthesizes the other
constituents of the cell and eventually divides into two daughter cells is termed as cell cycle.

4. What are micro and macro nutrients? Give examples.

Ans. Macronutrients are generally present in plant tissues in large amounts. For example- C,
H, N, P, S, K etc.
Micronutrients or trace elements are needed in very small amounts. These include Fe, Mg,
Cu, Mb, Zn etc.

5. Define the term ‘vernalization’.

Ans. There are plants for which flowering is either quantitatively or qualitatively dependent
on exposure to low temperature. This phenomenon is termed as vernalization.

Section – B

6. How is the gut lining protected from its own secretion of proteases?
Ans. Proteases are secreted in inactive form and pose no threat to the gut lining. The mucus
provides protection to the epithelial lining.

7. What are the different ways in which specimens are kept in a museum?
Or
Differentiate between ascus and basidia, apart from the names of the groups producing
them.
Ans. a) The specimens are kept in suitable chemical solutions.
b) Plant and animal specimens are also preserved as dry specimens.
c) Insects are normally dried and pinned in the insect boxes.
d) Larger animals (birds, mammals) are preserved as stuffed specimens.
Or

Ascus Basidia
Spores are produced endogenously. Spores are produced exogenously.
Eight spores are inside an ascus. Four spores are produced by a basidium.
8. Cell is the basic unit of the life. Discuss.
Ans. Every animal or plant is made of many systems. Every system is made of many organs.
Organs are made of many types of tissues and tissues are made of many cells. A cell is an
autonomous structure and is capable of carrying out various functions on its own. A cell can
do all an organism can do. In a sense cell is full of life at the minutest possible level. That is
why a cell is called the basic unit of life.

9. How does water scarcity affect the rate of photosynthesis?

Ans. Water is one of the major factors in photosynthesis. When water is the limiting factor, it
affects the opening and closing of the stomata and entry of carbon dioxide get restricted and
the cells lose their turgidity, thus reduces photosynthesis rate.

Section – C

10. Write six distinguishing features of class Mammalia.

Ans. (a) Presence of mammary glands is a characteristic feature. They are functional in
females and vestigial in males.
(b) External ear is present.
(c) Trunk is internally partitioned by a muscular diaphragm into thoracic and abdominal
cavities.
(d) Skin possesses sweat glands and sebaceous glands. Skin has hairs, a unique feature of the
class.
(e) Heart is four-chambered with two auricles and two ventricles. There is double
circulation.
(f) Animals are viviparous and give birth to young ones. The foetus is nourished by the
mother through the placenta.

11. Describe the quaternary structure of proteins.

Ans. When a protein has many sub units (polypeptide) each having a primary, secondary or
tertiary structure of its own then the protein is said to be in its quaternary structure. E.g
Haemoglobin, Insulin, Myoglobin.
12. Describe the auto-regulation of GFR.
Ans. Juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) is a specialized cellular structure located where the
distal convoluted tubule passes close to the Bowman’s capsule near the afferent article,
where the two come in contact with each other. A fall in the GFR activities the cells of TGA to
release rennin. Rennin acts through a complex series of reactions called renin-angiotensin-
aldosterone mechanism. This increases the blood volume and blood pressure and the GFR is
brought back to normal.

13. Draw the diagram of six different shapes of the cells.

Ans.

14. Enumerate the chemical events that occur in the process of clotting of blood.
Ans. When blood comes out of a blood vessel, the platelets clump together, break and release
platelet factors, thromboplastin. The prothrombin initiates the conversion of prothombin in
to thrombin. Thrombin catalyses the conversion of fibrinogen into fibrin which forms a

mesh/network in which blood cells get enlarged. Ca++ ions are necessary for both the above
reactions.

15. Write any four differences between collenchyma and sclerenchyma.

Ans.

Collenchyma Sclerenchyma
The cells are alive at maturity. The cells are dead at maturity.
Cell wall is unevenly thickened, Cell wall is unevenly thickened; sometimes
thickening are prominent in the corners. lumen in obliterated.
It gives strength and flexibility to growing It gives mechanical support to the organ and the
organs. fibres are used for making threads.
It may have chloroplast and perform
It doesn't have chloroplast.
photosynthesis.

16. Draw a labelled diagram of Nostoc.

Ans. Nostoc

17. Define RQ. Show its value for fats and carbohydrates.
Ans. Respiratory Quotient is defined as the ratio of the volume of carbon dioxide evolved to
the volume of oxygen consumed in respiration. RQ varies with the respiratory substrates, as
shown below:
(i) When a carbohydrate is the respiratory substrate the RQ is 1.
(ii) When fats are the respiratory substrate the RQ is less than 1.

18. Describe the nervous system of an earthworm.

Or
Draw a labelled diagram of the female reproductive system of frog.
Ans. A brain is formed by the fusion of a pair of supra-pharyngeal / cerebral ganglia; it lies in
the anterior and dorsal part of the third segment. It is connected to two sub-pharyngeal
ganglia lying below the pharynx with the help of a pair of circum-pharyngeal connectives,
which form a nerve ring. A double ventral nerve cord runs up to the last segment. Ganglia
are segmentally arranged on the nerve cord.
Or

19. What was Van Niel’s experiment? What was the finding from it? Give the equation
of photosynthesis given by him.
Ans. He employed purple and green photosynthetic bacteria. He demonstrated that
photosynthesis is essentially a light-dependent reaction in which hydrogen from a suitable
oxidizable compound reduces carbon dioxide to carbohydrates.
This can expressed as 2 H2A + CO2 2 A + CH2O + H2O.

Green plants, water is the hydrogen donor as it is oxidized to oxygen. Photosynthetic bacteria
used hydrogen sulphide (H2S) as hydrogen donor and so the oxidation product is sulphur or

sulphate depending on the organism.

20. What are kinetochores? What are their functions?

Ans. Kinetochores are small disc shaped structures at the surface of centromere. They serve
as the sites of attachment of the spindle fibres to the centromere of chromosomes. The
centromere play important role in cell division.

21. Ram Prakash is a small farmer in a remote village. His daughter name is Shanti.
Ram Prakash fixed the marriage of his daughter at the age of 15 but Shanti wants to
study further. She discussed the matter with her teacher who lived in same village.
Next day the teacher meets Santi’s father and convinced him about the importance of
study and disadvantage of early marriage. Finally Ram Prakash agreed to continue her
study.
a. What values do you find in teacher?
b. Why girl education is more important than boys education?
c. What is the disadvantage of early marriage of girl?
Ans. a) The teacher was caring and responsible.
b) An educated girl child can educate the family more than a boy can do so. Early education
is generally carried by mother of the children.
c) Early marriage of girl leads to a lot of health related and economical problems. The body
of girl is not able to bear the reproduction related problem.

Section – D

22. Write a note on Imbibition? Explain the mechanism of it in brief.

Or
a) Schematically represent the water movement in the leaf.
b) Draw a labelled diagram showing apoplast and symplast pathway.
Ans. Imbibition is a special type of diffusion when water is absorbed by solids – colloids –
causing them to enormously increase in volume. The classical examples of imbibition are
absorption of water by seeds and dry wood. The pressure that is produced by the swelling of
wood had been used by pre historic man to split rocks and boulders. If it were not for the
pressure due to imbibition, seedlings would not have been able to emerge out of the soil
into open. Imbibition is also a special type of diffusion since water movement is along a
concentration gradient. The seeds and other such materials have almost no water hence they
absorb water easily. Water potential gradient between the absorbent and the liquid imbibed
is essential for imbibition. In addition, for any substance to imbibe any liquid, affinity
between the adsorbent and the liquid is also a pre-requisite.
Or

a)

b)

23. Write a note on dicotyledonous seed. With well labelled diagram.

Or
Draw the structure of human brain and label it accurately?
Ans. The outermost covering of a seed is the seed coat. The seed coat has two layers, the
outer testa and the inner tegmen. The hilum is a scar on the seed coat through which the
developing seeds were attached to the fruit. Above the hilum is a small pore called the
micropyle. Within the seed coat is the embryo, consisting of an embryonal axis and two
cotyledons. The cotyledons are often fleshy and full of reserve food materials. At the two
ends of the embryonal axis are present the radicle and the plumule. In some seeds such as
castor, the endosperm formed as a result of double fertilisation, is a food storing tissue. In
plants such as bean, gram and pea, the endosperm is not present in mature seeds and such
seeds are called nonendospermous.

Section-E (OTBA) Questions

24. OTBA Question 2 mark

25. OTBA Question 3 mark
26. OTBA Question 5 mark