School Improvement in Maryland

Public Release Item: Public Release items have appeared on HSA forms and then are released for public viewing and use. Releasing items is one step to ensuring that schools, districts, and other stakeholders understand how the core learning goals are assessed on the HSA.

Goal 3 Concepts Of Biology

Expectation 3.3 The student will analyze how traits are inherited and passed on from one generation to another.

Indicator 3.3.1 The student will demonstrate that the sorting and recombination of genes during sexual reproduction has an effect on variation in offspring.

Assessment Limits:

  • meiosis (process that forms gametes; chromosome number reduced by one-half; crossing-over occurs; new gene combinations)
  • fertilization (combination of gametes to form zygote)

Selected Response Item - Released in 2004

Use the information below to answer the following.

The largest flower in the world, called a rafflesia, is three feet wide and weighs up to 36 pounds. The rafflesia has no roots, stems, or leaves. It lives on and takes nourishment from a vine called tetrastigma. The rafflesia harms the vine.

The seeds of the rafflesia are dispersed in an unusual way. Plantain squirrels and tree shrews eat parts of the rafflesia plant. Scientists observe that when the animals chew the rafflesia, seeds get caught in their teeth. The animals will then chew on tetrastigma vines, leaving the seeds where they can germinate.

Specialized cells in the rafflesia flowers undergo a process that produces gametes. What is this process called?

  1. binary fission
  2. meiosis
  3. fertilization
  4. enzyme regulation
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2004_331_bio10.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item - Released in 2004

After an egg cell containing 16 chromosomes is fertilized, how many chromosomes will be present in the zygote?

  1. 8
  2. 16
  3. 32
  4. 64
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2004_331_bio32.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2003

Which of these represents the number of chromosomes in cells before and after the process of meiosis?

  1. n n
  2. n 2n
  3. 2n n
  4. 2n 2n
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2003_331_bio35.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2003

Which of these describes a mutation that can be inherited?

  1. random breakage in a liver cell's DNA
  2. abnormal lung cells produced by toxins in smoke
  3. a nitrogen base substitution in a gamete cell
  4. ultraviolet radiation damage to skin cells
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2003_331_bio44.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2005

A sperm cell of a moth has 112 chromosomes. How many chromosomes are in the moth's wing cells?

  1. 66
  2. 112
  3. 224
  4. 448
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2005_331_bio12.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2005

Reproductive cells are produced during

  1. mitosis
  2. meiosis
  3. fertilization
  4. budding
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2005_331_bio28.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item - Released in 2005

Which of these is produced as a result of fertilization?

  1. a zygote with twice the number of chromosomes as a gamete
  2. an egg with half the number of chromosomes as a zygote
  3. a gamete with twice the number of chromosomes as a zygote
  4. a zygote with half the number of chromosomes as a gamete
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2005_331_bio41.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item - Released in 2006

Corals are marine animals that often live in tropical seas. Many types of corals have unicellular algae living in their tissues. The algae provide up to 98 percent of the corals' food. The corals provide protection and inorganic nutrients for the algae.

Some coral cells undergo meiosis. Which of these would not occur during meiosis?

  1. formation of a zygote
  2. chromosomes crossing-over
  3. production of gametes
  4. reduction in number of chromosomes
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2006_331_bio29.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item - Released in 2006

Sea stars are genetically different from each other and from their parents. These genetic differences are the result of

  1. mitosis
  2. cloning
  3. sexual reproduction
  4. asexual reproduction
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2006_331_bio48.xml

Correct Answer:
C

Selected Response Item - Released in 2007

Which of these does not occur during meiosis?

  1. production of identical gametes
  2. production of new gene combinations
  3. crossing-over of homologous chromosomes
  4. reduction of chromosome number by one-half
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2007_331_bio10.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item - Released in 2007

Horses have 64 chromosomes in each body cell. If a horse cell undergoes meiosis, how many chromosomes should be in each gamete?

  1. 16
  2. 32
  3. 64
  4. 128
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2007_331_bio12.xml

Correct Answer:
B

Selected Response Item - Released in 2008

Use the information below to answer the Numbers 19 and 20.

Use the information below to answer the following item.

A pair of laboratory mice are crossed to obtain offspring. Three alleles found in the female gamete are ABC. Three alleles found in the male gamete are Abc.

What is formed when a male gamete combines with a female gamete?

  1. zygote
  2. egg
  3. sperm
  4. chromosome
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2008_331_bio19.xml

Correct Answer:
A

Selected Response Item - Released in 2008

Use the information below to answer the following item.

A pair of laboratory mice are crossed to obtain offspring. Three alleles found in the female gamete are ABC. Three alleles found in the male gamete are Abc.

Which of these is a possible combination of alleles for the offspring produced by these mice?

  1. AaBbCc
  2. AABBCC
  3. aabbcc
  4. AABbCc
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2008_331_bio20.xml

Correct Answer:
D

Selected Response Item - Released in 2008

Apomixis is a type of asexual reproduction in which adult plants grow directly from egg cells. Which of these does not occur during apomixis?

  1. mitosis
  2. translation
  3. fertilization
  4. transcription
/share/clg/xml/public_release/science/2008_331_bio41.xml

Correct Answer:
C