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NCEA Level 2 Mendel's Experiments and Heredity — practice questions

Explore 73 free Mendel's Experiments and Heredity questions in NCEA Level 2 Biology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Mendel's Experiments and Heredity questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 73.

Genetics is the study of which of the following?Read the answer and worked solution →Which organism did Mendel settle on as the primary model system for his inheritance work?Read the answer and worked solution →A true-breeding pea plant is one that does what?Read the answer and worked solution →Which feature of the garden pea let Mendel evaluate several generations in a short time?Read the answer and worked solution →In Mendel's terms, a hybridization involves which mating?Read the answer and worked solution →During a manual pea cross, pollen taken from the anther is placed on which organ of the recipient plant?Read the answer and worked solution →Which plants make up the parental generation in one of Mendel's crosses?Read the answer and worked solution →Which of these was one of the seven pea characteristics Mendel reported on?Read the answer and worked solution →A trait is best described as which of the following?Read the answer and worked solution →Mendel counted 705 violet and 224 white plants in one F2 generation for flower colour. Which ratio does that give?Read the answer and worked solution →What defines a reciprocal cross?Read the answer and worked solution →Which description matches a dominant trait?Read the answer and worked solution →A probability of one for an event means which of these?Read the answer and worked solution →A six-sided die is rolled while a penny is flipped. What is the chance of rolling a two and getting heads?Read the answer and worked solution →Which word in a probability question signals that the product rule applies?Read the answer and worked solution →A penny and a quarter are flipped together. What is the chance of getting exactly one head and one tail?Read the answer and worked solution →Mendel deliberately chose characteristics such as violet against white flowers. What kind of variation is that?Read the answer and worked solution →How many pea plants had Mendel worked with when he presented his results in 1865?Read the answer and worked solution →Mendel's work was ignored in his own lifetime. In which year was it rediscovered?Read the answer and worked solution →Which statement correctly gives the product rule of probability?Read the answer and worked solution →In a dihybrid F2 generation, what is the probability of showing the dominant trait for both characteristics?Read the answer and worked solution →Alleles are best defined as which of the following?Read the answer and worked solution →Why is a pea plant described as diploid?Read the answer and worked solution →An organism's phenotype is which of the following?Read the answer and worked solution →Which of these is included in an organism's genotype but not in its phenotype?Read the answer and worked solution →A pea plant that is homozygous at a given locus has what?Read the answer and worked solution →Two true-breeding pea plants with contrasting traits are cross-fertilised. What are all of the offspring?Read the answer and worked solution →What did Mendel call the recessive allele in his own terminology?Read the answer and worked solution →In which individuals can a recessive allele be observed in the phenotype?Read the answer and worked solution →Violet is dominant to white for pea flower colour. Using the usual convention, how is a heterozygous violet plant written?Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Genetics is the study of which of the following?

  1. Heredity
  2. Nutrition
  3. Digestion
  4. Behaviour
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Correct answer: A. Heredity

1. Heredity means the passing of characteristics from parents to offspring. 2. Genetics is defined as the study of heredity, so heredity is the correct match. 3. Nutrition and digestion deal with how food is used, not with how traits are passed on. 4. Behaviour is a separate field of biology and is not the definition given. _Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 12 "Mendel's Experiments and Heredity", Introduction_

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Which organism did Mendel settle on as the primary model system for his inheritance work?

  1. The honeybee
  2. The fruit fly
  3. The garden pea
  4. The snapdragon
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Correct answer: C. The garden pea

1. Mendel began in 1856 with inheritance patterns in honeybees and plants. 2. He ultimately settled on pea plants as his primary model system. 3. Fruit flies became a model organism for later workers, not for Mendel. 4. Snapdragons appear as an example of incomplete dominance, not as Mendel's model. _Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 12 "Mendel's Experiments and Heredity", section 12.1 Mendel's Experiments and the Laws of Probability_

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A true-breeding pea plant is one that does what?

  1. Produces only sterile seeds each season
  2. Produces gametes that carry no alleles
  3. Produces twice the normal seed number
  4. Produces offspring that look like the parent
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Correct answer: D. Produces offspring that look like the parent

1. True-breeding lines arise from repeated self-fertilisation, which makes them highly inbred. 2. Such plants always produce offspring that look like the parent. 3. Sterile seed and doubled seed number describe fertility, not breeding true. 4. Gametes always carry alleles, so that option describes nothing real. _Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 12 "Mendel's Experiments and Heredity", section 12.1 Mendel's Experiments and the Laws of Probability_

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More Biology topics

Modern Understandings of Inheritance