ISC 2024 Biotechnology Question Paper for Class 12

About this paper

This is ISC Class 12 Biotechnology Paper 1 (Theory) from the 2024 CISCE board examination, paper code 878A (printed as 1224-878A). It carries 70 marks and runs for three hours, with fifteen minutes extra for reading. All 12 questions are compulsory, set in three sections, with an internal choice in two questions of Section B and one question of Section C. Section A is 14 marks of very short answers, including two assertion–reason items. Section B has seven four-mark questions and Section C four seven-mark questions. The paper ends with a translation diagram, the Human Genome Project logo, and a passage on sequencing DNA from an unidentified Arctic species with radio-labelled ddNTPs. This copy has the questions only.

Exam

ISC Class 12

Subject

Biotechnology

Year

2024

Paper code

878A

Maximum marks

70

Time allowed

3 hours + 15 min reading

Questions

12

Pages

6

Answers included

No, questions only

Paper pattern

• Section A

  14 marks

  Question 1: very short answers totalling 14 marks, including reasons, expansions and two assertion–reason items

• Section B

  28 marks

  Questions 2–8, four marks each; internal choice in two questions

• Section C

  28 marks

  Questions 9–12, seven marks each, including figures and a sequencing passage; internal choice in one question

Topics covered

• PCR
• Golden rice
• Genetic code
• Plant tissue culture
• Animal cell culture
• Stem cells
• Operons
• Cloning vectors and recombinant DNA
• DNA replication
• Translation
• Human Genome Project and bioinformatics
• DNA sequencing

Questions from this paper

1. Name the technique used when immunoglobulin coupled with dyes is used to isolate and sort one type of cell from a mixed plant-tissue culture.
2. Why are vitamins sterilised by Millipore membrane filtration in cell culture technology?
3. Differentiate between dedifferentiation and redifferentiation.
4. State any four characteristics of a good cloning vector.
5. Elaborate on the Meselson and Stahl experiment which proved that DNA replication in prokaryotes is semi-conservative.
6. Researchers sequenced DNA from an unidentified Arctic carcass using radio-labelled ddNTPs. Name the technique, and give one difference between ddNTP and dNTP.