Investigative skills — AS & A Level Marine Science (9693) questions by topic
Investigative skills questions in Marine Science test the practical side of the course directly: drawing specimens to scale, identifying independent and dependent variables in a field or lab study, completing labelled graphs from oceanographic data, and calculating population size by mark-release-recapture, spanning 10 to 28 marks across 28 real questions from 2023 to 2025 papers.
Suggest, draw, state, describe and calculate dominate the command words, and each carries a precise expectation: draw means a proportioned, detailed diagram, calculate means correctly manipulated data with units stated. Instant marking is especially useful here, since it catches the exact slips examiners report, like unlabelled axes or numbers quoted without units, before they recur across a whole paper.
What examiners look for
- A recurring criticism is candidates writing 'amount' rather than 'volume' when describing measured quantities of oxygen or water.
- Examiners repeatedly note independent and dependent variables reversed or simply restated from an earlier part rather than identified afresh.
- Graphs commonly lose marks for missing axis units, dots plotted without a surrounding circle, and points plotted too large or imprecisely.
- Reports flag data quoted directly instead of manipulated, such as giving two raw readings rather than calculating the difference between them.
- Strong answers labelled axes with units, used a linear scale filling the grid, plotted points accurately, and linked decreasing light intensity to a lower rate of photosynthesis with the arithmetic shown.
May–June 2025, Paper 41
A student investigated if the surface area of fish gills has a correlation with the activity levels of the fish. The student used a Spearman's rank correlation to test if there…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 21
Zooplankton is composed of a variety of organisms, including copepods. Fig. 1.1 shows a copepod found in zooplankton. Make a large drawing of the copepod in Fig. 1.1. Do not…
Answer this question and get it marked →Damselfish and wrasse are two types of small predatory fish found on tropical coral reefs, feeding on a variety of prey. Research was carried out to establish if either damselfish…
Answer this question and get it marked →Lugworms are a species of worm found on sandy and muddy shores. Each lugworm lives in a single burrow where it consumes sediment, digesting any food sources within the sediment.…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 22
When sea water temperature increases, coral polyps release zooxanthellae. Either the polyps release whole zooxanthellae which are healthy, or the polyps partially digest and…
Answer this question and get it marked →Fig. 2.1 shows a plaice, Pleuronectes platessa. This is a bony fish that lives in the benthic zone. Make a large drawing of the fish in Fig. 2.1. Do not draw the markings.
Answer this question and get it marked →A scientist used the mark-release-recapture technique to estimate the population size, N, of a species of herbivorous sea urchin on a coral reef. Table 3.1 shows the data the…
Answer this question and get it marked →Fig. 4.1 shows the mean rate of photosynthesis each month and the water temperature throughout the year in a bay of an ocean in the northern hemisphere. The graph plots mean…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 23
When sea water temperature increases, coral polyps release zooxanthellae. Either the polyps release whole zooxanthellae which are healthy, or the polyps partially digest and…
Answer this question and get it marked →Fig. 2.1 shows a plaice, Pleuronectes platessa. This is a bony fish that lives in the benthic zone. Make a large drawing of the fish in Fig. 2.1. Do not draw the markings.
Answer this question and get it marked →A scientist used the mark-release-recapture technique to estimate the population size, N, of a species of herbivorous sea urchin on a coral reef. Table 3.1 shows the data the…
Answer this question and get it marked →Fig. 4.1 shows the mean rate of photosynthesis each month and the water temperature throughout the year in a bay of an ocean in the northern hemisphere. The graph plots mean…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 41
Foraminifera are marine organisms that form calcium carbonate shells. A student investigated the effect of CO₂ concentration on foraminifera shell length and population density.…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 42
Dublin Bay prawns, Nephrops sp., are crustaceans often caught by using bottom trawling. Haddock is a fish that is an important species for fisheries in the north Atlantic Ocean.…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 43
Dublin Bay prawns, Nephrops sp., are crustaceans often caught by using bottom trawling. Haddock is a fish that is an important species for fisheries in the north Atlantic Ocean.…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 21
Scientists collected a series of measurements from a ship travelling across the Atlantic Ocean from locations 1 to 12. They recorded the temperature, concentration of nitrate ions…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 22
Scientists collected a series of measurements from a ship travelling across the Atlantic Ocean from locations 1 to 12. They recorded the temperature, concentration of nitrate ions…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 23
Scientists collected a series of measurements from a ship travelling across the Atlantic Ocean from locations 1 to 12. They recorded the temperature, concentration of nitrate ions…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 21
Fig. 1.1 shows apparatus used to investigate the rate of photosynthesis. The distance of the lamp from the boiling tube can be altered, which changes the intensity of the light…
Answer this question and get it marked →Fig. 5.1 shows a blue shark, with a box drawn around the head and pectoral fin region. Make a large drawing of part of the blue shark shown in the box in Fig. 5.1. Do not label…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 22
Fig. 2.1 shows apparatus used to investigate the rate of photosynthesis in the laboratory: a glass beaker of water containing an aquatic plant and a thermometer, connected to a…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 23
Fig. 2.1 shows apparatus used to investigate the rate of photosynthesis in the laboratory. The apparatus consists of a glass beaker of water containing an aquatic plant, with a…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 21
A student investigated the relationship between macroalgae percentage cover and the number of crabs found in quadrats on a mangrove mudflat. Describe how the student could use…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 22
A group of students investigated how the distribution of crabs on a rocky shore varied with macroalgae cover. The students used random sampling to select 10 areas of the shore.…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 23
A group of students investigated how the distribution of crabs on a rocky shore varied with macroalgae cover. The students used random sampling to select 10 areas of the shore.…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 41
The rate of photosynthesis of producer organisms can be affected by many abiotic and biotic factors. The light-dependent stage of photosynthesis occurs in the lamellae of…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 42
The rate of photosynthesis of producer organisms can be affected by many abiotic and biotic factors. The light-dependent stage of photosynthesis occurs in the lamellae of…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 43
The rate of photosynthesis of producer organisms can be affected by many abiotic and biotic factors. The light-dependent stage of photosynthesis occurs in the lamellae of…
Answer this question and get it marked →Other AS & A Level Marine Science topics
- Marine organisms and physiology (58)
- Water and physical oceanography (43)
- Mangroves and coastal ecosystems (37)
- Marine ecosystems and energy flow (36)
- Fisheries and mariculture (26)
- Aquaculture (21)
- Human impacts and pollution (16)
- Classification and biodiversity (14)
- Coral reefs (14)
- Earth structure and plate tectonics (12)
- Conservation and management (11)