This exam focus covers Exam Focus within Cloning for GCSE Biology. Cloning techniques, applications, and ethical considerations It is section 9 of 11 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
Topic position
Section 9 of 11
Practice
25 questions
Recall
20 flashcards
Exam Focus
Frequently ExaminedCloning questions at GCSE most commonly focus on the process and ethics. Key areas to prepare:
- Dolly the sheep process (3-4 marks): Know each step in order. Examiners expect: remove nucleus from body cell, remove nucleus from egg cell, insert body cell nucleus into egg, electric shock, implant into surrogate. Missing any step costs marks.
- Tissue culture (2-3 marks): Describe what it is used for (rapid production of identical plants, preserving rare species) and the basic method (cells in sterile nutrient medium).
- Ethical considerations (2-4 marks): Always present both sides. "It is wrong to clone humans" alone scores nothing — explain why some people hold that view and why others disagree.
- Clone vs identical twin: Know that both are natural clones with identical DNA, but identical twins develop from a split fertilised egg while Dolly was produced by nuclear transfer from an adult body cell.