ReviZi logo revizi

QCE Biology · Year 12

QCE Biology: what actually gets examined

Every question from 3 official QCAA papers, coded by unit, topic and marks — so you can decide what to revise from evidence rather than a feeling.

3 QCAA papers, 2022–2024 · 160 questions · 273 marks

4 of the 4 topics in QCE Biology were examined in every paper on file, and the 2 units carry almost identical weight. There is nothing here you can safely skip — the question is what order you revise in.

Counted from 3 official QCAA Biology papers (2022–2024). 160 questions, 273 marks. Nothing estimated.

4 of 4topics in every paper on file
75marks in the single biggest topic
20multiple choice marks, every paper
50%indicative share per unit, from teaching time

The cognitive verbs that carry the paper

Share of written-response questions by QCAA cognitive verb, matched against QCAA's own Cognitive verb framework. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost. The lower / middle / higher grouping is ours — QCAA publishes the list but does not band it. Based on the 98% of written responses that open with a listed cognitive verb; the rest open with wording outside it, such as a direct question.

Identify29% · 28qlower order
Explain25% · 24qmiddle order
Describe16% · 16qlower order
Other10% · 10q
Calculate7% · 7qlower order
Infer7% · 7qmiddle order
Predict3% · 3q
Use3% · 3q

Lower orderMiddle orderHigher order

Each tile is one key word; its size is that key word's share of written-response questions that open with one. The smallest 6 are grouped as Other: Classify 1% · 1q, Provide 1% · 1q, State 1% · 1q, Compare 2% · 2q, Define 2% · 2q, Determine 3% · 3q.

Where the marks sit

Each unit with its topics underneath. The bar is that topic's share of its own unit, and the chip says how many of the papers on file examined it.

Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life

131 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

Ecosystem dynamics Every paper 74 marks

42 questions · 56% of this unit · Practise →

Describing biodiversity Every paper 57 marks

38 questions · 44% of this unit · Practise →

Study Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life →

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life

143 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

DNA, genes and the continuity of life Every paper 75 marks

42 questions · 52% of this unit · Practise →

Continuity of life on Earth Every paper 68 marks

38 questions · 48% of this unit · Practise →

Concept pages in this unit:

Study Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life →

Across 3 papers the units carried 131, 143 marks — against an indicative 50% share each, inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA: each unit has a notional time of 55 hours of teaching and learning). The QCAA Biology 2019 v1.2 General Senior Syllabus publishes no mark weighting; the counted share is the only measured figure.

How each topic gets asked

The 4 biggest topics, by the shape of the questions actually set on them. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost — the cognitive verbs below are QCAA's own, counted from the papers.

DNA, genes and the continuity of life

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life · 75 marks across 42 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×21 · Short answer ×20 · Extended response ×1

QCAA cognitive verbs Explain ×6 · Describe ×6 · Identify ×4 · Use ×2 · Infer ×1 · Determine ×1

Ecosystem dynamics

Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life · 74 marks across 42 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×10 · Short answer ×32

QCAA cognitive verbs Identify ×10 · Explain ×5 · Describe ×4 · Calculate ×4 · Predict ×3 · Infer ×2 · Compare ×2 · Determine ×1 · Define ×1

Continuity of life on Earth

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life · 68 marks across 38 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×12 · Short answer ×25 · Extended response ×1

QCAA cognitive verbs Explain ×9 · Identify ×7 · Infer ×3 · Calculate ×2 · Provide ×1 · Use ×1 · State ×1 · Determine ×1 · Describe ×1

Describing biodiversity

Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life · 57 marks across 38 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×17 · Short answer ×21

QCAA cognitive verbs Identify ×7 · Describe ×5 · Explain ×4 · Calculate ×1 · Infer ×1 · Define ×1 · Classify ×1

What the markers wanted

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes subject reports after each paper. This is our reading of the 2022–2024 feedback, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in. It describes what markers rewarded in papers already sat; it does not predict the next one. The originals are linked below.

Across the paper

  • In all three years QCAA reported that data-reading items (food webs, cladograms, energy flow diagrams, transects) and calculations went well; recall-based describe and explain items were the weaker ground.
  • QCAA names the cognitive verb, the mark allocation, key terms in the question and the stimulus as the cues that should shape a response before any writing starts.
  • For a compare question QCAA looks for three things: a similarity, a difference and what that difference signifies. The significance is a scored element in its own right, not a closing flourish.
  • Explanations should be built on the specific values and features in the stimulus, not on general statements about the topic that could have been written without looking at the data.
  • QCAA repeatedly asks for knowledge to be integrated across topics when explaining a phenomenon, such as how two species coevolve or why allele frequencies diverge, rather than one fact recalled in isolation.
  • Definitions should follow the syllabus glossary and terms should be used precisely; QCAA singled out subject-specific terminology, allele versus gene included, as a place where precision was lacking.

Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life

Better responses

  • Better responses explained what species richness and Simpson's diversity index each capture (a species count versus a measure that also weighs evenness) and used the figures to show why the pair beats either alone.
  • Analysing a supplied food web to work out the flow-on effects of removing a keystone species was consistently done well.
  • Classifying an ecosystem from field data, and reading transect data and spindle graphs, were strong areas: the skill is matching what the numbers show to the classification criteria.
  • Lincoln index items were well handled: better responses calculated the population estimate from the first sample, then the recapture number a second sample should have given, to test the method's reliability.
  • Asked for two energy transformations in an ecosystem, better responses described two clearly different ones, one for each available mark.

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • Describing, from knowledge rather than off a diagram, the ways energy is transformed as it passes through an ecosystem; QCAA named this as needing practice under exam conditions.
  • Describing ecological succession as a process and keeping primary and secondary succession clearly distinct from each other.
  • Explaining ecosystem concepts, models and systems in prose under time pressure; the data-reading side of Unit 3 scored well, so the ground left to make up is the describe-and-explain side.

Seen in 2024 Paper 1 Q26, 2024 Paper 1 Q27, 2023 Paper 1 Q25.

Practise Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life →

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life

Better responses

  • Comparisons of microevolution and macroevolution scored when they used the syllabus definitions to give a similarity, a difference and the significance of that difference.
  • Better answers on transcription factors explained that they bind specific DNA sequences, that this produces differential gene expression, and then anchored the account with a named example.
  • With allele-frequency data over time, better responses paired every trend with a mechanism: a steady frequency, a new allele arriving by migration or mutation, and a rising frequency read as a selective advantage.
  • Pedigree questions scored when the evidence for the inheritance pattern came from the pedigree itself, then parental genotypes were chosen, a Punnett square built and expected phenotype ratios read off it.
  • Selection explanations worked when the principles were stated: shared selection pressures favouring similar features in two species, or evidence plus reasoning for the sickle-cell allele's edge where malaria occurs.

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • Describing what tRNA does and how it does it, anticodon pairing with the mRNA codon and each tRNA carrying its own specific amino acid, using the correct terms throughout.
  • Explaining the sources of genetic variation as mechanisms: how crossing over recombines alleles in meiosis, and how errors in DNA replication give rise to point mutations versus frameshift mutations.
  • Describing how gene expression is regulated, and drawing on that to explain why a mutation does not always change an individual's phenotype.
  • Using allele and gene for what each actually means; QCAA flagged the two being confused as a loss of precision in genetics answers.
  • Explaining evolutionary change as a chain of steps, such as how habitat fragmentation can end in speciation, and stating the principles of natural selection explicitly when a question asks for them to be applied.

Seen in 2024 Paper 2 Q6, 2024 Paper 2 Q9, 2023 Paper 2 Q3, 2023 Paper 1 Q24, 2022 Paper 2 Q5, 2022 Paper 2 Q11, 2022 Paper 1 Q23.

Practise Heredity and continuity of life →

2024 QCAA subject report →2023 QCAA subject report →2022 QCAA subject report →

How the paper is built

Marks by question format across the same 3 papers.

Multiple choice 6020 / 20 / 20 per paper
Short answer 20261 / 64 / 77 per paper
Extended response 116 / 5 / 0 per paper

Multiple choice is exactly 20 marks in every paper. The rest moves around: short answer ran 61, 64, 77 marks and extended response ran 6, 5, 0 marks. 3 papers is not enough to call that a trend.

Every question, by topic

All 160 questions from the 3 papers, listed under the topic each was coded to — year, question number, marks as printed on the paper, cognitive verb and format — with QCAA's own copy of the paper linked on every row. The questions themselves are read there, not here. Marks here are as printed and every question is listed once, so these totals sit a little apart from “Where the marks sit” above, by design: there, a question offered as one of several choices counts for its share of the paper rather than its printed marks. Open a unit to see its list.

Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life80 questions · 131 marks · show

Ecosystem dynamics · 42 questions, 74 marks

Describing biodiversity · 38 questions, 57 marks

Practise Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life →

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life80 questions · 143 marks · show

DNA, genes and the continuity of life · 42 questions, 75 marks

Continuity of life on Earth · 38 questions, 68 marks

Practise Heredity and continuity of life →

The papers this is counted from

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes every paper and its marking guidelines. These links go to QCAA's own copies — read the questions there. QCAA publishes each year in more than one booklet, and every one this page counted is linked.

2022 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2022 Paper 1 — question and response →2022 Paper 2 — question and response →2023 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2023 Paper 1 — question and response →2023 Paper 2 — question and response →2024 Paper 1 — multiple choice →2024 Paper 1 — question and response →2024 Paper 2 — question and response →

These are the external examination papers. They are not the whole subject: Biology is also assessed by internal assessments set and marked by your school, which QCAA does not publish — so nothing on this page covers that part of your result.

Study Biology on Revizi

QCE Biology TopicsQCE Biology PracticeQCE Biology Study NotesQCE Biology Past PapersQCE Past Exam PracticeQCE Exam PracticeQCE Flashcards HubAll QCE Questions by TopicQuestions by Topic — all curricula

Frequently Asked Questions

Which QCE Biology topics come up every year?

4 of the 4. Every topic marked "Every paper" above was examined in all 3 papers on file. That describes the papers analysed, not a prediction — examiners set each paper fresh.

Which QCE Biology unit is worth the most marks?

Unit 4: Heredity and continuity of life 143, Unit 3: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life 131 marks across the 3 papers analysed. The syllabus publishes no mark weighting for them; the indicative share on this page is inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA: each unit has a notional time of 55 hours of teaching and learning), and the counted share is a different measure.

What is the biggest single topic in QCE Biology?

DNA, genes and the continuity of life, with 75 of the 273 marks counted across 3 papers.

How was this analysed?

Every question in 3 official QCAA QCE Biology papers (2022–2024) was counted against the QCAA Biology 2019 v1.2 General Senior Syllabus: its mark value, its format and its key word, and the unit and topic it assesses. Marks are reconciled against each paper's own stated total.

Are the exam questions reproduced here?

No. Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority owns the papers. This page publishes counts and links to QCAA's own copy of each paper so you can read the questions at the source. The analysis is ours; the papers stay with QCAA.

Does this predict what will be in my exam?

No, and it is not meant to. It describes what has been set. Examiners write each paper fresh and can weight a neglected topic heavily, which is why every topic is listed here, including the ones examined least.

Can I see which QCE Biology questions were set on each topic?

Yes. Every question from the 3 papers is listed above under the topic it was coded to, with its year, question number, marks and cognitive verb, and a link to QCAA's copy of that paper. The question itself is read there, not here.

What did the QCAA markers say about QCE Biology?

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes marker feedback after each paper. The "What the markers wanted" section above is our reading of it across 3 years, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in, with the originals linked.

Coded against the QCAA Biology 2019 v1.2 General Senior Syllabus. Where a question is coded to more than one topic its marks are split evenly, so topic totals within a unit can round a mark or two above the unit total. A topic is marked "Every paper" when it appears in all 3, "Most papers" when it is missing from one, and "Comes and goes" when it is missing from more — the one-paper tolerance absorbs a single coding miss rather than publishing it. Last updated 2026-09-01 · Exam papers © Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, linked at source.