Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

MCAS Question Search

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The Question Search application is a searchable database that enables users to browse through released items from the 2018 MCAS administration. Released items from more recent MCAS tests are being posted in the following resources:

The MCAS Resource Center offers access to ePATs (electronic practice assessment tools) that contain released items from every MCAS computer-based test since 2018.
The MCAS Digital Item Library is a searchable database of all released items from the computer-based tests, 2018 to the present.
Released item documents display items from the paper-based tests (including legacy tests and retests) in PDF format.

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2018 Spring Release, Biology - High School

Question 1: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Anatomy and Physiology
2006 Standard: 4.6 - Recognize that the sexual reproductive system allows organisms to produce offspring that receive half of their genetic information from their mother and half from their father and that sexually produced offspring resemble, but are not identical to, either of their parents.

Which of the following statements describes how human traits are inherited?

Children receive half of their genes from each parent.

Only dominant traits are passed from parents to their children.

Traits skip a generation, passing directly from grandparents to their grandchildren.

Female children receive genes only from their mothers, and male children receive genes only from their fathers.

2018 February Biology, Biology - High School

Question 1: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Ecology
2006 Standard: 6.2 - Analyze changes in population size and biodiversity (speciation and extinction) that result from the following: natural causes, changes in climate, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.

The heath hen was a wild bird that was once common from New England to Virginia. By 1900, habitat changes and hunting by humans had reduced the heath hen population size to about 100 birds. The species became extinct in 1932.

Which of the following would have been most effective in preventing the decline in the population size of wild heath hens?

vaccinating baby heath hens against human diseases

establishing protected natural areas where heath hens lived

introducing new bird species to put selective pressure on heath hens

attaching metal bands to the legs of heath hens to identify them as a protected species

2018 Spring Release, Biology - High School

Question 2: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Biochemistry and Cell Biology
2006 Standard: 1.2 - Describe the basic molecular structures and primary functions of the four major categories of organic molecules (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids).

A cell membrane has a double layer of molecules. These molecules are made up of a phosphorus-containing “head” and two long, fatty acid “tails.”

Which of the following best explains why the molecules are classified as lipids?

They contain phosphorus.

They form a double layer.

They are made up of fatty acids.

They are found in the cell membrane.

2018 February Biology, Biology - High School

Question 2: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Genetics
2006 Standard: 3.4 - Distinguish among observed inheritance patterns caused by several types of genetic traits (dominant, recessive, codominant, sex-linked, polygenic, incomplete dominance, multiple alleles).

The feather color of Andalusian chickens is controlled by a single gene with two alleles. A cross between a true-breeding, white-feathered Andalusian hen and a true-breeding, black-feathered Andalusian rooster results in 100% blue-feathered Andalusian offspring.

Which of the following describes the inheritance pattern for feather color in these chickens?

It is a polygenic pattern because more than two phenotypes are possible.

It is a dominant-recessive pattern because both parents are true breeding.

It is a sex-linked pattern because the hen and the rooster have different feather colors.

It is a codominant pattern because the heterozygous offspring have a different phenotype than either parent.

2018 February Biology, Biology - High School

Question 3: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Ecology
2006 Standard: 6.1 - Explain how birth, death, immigration, and emigration influence population size.

The cardinal is a type of bird. Which of the following would increase the size of a population of cardinals in a forest?

an increase in the birth rate of cardinals

an increase in the death rate of cardinals

increased emigration of young cardinals from the forest ecosystem

increased immigration of cardinal predators into the forest ecosystem

2018 Spring Release, Biology - High School

Question 3: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Genetics
2006 Standard: 3.2 - Describe the basic process of DNA replication and how it relates to the transmission and conservation of the genetic code. Explain the basic processes of transcription and translation, and how they result in the expression of genes. Distinguish among the end products of replication, transcription, and translation.

All corn plants contain the ZmLA1 gene. Some corn plants contain a certain mutation in the ZmLA1 gene. The graph below shows the amount of ZmLA1 RNA produced in plants with the normal gene and in plants with the mutated gene.

Based on the graph, what most likely happens in corn plant cells as a direct result of the mutated gene?

DNA replication increases.

Lipid production decreases.

Glucose synthesis increases.

Protein production decreases.

2018 Spring Release, Biology - High School

Question 4: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Ecology
2006 Standard: 6.4 - Explain how water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle between abiotic resources and organic matter in an ecosystem, and how oxygen cycles through photosynthesis and respiration.

The growth of plants in many ecosystems is limited by the supply of nitrogen. Which of the following groups of organisms plays the largest role in moving nitrogen between the atmosphere and plants?

bacteria

earthworms

insects

protists

2018 February Biology, Biology - High School

Question 4: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Evolution and Biodiversity
2006 Standard: 5.2 - Describe species as reproductively distinct groups of organisms. Recognize that species are further classified into a hierarchical taxonomic system (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) based on morphological, behavioral, and molecular similarities. Describe the role that geographic isolation can play in speciation.

The illustration below shows the wing structure of an insect.

Line-drawing of insect wing, showing outline of wing and pattern of veins. The wing is narrow where it attaches to the body, gets wider, then gets narrow again, and has a rounded tip.

Which of the following animals will most likely have a wing structure that is very similar to this insect’s wing structure?

an animal from the same class

an animal from the same genus

an animal from the same phylum

an animal from the same kingdom

2018 Spring Release, Biology - High School

Question 5: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Biochemistry and Cell Biology
2006 Standard: 2.7 - Describe how the process of meiosis results in the formation of haploid cells. Explain the importance of this process in sexual reproduction, and how gametes form diploid zygotes in the process of fertilization.

An unfertilized egg cell has six chromosomes. After fertilization, how many chromosomes should the zygote have?

2018 February Biology, Biology - High School

Question 5: Multiple-Choice

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Reporting Category: Ecology
2006 Standard: 6.3 - Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers, and explain the transfer of energy through trophic levels. Describe how relationships among organisms (predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism, mutualism) add to the complexity of biological communities.

Which of the following statements describes one way that energy is transferred in a food web?

Plants provide energy to consumers.

Energy is cycled between producers.

Producers store energy made by animals.

Consumers obtain energy directly from sunlight.

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Last Updated: January 19, 2021