Drugs: three questions to try now
Real past-paper questions, the answer key from the mark scheme, and the explanation that goes with it. No account needed to answer them.
Question 1
Cigarette smoke paralyses the cilia in the gas exchange system.
What is the direct result of this?
Answer: A.
Question 2
Which row is correct about the components of tobacco smoke and their effects? Each answer gives, in order: component; effect.
Answer: D.
Question 3
Which component of tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen that red blood cells can carry to the cells of the body?
Answer: B.
What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past CIE 0654 Co-ordinated Sciences papers and filtered to drugs. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
Keep going Paper 1 and Paper 2 MCQs →
What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on drugs, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Defining a drug as an illegal or harmful substance.
- Saying nicotine causes lung cancer, or that tar is the addictive component.
- Saying carbon monoxide is addictive, or that it causes cancer.
- Saying carbon monoxide damages the lungs. It acts on haemoglobin in the blood.
- Saying smoke stops oxygen diffusing, when the question asks for the direct result of paralysed cilia.
- Describing alcohol as a stimulant. It is a depressant.
- Saying alcohol damages the kidneys rather than the liver.
- Saying antibiotics kill viruses.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Drugs revision notes.