Question 1

Which statement is true about all mammals?

Accepted Answer

A. They have hair.. All mammals have hair or fur on their bodies. Not all mammals have tails (e.g., humans), live on land (e.g., whales, dolphins), or have four legs (e.g., humans, bats).

Question 2

In which part of the digestive system is most digested food absorbed into the blood?

Accepted Answer

D. small intestine. The small intestine is where most digested food (nutrients) is absorbed into the bloodstream through its lining.

Question 3

Which animal has a pupa as a stage in its life cycle?

Accepted Answer

B. beetle. Beetles undergo complete metamorphosis with four stages: egg → larva → pupa → adult. Frogs, chickens and grasshoppers do not have a pupa stage.

Question 4

The diagram below shows the life cycle of a plant. What is the stage marked "X"?

Accepted Answer

B. seed. X is the small oval object between the adult plant and the young seedling in the plant life cycle, which is the seed stage. Plants do not have eggs.

Question 5

The diagram shows a pair of scissors. Metal is used to make the blades of the scissors because metal ____.

Accepted Answer

A. is strong. Scissor blades must be strong and hard so they do not break, bend or wear out easily when cutting through materials. Metal is chosen for its strength and hardness.

Question 6

Which one of the following rods can be attracted by a magnet?
A: iron rod
B: steel rod
C: glass rod
D: plastic rod

Accepted Answer

A. A and B. Magnets attract magnetic materials such as iron, steel, nickel and cobalt. Glass and plastic are non-magnetic. So only the iron rod (A) and steel rod (B) are attracted.

Question 7

Which one of the following is a source of light?

Accepted Answer

D. fire. A source of light gives off its own light. Fire produces its own light. The moon only reflects light from the sun, a mirror only reflects light, and plants do not give off light.

Question 8

Look at the picture below. Which one of the following explains why Sue can see the book on the table? [Figure: four diagrams showing different arrows representing the direction of light — (1) arrow from Sue's eyes to book, (2) arrow from lamp to book and from Sue's eyes to book, (3) arrow from lamp to book and reflected arrow from book to Sue's eyes, (4) arrow from lamp to book only]

Accepted Answer

C. Arrow from lamp to book and reflected arrow from book to eyes. We see a non-luminous object when light from a light source falls on it and is reflected from the object into our eyes. Light from the lamp hits the book and is reflected from the book into Sue's eyes.

Question 9

Which one of the following is not a source of heat?

Accepted Answer

D. a woollen glove. A source of heat gives out its own heat. The Sun, lighted lamps and lighted stoves all give out heat. A woollen glove only traps heat from the body — it does not produce heat itself.

Question 10

Philip used a frying pan to cook as shown below. He is able to hold the frying pan using the plastic handle. This is because plastic is a ____.

Accepted Answer

C. poor conductor of heat. Plastic is a poor conductor of heat (heat insulator). It does not allow heat from the hot pan to flow easily to Philip's hand, so he can hold the handle without burning himself.

Question 11

Study the flow chart below. Which of the following plants, Q, R, S or T, best represents a fern?

Accepted Answer

B. R. A fern has green leaves but does not reproduce from seeds — it reproduces from spores. So at the second question the answer is 'No', leading to R.

Question 12

Study the young of an organism shown below. Which of the following is the adult stage of the organism? [Figure: four animal pictures — (1) mosquito, (2) fish, (3) chicken, (4) frog]

Accepted Answer

D. frog. The young shown is a tadpole, which is the young stage of a frog. A tadpole develops into an adult frog through metamorphosis.

Question 13

The diagram below shows the life cycle of living thing P. The time taken from one stage to another stage is represented by the letters, X, Y and Z. Study the three statements made.
A: P lives on land.
B: The young of P resembles the adult.
C: Y represents a longer time compared to X and Z.
Which statement(s) is/are true?

Accepted Answer

D. None of the above. From the diagram alone we cannot tell where P lives (A is unknown), whether the young looks like the adult (B is unknown — the life cycle has only egg, young and adult so the young could resemble or differ from the adult), or whether Y takes longer than X and Z (C is unknown — no time information given). None of the statements can be confirmed as true.

Question 14

Sam wanted to find out how the amount of light affects the growth of plant X. The diagram below shows his set-ups. His dad suggested adding another set-up for his experiment. Which one of the following should be used to ensure a fair test? [Figure: four options — (1) glass tank covered with black paper but no plants, with light; (2) glass tank covered with black paper containing plants in moist soil under light; (3) glass tank covered with tracing paper containing only 2 plants; (4) glass tank covered with black paper containing plants in moist soil with light]

Accepted Answer

B. Tank covered with black paper, same plants in moist soil, under light. To investigate how the amount of light affects plant growth, only the amount of light should be varied. All other variables (number of plants, type of soil, water, light source) must remain the same. Option (2) shows the same set-up with plants in moist soil, but covered with black paper to block out all light, making the test fair.

Question 15

Which one of the following animals has the same number of stages in its life cycle as a mosquito?

Accepted Answer

C. butterfly. A mosquito has 4 stages in its life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult). A butterfly also has 4 stages (egg, caterpillar/larva, pupa/chrysalis, adult butterfly). Grasshoppers have 3 stages, chickens have 3 stages, and frogs have 3 stages.

Question 16

Study the flowchart below. Which of the following animals, A, B, C or D, is definitely a chicken?

Accepted Answer

D. D. A chicken lays eggs (Yes), its young (chick) resembles the adult (Yes), and it has 3 stages in its life cycle — egg, chick, adult (Yes). So all three answers are 'Yes', leading to D.

Question 17

The pictures below show how the cockroach and diving beetle lay their eggs. The diving beetle and cockroach put the eggs in a case. The diving beetle lays the egg case and attaches it to a floating leaf while the cockroach lays the egg case in dark places. How are the animals similar?

Accepted Answer

C. They lay their eggs in dark places.. Per the school's answer key, both insects place their egg cases in concealed/dark surroundings — the cockroach in dark places and the diving beetle in the shaded area under a floating leaf — so the similarity is that they lay their eggs in dark places.

Question 18

The following pictures show the different stages in the life cycle of a plant. At which stage(s) of the life cycle does the plant make its own food?

Accepted Answer

C. A and D only. A plant makes its own food (photosynthesis) only when it has green leaves. Stage A (seedling) and stage D (adult plant) both have leaves. Stage C (seed) and stage B (germinating seed) do not have leaves yet, so they cannot make their own food.

Question 19

Study the two set-ups, A and B, shown below. The aim of the experiment is to find out if ____ is needed for germination.

Accepted Answer

C. water. The only variable changed between set-ups A and B is whether the cotton wool is moist or dry, i.e., presence or absence of water. All other factors (air, light, warmth) are the same. So the experiment tests whether water is needed for germination.

Question 20

Charlene found object A and recorded her observations about object A below.
• It is flexible.
• It is waterproof.
• It does not allow light to pass through it.
Which of the following could object A be?

Accepted Answer

D. eraser. An eraser is flexible (it bends slightly), waterproof (does not absorb water), and opaque (does not allow light to pass through). A metal straw is not flexible, a towel absorbs water (not waterproof), and a toilet roll absorbs water.

Question 21

After playing a game of checkers, John tried to stack up the black and white discs. He was able to do this as every piece of the black and white disc had a magnet in them as shown below. It was easy for him to stack one black surface disc on top of a white surface disc. What could be a possible reason for John's observation?

Accepted Answer

C. The unlike poles of the magnets in the disc are facing each other so they attract.. Like poles repel and unlike poles attract. Since the discs stacked easily, the magnets must have attracted each other, which means unlike poles were facing each other.

Question 22

Study the diagram below. Container A has 300ml of water. Which of the following will remain the same when all the water is poured from container A to container B and then to container C, with no loss of water?
A: mass of water
B: shape of water
C: volume of water

Accepted Answer

C. A and C only. When water is transferred between containers without loss, the mass and volume of water remain the same (matter is not added or removed). The shape changes because liquid takes the shape of its container. So A (mass) and C (volume) remain the same.

Question 23

Study the classification chart below. David wants to use the above substances to fill up the balloon so that he will get a balloon with the shape as shown below. [Figure: deflated balloon → inflated balloon] Which substances can be used to fill up the balloon?

Accepted Answer

B. A and C only. A is a liquid (cannot be compressed, no definite shape), B is a solid (cannot be compressed, has a definite shape), C is a gas (can be compressed). To inflate a balloon and fill it up, only liquids or gases can be used since they take the shape of the container. So A and C only.

Question 24

Ali made a hollow tube using a piece of cardboard. He looked through it at a lighted candle which was placed at one end of the cardboard. Which of the following statements explains why Ali was able to see the flame?

Accepted Answer

A. Light from the flame enters Ali's eyes.. We see a luminous object (the flame) when light from the object enters our eyes. The candle flame gives out its own light, which travels through the hollow tube into Ali's eyes.

Question 25

Peter measured the length of a shadow formed by a lamp post at different intervals on a sunny day from points A to C. The sun was directly overhead the lamp post at point B. Which graph shows the length of the shadows at different times of the day? [Figure: four bar graphs of Length of shadow vs Points A, B, C — (1) A tallest, B medium, C shortest; (2) A, B, C all equal; (3) A and C equal and tall, B short; (4) A shortest, B medium, C tallest]

Accepted Answer

C. A and C equal and tall, B shortest. When the sun is directly overhead (point B), the shadow is shortest. When the sun is at an angle (points A and C, before and after noon), the shadow is longer. Since the distance is the same (100 cm) on both sides of B, the shadows at A and C are roughly equal and tall, while at B the shadow is shortest.

Question 26

Rani cut out two shapes, circular and rectangular, from two identical sheets as shown below. The circle has a diameter of 5cm while the width of the rectangle is 2cm. The two cardboard sheets are of the same size. The two cardboard sheets K and L were placed together in a straight line between the screen and the torch as shown below. [Figure: torch shining onto sheet K and sheet L stacked, with a screen behind] Which one of the following diagrams below is the shadow cast on the screen? [Figure: four shadow options — (1) black background with thin vertical white rectangular strip; (2) black background with white circle; (3) circle outline with rectangle through middle; (4) solid black rectangle]

Accepted Answer

A. Black shadow with thin vertical light strip in middle. Light passes through only where BOTH sheets have holes — that is, the overlap of the circle (5 cm diameter) and the narrower rectangle (2 cm wide). The overlap is a thin vertical strip the width of the rectangle within the circle. The rest of the screen is shadow. So the shadow shows a thin vertical light strip on a dark background.

Question 27

Annie places a metal spoon in a bowl of hot soup. The metal spoon becomes hot after a while. What could be the reason?

Accepted Answer

B. Heat travelled to the metal spoon.. Heat always flows from a hotter object to a cooler object. The hot soup is hotter than the metal spoon, so heat travels from the soup to the metal spoon, making the spoon hot.

Question 28

A delivery rider placed two ordered items in two identical containers, A and B, as shown below. Based on the above information, which one of the following graphs correctly shows the temperature change of the contents in the two boxes after a few hours? [Figure: four temperature vs time graphs — (1) A starts high and decreases, B starts low and increases, curves converge; (2) A starts low and increases, B starts higher and decreases; (3) both A and B increase; (4) both A and B decrease, A higher than B]

Accepted Answer

A. A decreases from high, B increases from low, curves converge. The hot pizza in container A is hotter than the surroundings, so it loses heat and its temperature falls. The cool drinks in container B are cooler than the surroundings, so they gain heat and their temperature rises. Both temperatures approach the room temperature over time.

P4 Science SA2 2025 — Rosyth

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