2UPCAT 2015 – Set A2

SECTION 2: SCIENCE PROFICIENCY NAME: _________________________________

Time -– 50 minutes SCHOOL: _______________________________
60Questions(86 – 145) SIMULATED EXAM – SET A

For each question, decide which is the best answer choice, and darken the corresponding oval on the answer sheet.

1. A corn farmer wants to study the effect of using ground to only about -10 ° C. What is a good
too much pesticide on the fertility of soil. Which result of balanced greenhouse effect?
of the following experimental set-ups would be A. severe drought
best to use to arrive at a valid conclusion? B. Earth remains warm enough for life to exist
A. Corn plants are planted in two types of soil C. changing of seasons
using two containers, where both containers D. significant decrease in rainfall
have the normal amount of pesticide.
B. A rice plant and a corn plant are planted in 4. A cloud is a visible mass of liquiddroplets or
the same type of soil using two containers, frozen crystals, depending on its altitude, made
where one container has more pesticidethan of water or various chemicals suspended in the
the other. atmosphere above the surface of a planetary
C. Corn plants are planted in the same type of body. What kind of cloud has the highest
soil using three containers with different probability of precipitation?
types of pesticides. A. Cirrus
D. Corn plants are planted in the same type of B. Cumulus
soil using three containers, where the first C. Cumulonimbus
container has no pesticide, the second has D. Cirro-cumulus
the normal amount of pesticide, and the
third has pesticide more than the normal. 5. Weathering is the process that changes solid rock
into sediments. With weathering, rock is
2. The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo caused widespread
disintegrated. It breaks into pieces. However,
destruction and loss of human life. Gases and
rocks on the moon are not being weathered.
solids injected into the stratosphere circled the
Which of the following is the reason for this?
globe for three weeks. Volcanic eruptions of this
A. There is no atmosphere on the moon.
magnitude can impact global climate, reducing
B. There is no water on the moon.
the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's
C. There is no volcano on the moon.
surface, lowering temperatures in the
D. The gravity on the moon is very small.
troposphere, and changing atmospheric
6. The solidification of molten rock from inside or
circulation patterns. Which of the following was
outside the earth causes the formation of
an effect of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption?
igneous rocks. These rocks are characterized by
A. an increase of the Earth’s temperature by 2˚C
the presence of large or small crystals,
B. massive global warming
depending on the rate of cooling of the rocks.
C. El niño phenomenon
Granite is an intrusive igneous rock that cooled
D. lowered global temperature by 0.5˚
beneath the earth’s crust, and has large crystals.
3. The trapping of heat by carbon dioxide and water
What is the most probable reason for this?
vapor in the atmosphere is called greenhouse
A. Extreme pressures at the bottom create
effect. Clouds increase the greenhouse effect by
larger crystals.
absorbing some of the infrared radiation that
B. Gravity causes the heavier crystals to collect
would normally be lost into space. Without
at the bottom of intrusive igneous rocks.
greenhouse effect, sunlight would warm the

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C. Hotter temperatures act as a catalyst to B. under ocean currents

increase the rate of crystal formation in C. the ocean floor is spreading
intrusive igneous rocks. D. ocean ridges is the area of subsidence
D. Hotter temperatures beneath the earth’s
crust decrease the cooling rate, allowing 10. Which inference is false about the following rock
more time to grow larger crystals. cross section?

7. Refer to the diagram below.

A. Rock layer A is the youngest.

B. Rock layer G is formed before the fault.
Which of the following is TRUE?
C. Rock layer H is an intrusive rock.
I. Path A is uplift, weathering, erosion, deposition
D. Rock layer E is older than rock D.
II. Path B is heating and crystallization.
11. Which diagram best models the movement of
III. Heat and pressure are responsible for path C.
coastal air during the day?
A. I and II only
B. I and III only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
8. Fossils of animals that lived in land can be found
in horizontal sedimentary rock layers at ocean
depths. How most earth scientists interpreted
this fact?
A. Land animals cannot live in ocean.
B. Animals that lived in deep water evolved
from species that once lived in land.
C. Dead land animals were carried onto the
ocean.
D. Portion of the Earth’s crust have changed
their elevation relative to sea level.

9. A mid-ocean ridge is an underwater mountain

system that consists of various mountain ranges,
typically having a valley known as a rift running
along its spine, formed by divergent plate
tectonics. One of the famous mid-ocean ridges is
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge slicing through the center
of Iceland. Which of the following causes this 12. The
formation? diagram below
A. volcanic eruptions shows the
relative positions of the Sun, the Moon, and Earth

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when an eclipse is observed from Earth. Positions B. Rocks on Earth are much older than those on
A and B are locations on Earth’s surface. the moon.
C. Rocks on Earth are about the same age as
rocks on the moon.
D. Moon rocks do not have age.

16. The trapping of heat by carbon dioxide and water

vapor in the atmosphere is called greenhouse
Which of the following is correct based on the
given diagram? effect. Clouds increase the greenhouse effect by
A. A lunar eclipse is observed from position A. absorbing some of the infrared radiation that
B. A lunar eclipse is observed from position B. would normally be lost into space. Without
C. A solar eclipse is observed from position greenhouse effect, sunlight would warm the
A. ground to only about -10 ° C. What is a good
result of balanced greenhouse effect?
D. A solar eclipse is observed from position
B. A. Greenhouse effect is not good at all.
B. Earth remains warm enough for life to exist.
13. On March 11, 2011, an earthquake measuring C. There is enough rainfall for the entire year.
9.0 on Richter scale triggered a tsunami that D. There is changing of seasons.
devasted parts of coastal Japan. The tremors
were the result of a violent uplift of the seafloor 17. Flooding frequently happens in the Philippines. It
80 miles off the coast of Japan, where the Pacific may occur due to an accumulation of rainwater
tectonic plate slides beneath the plate where on saturated ground. This can threaten several
Japan sits on. What type of plate boundary lives, properties and even livestock. If there is a
caused this earthquake? flood, what characteristics of soil would make the
A. convergent plate boundary situation of flooding worse within the affected
B. divergent plate boundary area?
C. transformational plate boundary A. high porosity and high permeability
D. insufficient information B. high porosity and low permeability
C. low porosity and high permeability
14. A cloud is a visible mass of liquiddroplets or D. low porosity and low permeability

frozen crystals, depending on its altitude, made

18. The term cave is given to a naturally formed
of water or various chemicals suspended in the underground cavity. Caves are geological
atmosphere above the surface of a planetary
features and form in a variety of ways. The most
body. What kind of cloud has the highest common caves are solutional caves, often called
probability of precipitation? limestone caves for the common type of soluble
A. Cirrus rock in which they form. How do most limestone
B. Cumulus caves form?
C. Cumulonimbus A. dissolution of soluble rocks
D. Cirro-cumulus B. animal burrowing
C. quarrying of sand
15. Rock and dust samples brought back from the D. increase of sea water wave contact to the
Moon by the Apollo missions in the 1980s were limestones
more similar to Earth’s mantle than to meteorites
that struck the Earth. Which of the following 19. The surface of Venus is much hotter than the
statements is true about Earth’s tock and moon’s surface here on Earth, considering its distance
rock? from the Sun. What is the main reason for this
A. Rocks on Earth are much younger than those fact?
on the moon. A. It has many active volcanoes.

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B. It rotates slowly. C. 25%

C. It has thicker clouds. D. cannot be determined
D. Its atmosphere is composed of 96.5% CO2.
24. Refer to the diagram below.
20. If a river is flowing toward the hanging wall, how
would the river change during a normal fault
movement?
A. The river would possibly be dammed up,
until it finds a new pathway.
B. A waterfall would possibly be formed.
C. The river would change course.
D. The river would likely follow the fault.

21. The box diagram below shows the blood flow

through the human heart.

If B is blocked, what would happen?

A. Both sensation and movement are intact.
B. Sensation is intact but movement is
compromised.
C. Movement is intact but sensation is
compromised.
D. Both sensation and movement are
compromised.

Why does blood passes through the lungs before 25. Flowers are the reproductive organs of
it is distributed to the other parts of the body? angiosperms. These organs have various parts
A. To release the carbon dioxide by exhaling that fall under three groups: (1) male parts, (2)
B. To absorb the nutrients inside the lungs female parts and (3) accessory parts. Depending
C. To get oxygen for distribution to other parts on the present structures, a flower may be
of the body categorized as complete, incomplete, perfect or
D. To bring nutrients from the heart into the imperfect. Which of the following lists of parts
lungs describes a perfect flower but not a complete
22. Which event in meiosis is responsible for genetic flower?
diversity by allowing genes from parent to A. Pistil, stamen and accessory parts
rearrange? B. Pistil and accessory parts only
A. Condensation of chromatin to chromosome C. Stamen and accessory parts only
B. Crossing over of chromatids D. Pistil and stamen only
C. Lining up of chromosomes on the equatorial
plate 26. Which of the following statements is/are TRUE
D. Moving of chromosomes to the opposite regarding the properties of nucleic acids?
poles of cell A. All nucleic acids are double stranded.
B. All nucleic acids have Adenine, Guanine,
23. A woman is a carrier of a sex-linked trait marries Cytosine and Thymine.
a normal man. What is the probability that their C. All nucleic acids are made up of nucleotides.
first-born son would have the disease? D. All nucleic acids have a deoxyribose residue.
A. 100%
B. 50%

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27. Which insects have two pairs of wings covered

with protective scales and sucking mouthparts?
They belong to order Lepidoptera.
A. mosquito and fly
B. butterfly and dragonfly A. 1/2
C. butterfly and moth B. 1/4
D. flea and wasp C. 3/4
D. 1
28. In snapdragons, red flowers represent the RR 31. Tadpoles have longer intestines compared with
genotype while white flowers represent the rr frogs. Based on the function of intestines, which
genotype. Upon breeding red and white flowers, of the following statements best explains this
the offsprings were neither red nor white, instead observation?
they were pink. What mode of inheritance is A. Tadpoles feed on plant material that contains
exhibited by the snapdragons? cell wall, thus requiring a longer digestion
A. Codominance time.
B. Dominance B. Tadpoles still have inactive digestive
C. Incomplete Dominance enzymes, thus they compensate by having
D. Sex-influenced longer intestines.
29. The diagram below shows the geological ranges C. The observation is purely coincidental.
and relative abundances (width of the shaded D. The observation offers no advantage to
area) for the major groups of animals. Based on either the tadpole or the frog.
the diagram, in which era were the jellyfish and
starfish most abundant? 32. Assuming that complete dominance is followed,
which of the following genotypes has the same
phenotype as QQRrssTt?
A. AABbccDd
B. QqRRssTT
C. Qqrrsstt
D. QQRrSsTt

33. Professor Geller wanted to demonstrate the role

of osmosis in plant cells. He placed the cells in a
solution that is hypertonic to the cells. The
A. Cretaceous solution contains red microscopic dye particles.
B. Cenozoic Which of the following could be a possible result
C. Mesozoic of Professor Geller’s demonstration?
D. Paleozoic A. Plant cells decrease in size (flaccid), and the
solution will have a lighter color.
30. In the given pedigree below, shaded are tall and B. Plant cells increase in size (turgid), and the
unshaded are short where tall trait is dominant solution will remain the same color.
over short. What is the probability of obtaining a C. Plant cells maintain their size, and the
short off-spring, if individuals 1 and 2 try to solution will become darker.
reproduce once more? D. Plant cells will burst, causing the solution to
reduce its color.

34. Taxonomy is the study of identifying and

classifying organisms into groups based on the
characteristics an organism shares with others of

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its same kind. Domain is the most general

taxonomic classification of organisms. Cell
structure and genetics are two primary criteria
used to classify organisms within domains. Which
taxonomic domain includes multicellular and
photosynthetic organisms?
A. Archaea
B. Bacteria
C. Protista
D. Eukarya

35. To produce an offspring, one sperm cell and one

egg cell have to join together. They merge
together to make one cell called zygote. Only one
39. Which statement concerning the phase diagram
sperm cell can enter the egg cell because ______.
below is INCORRECT?
A. the egg cell hardens the outer membrane
B. the sperm cells fight off one another
C. the other sperm cells are not volatile enough
D. the size of the egg cell is only enough for
one sperm cell

36. Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 hours. How much

of a 24 g sample would remain after one day?
A. 0 g
B. 1 g
C. 2 g
A. Only the solid phase exists at point A.
D. 3 g
B. At point D, the triple point, all three phases
37. A container weighs 90 g when empty and 110 g (gas, liquid, and solid) are in equilibrium.
when fully filled with water. The density of water C. Moving from point A to B results in a phase
is 1.0 g/mL. When the container is filled instead transition from solid to liquid.
with liquid X, it weighs 140 g. What is the density D. At point C, the solid and liquid phases are in
of liquid X? equilibrium.
A. 0.80 g/mL
B. 1.4 g/mL 40. Which Lewis electron-dot diagram represents a
C. 2.5 g/mL molecule having a nonpolar covalent bond?
D. 3.0 g/mL
38. Which of the following consists of the most
number of molecules? The atomic masses of O,
N, and H are 16 g, 14 g, and 1 g, respectively.
A. 32 g O2
B. 28 g N2
C. 18 g water
D. 4 g H2

41. Consider the following gaseous sample in a

cylinder with movable piston. Initially, there are n
moles of gas at a temperature T, pressure P and
volume V.

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hydroxide. The pH of the resulting mixture was

recorded as nitric acid was added. The graph
below shows the result of the experiment.
Which is the correct representation if the
pressure exerted on the piston is tripled at
constant n and T ?

What substance was present in the mixture in the

conical flask when pH level is equal to 7?
A. Nitric acid
B. Sodium hydroxide
42. The table below shows the electronic C. Sodium nitrate
configurations of four hypothetical elements. D. Nitrous hydroxide
Element Electronic Configuration
M 2, 8
N 2, 8, 7
O 2, 8, 2
45. Dyes that are allowed in foods are given E
P 2, 4
numbers. Four such dyes commonly used in
ketchup are E120, E123, E125, and E172. The
Which of the following shows the correct formula
chromatogram shown was obtained from three
for a covalent compound formed from the given
ketchups A, B, and C. Ketchups are tested to
elements?
ensure all dyes used in making the ketchup are
A. MO
legal. If the ketchup contained E180, it is illegal.
B. PN4
C. ON2
D. O2P

43. Suppose a cold steel bar (at 10°C) and a hot iron
block (at 70°C) are placed inside the same room
at the same time. With time, the steel bar and the
iron block are brought to thermal equilibrium
with the room. The final temperature of the room
is 25°C. What are the final temperature of the
Which statement can be inferred to ketchup C?
steel bar and the iron block?
A. Ketchup C is illegal.
A. Steel bar (at 40°C), iron block (at 25°C)
B. Ketchup C contains E125.
B. Steel bar (at 25°C), iron block (at 40°C)
C. Ketchup C contains E125 and E123.
C. Steel bar (at 40°C), iron block (at 40°C)
D. Ketchup C contains all dyes found in Ketchup
D. Steel bar (at 25°C), iron block (at 25°C)
A.

44. In an experiment, 2.0 mol/dm3 of nitric acid

46. Based on the following periodic table, which two
from a burette was added to a conical flask
elements have a half-filled p orbital?
containing 25.0 cm3 of aqueous sodium

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49. What is the limiting reagent for the following

chemical reaction if 24 grams of hydrogen and
48 grams of oxygen react to form water?
2H2 + O2 → 2H2O
A. Hydrogen
B. Oxygen
C. Water
D. This reaction has no limiting reagent.

50. What occurs when an atom gains an electron?

A. The atom’s radius decreases and the atom
becomes a negative ion.
B. The atom’s radius decreases and the atom
becomes a positive ion.
C. The atom’s radius increases and the atom
becomes a negative ion.
D. The atom’s radius increases and the atom
becomes a positive ion.
51. A physicist walks 8 m, 30°north of east, and then
4 m south. What is the displacement of the
A. Nitrogen and antimony physicist?
B. Iron and cobalt A. m, west
C. Barium and osmium B. m, west
D. Sodium and potassium C. m, east
D. m, east
47. Which statement about periodic table is NOT
true? 52. The table below shows the velocity of the car
A. Elements get more metallic on descending over a period of time.
group. Time (s) Velocity (m/s)
B. Elements in the same group have the same 0 0
number of valence electrons. 1 2.5
C. From left to right across a period, there is an 2 5
increase in metallic property and a decrease
3 7.5
in non-metallic property.
4 10
D. The elements are arranged in order of
5 10
increasing proton number.
6 10
48. Which pair of elements shows an alpha decay?
Which of the following does not describe the
_______ → ________ + 24𝐻𝑒 motion of the car?
A. increasing speed then constant speed
A. 82207𝑃𝑏 𝑎𝑛𝑑 80203𝐻𝑔 B. 2.5 m/s2 acceleration then zero acceleration
C. constant acceleration then constant velocity
B. 511𝐵 𝑎𝑛𝑑 611𝐶
D. increasing acceleration then constant velocity
C. 92238𝑈 𝑎𝑛𝑑 90232𝑇ℎ
D. 2652𝐹𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 2652𝐹𝑒 53. Two forces are applied on the box. Which of the
following orientations would produce the
greatest acceleration of the box across the floor?
A. C.

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potential energy of the child with respect to the

ground when he reaches the top of the slide?
A. 225 J
B. 450 J
B. D. C. 2.2 kJ
D. 4.4 kJ

59. The figure below shows resistors connected in

54. A boy kicks a ball from the ground into the air at series and parallel. If the total resistance from A
an angle. Which is about to become zero as the to B is 6 Ω, find the resistance of R.
ball approaches back to the ground?
A. the ball’s velocity
B. the ball’s acceleration
C. the ball’s displacement
D. the ball’s vertical displacement
A. 1 Ω
55. If a girl weighs 392 N here on Earth, what would B. 2 Ω
be her weight on Mars?The acceleration due to C. 3 Ω
gravity on Mars is approximately 3.7 m/s2. D. 4 Ω
A. 392 N
B. 148 N
C. 185 N 60. The figure shows two identical
D. 244 N bulbs are connected in series to a
battery.
56. A thunder is heard after 3 seconds a lightning
flash. How far is the lightning flash? Take the
speed of sound to be 340 m/s.
A. 11.3 m
B. 680 m
C. 1.02 km
D. 1.5 km

57. Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of

substance to the density of water. Suppose the
specific gravity of liquid X is 1.2. Which of the
following will not float in liquid X?
A. Water
B. A 1000-cm3 object whose mass is 750 g
C. A solid object whose specific gravity is 0.9 How can you make bulb 1 glow brighter?
D. A liquid whose specific gravity is 1.3 A. omit CD and replace with EF
B. connect point E to B and point F to C
C. connect point E to A and point F to B
D. connect point E to B and point F to D

58. A 75.0-kg child climbs a 6.0-m long slide that is

inclined 30.0° with the horizontal. What is the

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