Primary 5 · Science · Systems: Cells
Systems: Cells questions for Primary 5 Science
10 questions to work through online, 2 of them written out the way the paper asks. Answer and you get the working straight away, then a score at the end. No sign-up, and you can retake it as often as you like.
- Reading a cell table
- Parts found in both
- What a part does
- Reasoning about a root cell
- Why cells matter
- Naming a part
- Applying the ideas
| Part of cell | X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|
| cell membrane | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| nucleus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| cell wall | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| chloroplast | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Same picture as the question above.
Answers and explanations for all 10 questions
Every answer with the reasoning behind it. Worth reading after you have tried the set — or on its own, if you are a parent marking it.
Based on the table above, which cells are most likely to be from an animal?
Answer: Y
Animal cells have a membrane and a nucleus but no cell wall and no chloroplasts. Y is the only column that fits.
Using the same table, which statement about Z is correct?
Answer: Z is a plant cell that cannot make food.
Z has a cell wall, so it is a plant cell, but it has no chloroplasts. Root cells are like this: no light reaches them, so they have no need to make food.
Which two parts are found in both plant and animal cells?
Answer: A and B only
Every cell has a membrane holding it together and a nucleus controlling it. Cell walls and chloroplasts belong to plant cells alone.
What is the job of the cell membrane?
Answer: to control what passes into and out of the cell
The membrane surrounds every cell and acts as a gatekeeper, letting some substances through and keeping others out.
What is the job of the chloroplast?
Answer: to trap light so the cell can make food
Chloroplasts contain the green colouring that traps light. That trapped light is what lets a plant cell make its own food.
A cell taken from a plant root has a cell wall but no chloroplasts. Which two statements explain this?
Answer: A and B only
The cell wall marks it as a plant cell. Chloroplasts would be useless underground, so root cells do not have them and are fed by the leaves instead.
Why are cells called the building blocks of living things?
Answer: Every living thing is made of one or more cells.
From a single-celled bacterium to a whale, every living thing is built from cells — which is why they are described as the building blocks of life.
This part is found in both plant and animal cells, and it controls all the activities of the cell. What is it called?
Answer: nucleus
The part that controls the cell's activities is the nucleus.
This part is found only in plant cells. It lies outside the membrane and gives the cell a fixed shape. What is it called?
Answer: cell wall
The rigid layer found only in plant cells is the cell wall.
A plant that has been left in a dark cupboard for a week is pale and floppy. Which cell part explains the pale colour?
Answer: the chloroplasts, which lose their green colouring without light
The green of a leaf comes from the colouring inside the chloroplasts. Without light the plant does not maintain it, so the leaves fade.