WASSCE SHS
The cell is the smallest unit of a living thing that can carry out life processes. Plants and animals build their bodies from cells that are alike in some parts and different in others.
Both plant and animal cells have a cell membrane, cytoplasm and a nucleus. The membrane is partially permeable. It lets some substances through and blocks others, so the cell can take in useful materials and keep its contents. The cytoplasm is where many of the reactions of life happen. The nucleus controls the cell and carries the inherited material. These three parts are the ones to name first when a question says "features common to both".
A plant cell also has a cellulose cell wall, which gives a fixed shape and support, a large permanent vacuole full of cell sap, and, in green parts, chloroplasts that hold chlorophyll for photosynthesis. An animal cell has no cell wall, no chloroplast and only small temporary vacuoles. It may have an irregular shape. Do not say the wall replaces the membrane. A plant cell has both. The wall is outside the membrane.
Common features and differences are different lists. A chloroplast is not in every plant cell. It is in the green cells. Root cells have a wall and a vacuole and usually no chloroplast. "Partially permeable" is the membrane. The wall is freely permeable. Swapping those two words loses the mark.
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
5 marks
(a) Name three structures found in both a plant cell and an animal cell. (3 marks)
(b) State the function of the cell membrane. (2 marks)
(a) Cell membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus.
(b) It controls which substances enter and leave the cell. It is partially permeable.
4 marks
State two features of a typical plant cell that an animal cell does not have, and give the function of each. (4 marks)
A cellulose cell wall supports the cell and gives it a fixed shape. A chloroplast, in green cells, is where photosynthesis takes place.
2 marks
A student wrote that the cell wall is partially permeable and the cell membrane is freely permeable. Correct the statement. (2 marks)
The cell membrane is partially permeable. The cell wall is freely permeable. The student swapped them.
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
Practise Integrated Science freeA cell membrane, cytoplasm and a nucleus. The membrane controls what enters and leaves. The nucleus controls the cell. The cytoplasm is the site of many reactions.
No. Chloroplasts are in the green cells that photosynthesise, such as leaf cells. Root cells are not green. They have a wall and a vacuole, and they do not have chloroplasts. All WASSCE Integrated Science past questions