Combined Science Paper 2 Specimen 2026

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1. Acarries blood capillaries, which absorb the dust straight out of the passing air
2. Bcarries rings of cartilage, which sieve the dust out of the air as it goes past
3. Ccarries muscle fibres, which squeeze the dust out through the wall of the tube
4. Dcarries cilia and mucus, which trap dust and sweep it back up away from the lungs

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1. Alet oxygen pass into the blood and carbon dioxide pass out of it
2. Bforce air in and out of the chest as the ribs rise and fall
3. Cwarm and moisten the air on its way down towards the lungs below
4. Dtrap the dust and germs that are carried in the inhaled air

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1. Asample of limewater shaken in the tube turns milky white
2. Bdamp red litmus paper held in the tube turns blue at once
3. Cglowing splint held in the tube relights and burns brightly
4. Dlighted splint held in the tube burns with a squeaky pop

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1. Afusion of a male nucleus with an egg cell in an ovule
2. Bgrowth of a pollen tube down a style into an ovary
3. Cripening of an ovary into a fruit that holds seeds
4. Dtransfer of pollen grains from an anther to a stigma

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1. Across pollination, because the pollen has reached a different flower
2. Bself pollination, because both of the flowers are of the same species
3. Cwind pollination, because the pollen has travelled through air
4. Dartificial pollination, because an outside agent has moved it

1. Athe bean plants take up the chemical, so they grow taller and yield more
2. Bbees that visit the flowers are killed, so pollination and pod set fall
3. Cthe crop flowers for a longer period, so more pods are set per plant
4. Dthe flowers are fertilised sooner, so the pods ripen ahead of season

1. Aa pollen tube grows down the style and a male nucleus fuses with the egg cell in the ovule
2. Bthe stigma takes in the whole pollen grain and carries it down to the ovary unchanged
3. Cthe sepals fold over the ovary and press the pollen against it until the ovary swells
4. Dthe anther splits open and sheds all of its pollen grains onto the petals of the same flower

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1. Awater and oxygen
2. Bwater and nitrogen
3. Csunlight and oxygen
4. Dsunlight and nitrogen

1. Awash the hoes each evening before they are put back in the shade
2. Bwater the floor of the shade each day so that the tools are kept cooler
3. Cstack the hoes tightly together so that less of each blade shows
4. Dopen the shade up so that air moves through it and the tools stay dry

1. Ais harder than iron and is not scratched by the soil, so the water in the soil is held away from the metal underneath it
2. Bkeeps air and water off the iron and, being more reactive, corrodes in its place where the coating is scratched
3. Creacts with the water in the soil to make a waterproof oil that seals the whole surface of the blade
4. Dis less reactive than iron and draws the oxygen away from the surface before it can attack the metal

1. Ait makes the blade so soft that it bends in hard ground
2. Bit leaves the blade unable to hold a sharp cutting edge
3. Cit makes the hoe much heavier than a plain iron one is
4. Dit adds to the cost of making and buying the hoe

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1. Ahydrogen bonding, a weak pull between separate molecules
2. Bcovalent, a pair of electrons shared between the two atoms
3. Cionic, an electron passed from one of the atoms to the other
4. Dmetallic, a sea of free electrons among the positive ions

1. Amanufacture of ammonia in the Haber process
2. Bmanufacture of quicklime by heating limestone hard
3. Cmanufacture of sulphuric acid in the Contact process
4. Dextraction of aluminium by electrolysis of its ore

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1. Acapacity, or ability, to do work
2. Brate at which work is being done
3. Cpush or pull acting upon a body
4. Dforce needed to move an object

1. Avibrates and sets the particles of the medium around it vibrating too
2. Bis heated so that its own particles move faster and spread further
3. Cis struck so that light waves spread out from it in all directions
4. Dis moved steadily in a straight line at a constant speed for a while

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1. Athe sound leaves the jar as a radio wave and is turned back into sound again by the outer ear of the listener
2. Bthe vibrating speaker makes the air particles vibrate, and the vibration is passed on from particle to particle and through the glass
3. Cthe sound travels fastest through the empty spaces that lie between the air particles inside the sealed glass jar
4. Dthe glass of the jar is warmed by the ringing speaker and then makes a fresh sound of its own on its outer surface

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1. Asound travels so slowly through a vacuum that it arrives far too late
2. Bsound needs the particles of a medium to travel, and a vacuum has none
3. Cthe glass of the jar reflects all of the sound back into the vacuum
4. Da vacuum absorbs the energy of the sound before it reaches the glass

1. Atranslating of information from one language into another before it is passed on to a reader
2. Bsending and receiving of information over a distance using electrical or electromagnetic signals
3. Cstoring of information inside a computer so that it can be looked at again at some much later date
4. Dprinting of information onto sheets of paper so that it can be carried from place to place

1. Aradio broadcasting and the cellphone network
2. Bthe church bell and the hand whistle
3. Cthe kudu horn and the message drum
4. Dsmoke signals and a runner carrying a written note

1. Aboth transmits and receives signals
2. Breceives signals but cannot transmit
3. Cstores signals until they are needed
4. Dtransmits signals but cannot receive

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1. Achanged into a radio wave that is guided along the outside of the cladding
2. Bcarried as an electric current that flows through the glass core like a wire
3. Cchanged into pulses of light that are totally internally reflected along the core
4. Dchanged into pulses of sound that echo from one end of the glass core to the other

1. Aglucose + water gives carbon dioxide + oxygen
2. Bglucose + oxygen gives carbon dioxide + water
3. Ccarbon dioxide + water gives glucose + oxygen
4. Dcarbon dioxide + oxygen gives glucose + water

1. Aglucose for carrying water upwards, and oxygen for absorbing more light
2. Bglucose for making chlorophyll, and oxygen for opening the stomata wide
3. Cglucose for support in the stem, and oxygen for cooling the whole leaf surface
4. Dglucose for respiration or for storage as starch, and oxygen for respiration

1. Agives a large surface area over which light can be absorbed
2. Bgives a short distance for water to climb up from the roots
3. Cgives a thick store in which starch can be kept until night
4. Dgives a stiff frame that holds the stem upright in a strong wind

1. Athe water in them evaporates first and cools the whole leaf on a hot afternoon
2. Bthe air in them dissolves first and carries oxygen to the cells beneath
3. Cthe starch in them forms first and is stored where it is reached quickly
4. Dthe chlorophyll in them meets the light first and absorbs the energy needed

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1. Athe stoma of a leaf
2. Bthe anther of a flower
3. Cthe bulb of an onion
4. Dthe root hair of a seedling

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1. Athe lining of the uterus breaks down then and is lost as menstruation
2. Bthe level of every hormone falls then and the woman is at her weakest
3. Cthe ovum is released then, so it is available for a sperm to fertilise
4. Dthe ovum has already died then and the uterus is building a new lining

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1. Athe ovum travels backwards down the oviduct on those days and meets the sperms much earlier
2. Ba second ovum is always released on about day 11 of the cycle, as well as the one released on about day 14
3. Csperms can stay alive in the female tract for three to five days, so they are still living at ovulation
4. Dthe lining of the uterus is at its thinnest on those days and cannot hold any sperms back at all

1. Ait works just as well when a woman's monthly cycle is quite irregular
2. Bit needs no record of the dates of the cycle to be kept by the couple
3. Cit costs nothing and uses no drugs, so it has no side effects on the body
4. Dit protects both partners against sexually transmitted infections and HIV

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1. Astops the ovary from releasing an ovum during that month at all
2. Bcollects the semen, so that sperms are not left in the vagina
3. Cthickens the lining of the uterus so a zygote cannot sink into it
4. Dkills the ovum in the oviduct before a sperm can reach it there

1. Amakes an irregular monthly cycle become regular again after a few months of use
2. Breduces the risk of passing on sexually transmitted infections, including HIV
3. Craises the chance of having twins when the couple later decide on a child
4. Dshortens the time a woman takes to conceive once its use has been stopped

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Answer this when you sit the paper.

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1. Adraining or filling in the standing water in which the eggs are laid
2. Bspraying the inside walls of the houses with a residual insecticide
3. Csleeping under an insecticide treated net right through the wet season
4. Dtaking a course of anti malarial tablets before travelling to the area

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1. Apouring a thin film of oil over the surface of every stagnant pool
2. Bstocking the ponds and dams of the area with larvae eating fish
3. Cclearing the weeds that grow along the edges of the still water
4. Dspraying the inside walls of the houses with a residual insecticide

1. Ableeding gums, and loosening of the front teeth
2. Ba high fever with chills, and a severe headache
3. Cnight blindness, and dry scaly patches on the skin
4. Da swollen neck, and a rash across the chest

1. Athe mosquitoes eat the crops in the fields, so the harvest is far smaller than it should be
2. Bthe drugs used against it poison the wells, so the water of the area becomes unsafe to drink
3. Cthe parasite spreads into the cattle, so the herds have to be sold off at very low prices
4. Dpeople are too ill to work, so food production and income fall while money goes on treatment

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1. AA, because the liquid with the greater mass always reaches the condenser first
2. Bneither, because two liquids that mix always come over together as a mixture
3. CA, because its higher boiling point makes it rise up through the column much faster
4. DB, because its lower boiling point lets it vaporise and pass over the column first

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1. Athe water runs straight through under gravity and leaves before it has time to take up any heat at all
2. Bthe warm water gathers at the bottom of the jacket, where it can warm the vapour as it first enters the tube
3. Cthe water pressure pushes the vapour back up the column so that the mixture is distilled a second time
4. Dthe jacket fills right up from the bottom and the water flows against the vapour, keeping the whole tube cold

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1. Apurification of drinking water, where beds of sand and gravel trap the solid matter carried in the water
2. Brefining of crude oil, where the fractions separate at different heights of a tower according to their boiling ranges
3. Cextraction of iron from its ore, where the molten metal separates from the lighter molten slag and is tapped from the base of a blast furnace
4. Dmanufacture of cement, where limestone and clay are roasted together inside a long slowly rotating kiln

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1. AB and D, since each has an even number of electrons in all
2. BA and E, since each has one electron in its outermost shell
3. CC and F, since each has a completely full outermost shell
4. DA and B, since each has its electrons in only two or three shells

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1. AC, since it needs one more electron to fill its outer shell and so gains one
2. BB, since its two outer electrons are enough to make the whole atom negative
3. CE, since it holds a single outer electron loosely and so takes in another
4. DF, since its outer shell is already full and so it pulls in a further one

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1. AA, since it carries only one electron beyond a filled inner shell of two
2. BD, since its six outer electrons are too many to lose and too few to gain
3. CF, since its outermost shell is completely filled with eight electrons
4. DB, since its two outer electrons are shielded by the eight in the shell below

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1. Acovalent: E and C share one pair of electrons between them, so that each of the two atoms reaches a full outer shell
2. Bionic: E gives up its outer electron to C, and the E plus and C minus ions then attract each other
3. Cmetallic: E and C pool their outer electrons into a sea that holds the ions together
4. Ddative: C supplies both of the shared electrons and E supplies an empty outer shell

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1. Aalkanols, whose members all carry an OH group
2. Balkanes, whose members carry only single bonds
3. Calkenes, whose members carry a double C to C bond
4. Dalkanoic acids, whose members carry a COOH group

1. Aas a fertiliser for supplying nitrogen to crops
2. Bas a solvent in inks, perfumes and medicines
3. Cas a refrigerant for cooling a deep freezer
4. Das a bleach for whitening cotton cloth

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1. Ahydrogen and carbon dioxide
2. Bcarbon dioxide and water
3. Ccarbon monoxide and water
4. Dcarbon and carbon dioxide

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1. Athe force added to the perpendicular distance from the pivot to its line of action
2. Bthe force divided by the perpendicular distance from the pivot across to its line of action
3. Cthe force multiplied by the length of time for which it acts on the body at all
4. Dthe force multiplied by the perpendicular distance from the pivot to its line of action

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1. Aadds weight to the nut, so the spanner must be held further from it
2. Bwidens the gap between the threads, so the nut turns without gripping
3. Craises the friction between the threads, so a bigger effort is needed
4. Dlowers the friction between the threads, so a smaller effort is needed

1. Acool the nut with water, and press down on the spanner nearer to the pivot
2. Btighten the nut a little first, and change to a shorter and stiffer spanner
3. Cwet the thread with water, and hold the spanner much closer to the nut than before
4. Doil the thread to cut the friction, and use a longer spanner for a bigger moment

1. Adrawing water from a well by bucket
2. Bdrying maize in the sun on a mat
3. Crunning an iron to press clothes
4. Dburning firewood to warm a room

1. Afuse fitted into the live pin of the plug
2. Bmagnet placed just behind the neutral pin
3. Ccapacitor joined across the two flat pins
4. Dcoil of wire wound about the earth pin

1. Astores the extra current until the appliance is ready to draw on it again
2. Bsends the extra current down the earth wire and into the ground beneath
3. Cslows the current down so that the appliance is warmed more gradually
4. Dmelts and breaks the circuit when the current rises above its rated value

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1. Acook with the pot lids off so that the food is ready in a much shorter time
2. Bkeep the fridge door standing open while cooking so the kitchen stays cool
3. Cfit energy saving bulbs and switch off the appliances that are not in use
4. Dleave the geyser switched on all day so that it does not have to heat up from cold

1. Acarburettor, the gearbox and the exhaust
2. Bcondenser, the boiler and the turbine
3. Ccontroller, the sensors and the actuators
4. Dtransformer, the fuse and the switch

1. Acrossing the rough ground of another planet to collect samples of soil
2. Bwelding the same joints on every car body that passes along the assembly line
3. Ccarrying parcels out from a warehouse to houses spread right across a whole town
4. Dsearching a collapsed building for survivors trapped beneath the rubble

1. Aalways the same as its own input, so a 1 in gives a 1 out and a 0 in gives a 0 out
2. Bhigh only when both of its two inputs happen to be high at the same instant
3. Calways the opposite of its input, so a 1 in gives a 0 out and a 0 in gives a 1 out
4. Dhigh only when at least one of its two inputs is high at that same instant

1. Aconstruction, then testing and evaluation, then design, then programming
2. Bdesign, then construction, then programming, then testing and evaluation
3. Cprogramming, then design, then testing and evaluation, then construction
4. Dtesting and evaluation, then programming, then design, then construction