| Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational Technical - GRADE HS BIOLOGY |
| ITEM INFORMATION | | PERCENT OF DISTRICT'S POSSIBLE POINTS |
| ITEM | TYPE | REPORTING CATEGORY | STANDARD | ITEM DESC | | POSSIBLE POINTS | NORTHEAST METROPOLITAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL | STATE | DISTRICT-STATE DIFFERENCE |
| 1 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.6 | Describe how an environmental change would most likely affect the survival of a species. | | 1 | 80% | 78% | 2 |
| 2 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.3 | Determine the percentage of offspring from a given cross that would be expected to inherit a particular trait. | | 1 | 51% | 52% | -1 |
| 3 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.2 | Interpret a model of crossing over and describe how crossing over increases genetic variation. | | 1 | 65% | 69% | -4 |
| 4 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.4 | Describe how bacterial reproduction and survival can result in an antibiotic becoming less effective over time. | | 1 | 42% | 58% | -16 |
| 5 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.4 | Identify an example of polygenic inheritance. | | 1 | 23% | 38% | -15 |
| 6 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.7 | Describe how a step in a model can be improved to more accurately describe how usable energy is produced by an athlete and identify a product of cellular respiration. | | 2 | 42% | 57% | -15 |
| 7 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.1 | Use evidence about the number of chromosomes in gametes and body cells to support a claim. | | 1 | 60% | 60% | 0 |
| 8 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.7 | Analyze the setup of an experiment to determine the purpose of the investigation about invasive species. | | 1 | 45% | 58% | -13 |
| 9 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.2 | Analyze a food web to determine how an increase in one population would affect another population. | | 1 | 40% | 47% | -7 |
| 10 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.6 | Identify which element is most abundant in a protein. | | 1 | 37% | 45% | -8 |
| 11 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.5 | Explain why closely related organisms may not produce fertile offspring in the wild. | | 1 | 54% | 67% | -13 |
| 12 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.2 | Describe how an inherited mutation most likely affects the functioning of the digestive system. | | 1 | 80% | 79% | 1 |
| 13 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.2 | Identify the type of cell that can pass a mutation from parent to offspring. | | 1 | 68% | 74% | -6 |
| 14 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.2 | Describe how an inherited mutation can affect the functioning of the respiratory system. | | 1 | 80% | 74% | 6 |
| 15 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.1 | Determine the mRNA sequence for a given DNA sequence and determine the missing amino acid of a protein produced as a result of a mutation. | | 2 | 49% | 55% | -6 |
| 16 | CR | HE | HS.LS.3.3 | Analyze a pedigree to determine the inheritance pattern for a condition, complete a Punnett square for a given cross, determine the probability of inheriting the condition, and explain how the probability was determined. | | 3 | 42% | 49% | -7 |
| 17 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.5 | Analyze a graph to compare the rates of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in an aquatic ecosystem. | | 1 | 37% | 43% | -6 |
| 18 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.1 | Complete a cladogram showing the relatedness between species based on DNA evidence. | | 1 | 26% | 37% | -11 |
| 19 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.5 | Determine two changes that would improve a carbon cycle model. | | 1 | 49% | 56% | -7 |
| 20 | CR | MO | HS.LS.1.4 | Describe events of interphase, explain why mitosis must occur before cytokinesis, and explain the effect on the human body if a person's cells stopped going through mitosis and cytokinesis. | | 4 | 18% | 29% | -11 |
| 21 | CR | EV | HS.LS.4.2 | Determine a genotype for a trait based on an inheritance pattern, describe the expected allele frequencies in a population, and explain how changes in allele frequencies can be a result of natural selection. | | 4 | 32% | 41% | -9 |
| 22 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.2 | Determine the type of symbiotic relationship between two species. | | 1 | 75% | 69% | 6 |
| 23 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.2 | Identify changes that would result in an increase in the size of a population. | | 1 | 57% | 63% | -6 |
| 24 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.1 | Determine the cell part most responsible for protein synthesis. | | 1 | 54% | 59% | -5 |
| 25 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.4 | Identify whether a characteristic of an animal is most directly caused by genetic factors or environmental factors, and determine whether the animal's phenotype and genotype change or stay the same. | | 2 | 86% | 88% | -2 |
| 26 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.2 | Determine how a particular mutation would be expected to affect the function of the resulting protein. | | 1 | 52% | 55% | -3 |
| 27 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.5 | Identify an example of speciation due to geographic isolation. | | 1 | 43% | 58% | -15 |
| 28 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.3 | Determine the expected percentage of offspring with a certain phenotype for a given cross. | | 1 | 35% | 50% | -15 |
| 29 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.2 | Describe the interaction between the liver and the circulatory system. | | 1 | 45% | 53% | -8 |
| 30 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.7 | Describe the impact of an invasive plant species in an ecosystem. | | 1 | 62% | 64% | -2 |
| 31 | SR | EC | HS.LS.2.1 | Identify an environmental change that would most likely increase the carrying capacity for a given population. | | 1 | 55% | 64% | -9 |
| 32 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.1 | Use a model to show the process of meiosis and fertilization. | | 1 | 58% | 62% | -4 |
| 33 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.1 | Determine the type of evidence that best supports a claim about the relatedness of two species. | | 1 | 69% | 72% | -3 |
| 34 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.2 | Explain why one species may be better able to survive a disease outbreak than another species. | | 1 | 71% | 70% | 1 |
| 35 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.7 | Identify the process that produces energy for cell growth. | | 1 | 34% | 45% | -11 |
| 36 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.3 | Determine whether substances would be expected to move into or out of cells based on their concentration gradients, and describe how cell membranes help to maintain homeostasis. | | 2 | 66% | 66% | 0 |
| 37 | CR | EC | HS.LS.2.4 | Identify the ecological role of an organism in an ecosystem, analyze a food web to determine how an increase in one population would affect another population, and explain why producers have the most available energy in an ecosystem. | | 3 | 45% | 54% | -9 |
| 38 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.1 | Explain why a human infant is genetically similar to, but not identical to, its mother. | | 1 | 68% | 70% | -2 |
| 39 | SR | MO | HS.LS.1.6 | Identify the monomers that make up an organic macromolecule. | | 1 | 37% | 37% | 0 |
| 40 | SR | HE | HS.LS.3.3 | Analyze phenotypic data for several genetic crosses to determine the cross that would produce the most heterozygous offspring. | | 1 | 42% | 51% | -9 |
| 41 | SR | EV | HS.LS.4.4 | Determine the cause of the rapid spread of a virus and explain how new types of viruses can develop. | | 2 | 32% | 40% | -8 |
| 42 | CR | MO | HS.LS.1.5 | Determine that photosynthesis is a process performed only by plants and that cellular respiration is a process performed by both plants and animals; analyze data to determine whether flasks in an experiment contain plants, animals, or both and explain the reasoning. | | 4 | 38% | 44% | -6 |
Massachusetts 
