| Date | May 2019 | Marks available | 1 | Reference code | 19M.1.HL:.tz0.37 |
| Level | Higher Level | Paper | Paper 1 | Time zone | time zone 0 |
| Command term | Question number | 37 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Identical twins, Carlos and Juan, have been undertaking the same aerobic training programme for four months. Carlos lives at sea level, Juan lives at an elevation of 1600 m. A blood test showed that Carlos had significantly lower levels of hemoglobin than Juan. What caused this difference?
A. Juan was more motivated than Carlos due to extrinsic feedback
B. Developmentally Carlos has inferior genetic makeup to Juan
C. Juan genetically has more fast-twitch fibres than Carlos
D. Environmental conditions have triggered greater gene expression in Juan than Carlos
Markscheme
D
Examiners report
Very low-difficulty question with a very poor discrimination index. Second easiest question on the paper. G2 comments suggested that there are multiple answers available for this question. However, D is the only accurate answer; the nature of multiple-choice questions is that there may be a number of possible answers.
