IMO Practice Test — The Living World
6 Questions • 15 min • Olympiad level
15:00
Question 1 of 6
Metabolic reactions carried out in a test tube (outside the body) are 'living reactions' but the test tube is not living. This shows that life is a property of:
The organised whole, not isolated reactions
Any chemical reaction
Only large organisms
Non-living matter
Explanation: Life emerges from the organised, interacting whole; isolated reactions in a tube are not 'living'.
Question 2 of 6
As we move up the taxonomic hierarchy from species to kingdom, the number of common characteristics:
Decreases while group size increases
Increases while group size decreases
Stays the same
Becomes zero
Explanation: Higher categories are larger and share fewer common features than lower ones.
Question 3 of 6
Why must scientific names be in a standardised form (italics, capital genus, small species) worldwide?
So that one universal name avoids the confusion of varied local names
To make them harder to read
Because Latin is the only language
To hide the organism's identity
Explanation: A single standardised binomial name is understood by scientists everywhere, unlike varied common names.
Question 4 of 6
A mule cannot reproduce, yet it is undoubtedly living. This is best explained by saying that:
Reproduction is characteristic but not a universal defining feature
Mules are non-living
Reproduction is the only sign of life
Mules have no metabolism
Explanation: Some living organisms do not reproduce, so reproduction is not an all-defining property; metabolism is.
Question 5 of 6
Two organisms placed in the same FAMILY but different GENERA will share:
Fewer common features than two in the same genus
More common features than two in the same genus
Exactly the same features
No relationship at all
Explanation: The lower the shared category, the more features in common; same-genus organisms share more than same-family ones.
Question 6 of 6
Which taxonomic aid would a botanist MOST likely use to compare a newly collected plant with previously identified, pressed specimens?
Herbarium
Zoological park
Aquarium
Planetarium
Explanation: A herbarium holds dried, mounted, identified plant specimens for comparison and reference.