Agricultural Sciences

How many papers make up the Grade 10 Agricultural Sciences end-of-year examination as CAPS sets it, and what is each worth?

Question 1 is Section A of a paper. How many marks is it worth, and how many marks does that leave for Section B?

Section B is Questions 2 to 4. How many marks does each of its questions carry, and what do they add up to?

Which sum gives the 150 marks of one paper, written in the order Question 1, then Questions 2, 3 and 4?

A learner scores 96 out of 150 in Paper 1 and 84 out of 150 in Paper 2. What is the total, and what percentage is that of the 300 marks?

According to CAPS, who sets and marks the Grade 10 end-of-year Agricultural Sciences papers?

The cover of your own paper prints a time that differs from the 2½ hours on this page. Which time do you plan by?

The two papers are 300 marks and the promotion mark is 400. What share of the promotion mark do the papers make, and what makes up the rest?

Which of these is NOT part of the 300 marks of the two end-of-year papers?

A friend says this page is the layout of every Grade 10 paper in the country. What is the best reply?

Which question of Paper 1 tests Animal Studies, and how many marks is it worth?

Question 3 of Paper 2 is on which content area?

In which paper and question do you find Agri-industry (Agricultural Economics)?

In the paper read, where do the cells and mitosis items sit?

Which pair of content areas is examined together in the same paper?

In the papers read, how many marks does the multiple-choice part 1.1 carry, and how is that made up?

How many marks is a ‘change the underlined word(s)’ item worth in Section A, and how many such items are there?

Which Section A item shows Column A with options lettered A to H, as in Paper 2?

A learner gets all of 1.1 and all of 1.3 right and nothing else in Section A. How many marks is that, and from where?

In Paper 1 part 1.2 a statement pair has A true and B true. What do you write, and what does the item earn?

What do the Section B questions in the papers read hang on?

A Section B item says ‘Name THREE’. How many marks is it worth, and how many points should you write?

‘Define’ items are worth 2 marks in the papers read. What does that tell you to write?

Each paper read has one 6-mark item that asks you to ‘draw or plot’. What is it?

In the Grade 10 papers this guide analysed, what is the longest written answer that they ask for?

CAPS sets 40% of a test or examination at knowledge level. How many marks of a 150-mark paper is that?

How many marks of a 150-mark paper are analysis, evaluation and synthesis at 20%?

Which Section B item sits at the highest of the three thinking levels?

Which topic carries the most planned marks (~) in the two papers?

Add the planned marks of the two heaviest Paper 1 topics, farm animals and cattle breeds (~36) and agri-industry (~31). What is that out of the 150 marks?

State how many papers Grade 10 Agricultural Sciences has, how many marks each paper carries, how many marks the papers carry in all, and the two sections of each paper.

1. Two papersthe number of papers
2. 150 marks each papermarks per paper
3. 300 marks in allthe total
4. Section A and Section Bthe two sections

There are two papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Each carries 150 marks. Together that is 300 marks. Each paper has Section A (Question 1, 45 marks) and Section B (Questions 2 to 4, 105 marks).

Explain why each planned mark per topic on this page carries a tilde (~).

1. It is a planned weight, not a printed markthe tilde means the figure is not exact
2. The marks were counted by hand from one paper onlywhere the figures come from
3. No memorandum was readthe limit of the source
4. Another paper may weight the topics differentlywhy it is not a promise

The tilde shows the figure is a planned weight, not a mark printed in a paper. The marks were counted by hand from one paper (North West, November 2024). No memorandum was read, so Section A items were given to topics by reading the stems. Another paper set by a school or province may weight the topics differently, so revise every topic.

Section B has three questions of 35 marks each. Calculate the marks of Section B, and then the percentage of a 150-mark paper that Section B makes.

1. M: 3 × 35 (or 35 + 35 + 35)the method for the section total
2. A: 105 marksthe section total
3. M: 105 ÷ 150 (a fraction of the paper, times 100)the percentage method
4. A: 70%the percentage

Section B = 3 × 35 (three questions of 35 marks). = 105 marks. Percentage of the paper = Section B ÷ 150 × 100. = 70%.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner how the Grade 10 Agricultural Sciences papers are built and who decides what they look like.

Explain to a friend why a tilde in front of a mark means you must still revise every topic.

Explain to someone starting Grade 10 how Section A and Section B are asked and how many marks each is worth.

All the baobab trees growing in one valley form a:

Baobabs, birds, insects and fungi living together in one valley form a:

Which statement about a biome is correct?

A learner writes: 'The cattle, grass and insects in a camp are a population.' Which correction is right?

Which list shows the three largest levels of organisation, smallest first?

The clay content of a farmer's lands is an example of a(n) ... factor.

Which abiotic factor is the height of a farm above sea level?

Frost on winter mornings is a ... factor.

A steep camp loses a lot of soil in heavy rain. Which factor is mainly responsible?

Which pair contains one climatic factor and one edaphic factor?

In a dam, tadpoles eat algae, snails eat reeds, small fish eat both tadpoles and snails, and a heron eats the small fish. Which organisms are the producers?

In the same dam, the small fish eat tadpoles and snails. The small fish are:

Bacteria in the same dam break down the dead remains of all the organisms. The bacteria are:

In the dam web, the heron eats the small fish, which ate tadpoles that ate algae. What kind of consumer is the heron?

Tadpoles and snails both eat only plants or algae. Why are they both called primary consumers?

A pyramid has 8 000 units of energy at the producers, and about one tenth passes to each next level. How many units reach the secondary consumers?

All the small fish are removed from the dam. What is the most likely effect on the tadpoles and snails they ate?

Which statement about energy in a food pyramid is correct?

Which food chain is correctly written?

The primary consumers of a camp hold 1 500 units of energy. About how many units were in the producers, if about one tenth passes on?

Which process in the water cycle changes water vapour into clouds?

Water that flows over the land into rivers, instead of soaking in, is called:

Decomposers change the proteins in dead remains into ammonium. In the nitrogen cycle this step is called:

Which sentence about the carbon cycle is correct?

Which practice would increase run-off the most?

Mistletoe grows on a thorn tree and takes sap from it. This interaction is:

A weaver bird builds its nest in a tree, and the tree is not affected. This interaction is:

Cattle and sheep graze on one small piece of veld with little grass. This interaction is:

A caracal kills a lamb. Which statement names the interaction correctly?

Legume roots house bacteria that fix nitrogen, and the plant feeds the bacteria. Which statement is correct?

A farm leaves the stalks of the last crop on the land and ploughs as little as possible. This is ... farming.

Which description fits game farming?

Which practice belongs to organic farming?

Which practice belongs to biological pest control?

Integrated farming combines crops and livestock so that the waste of one feeds the other. It is an example of:

In a dam, tadpoles eat algae, snails eat reeds, small fish eat the tadpoles and snails, and a heron eats the small fish.
(a) Name TWO primary consumers in the dam. (2)
(b) Explain why the number of small fish is likely to increase if all the herons die. (1)

1. fact-tick: tadpoles named as a primary consumerTadpoles eat the algae.
2. fact-tick: snails named as a primary consumerSnails eat the reeds.
3. fact-plus-explanation: the herons no longer eat the fish, so fewer fish are eatenWith no herons, fewer fish are eaten, so more of them survive.

Tadpoles are primary consumers. Snails are primary consumers. Without herons fewer fish are eaten, so the number of small fish increases.

Describe how water from a dam reaches the clouds and falls as rain on a farm. (4)

1. fact-plus-explanation: heat from the sun evaporates the water, changing it to vapourThe sun's heat evaporates the water into vapour.
2. fact-tick: the water vapour rises into the airThe warm vapour rises.
3. fact-plus-explanation: the vapour cools and condenses to form cloudsIn the cooler air the vapour condenses and forms clouds.
4. fact-tick: water falls as rain (precipitation)Water falls as rain on the farm.

The heat of the sun evaporates the water, so it changes into water vapour. The vapour rises into the air. High up the vapour cools and condenses to form clouds. The water falls from the clouds as rain, which is precipitation.

On a farm a weaver bird builds its nest in a tree and the tree is not affected. In the same land, weeds and maize seedlings use the same water.
(a) Name the interaction between the bird and the tree and say how the tree is affected. (2)
(b) Name the interaction between the weeds and the maize and say how they are affected. (2)

1. fact-tick: the bird and the tree are in commensalismOne organism benefits.
2. fact-tick: the tree is not affectedThe tree is neither helped nor harmed.
3. fact-tick: the weeds and the maize are in competitionThey use the same limited water.
4. fact-plus-explanation: both are harmed because they get less waterEach gets less water, so both lose out.

The interaction is commensalism. The tree is not affected. The interaction is competition. Both are harmed, because each gets less water.

Explain how conservation farming protects the soil and the water on a farm. (4)

1. fact-tick: the soil is disturbed as little as possible (minimum or no-till)Ploughing is kept to a minimum.
2. fact-plus-explanation: crop residue or mulch keeps the soil coveredA layer of residue or mulch covers the soil.
3. fact-plus-explanation: the cover slows run-off and reduces erosionThe cover slows the water, so there is less run-off and erosion.
4. fact-plus-explanation: water soaks in and stays in the soil, and crop rotation keeps the soil fertileMore water soaks in and is kept in the soil, and rotating crops keeps it fertile.

The soil is ploughed as little as possible, which is minimum or no-till farming. Crop residue or mulch is left on the land, so the soil stays covered. The cover slows the water down, so there is less run-off and less erosion. More water soaks in and stays in the soil, and crop rotation keeps the soil fertile.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner how to tell a population from a community, using the animals and plants of a dam.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner how the sun's heat makes rain fall on a farm.

Explain to a Grade 8 learner the difference between a parasite and a predator, with a farm example of each.