Examples of pisa test questions

Question 2: CATCHING THE KILLER 
S402Q02
The newspaper article says that, except for identical twins, there is only a 1 in 100 
million chance that two people will have the same DNA profile. 
Three students each gave an explanation of why there is such a variety of DNA. 
Gina
said that a person's DNA is made up at conception. It is not inherited. 
Anna
said that DNA can be altered by mutations to produce many different forms. 
Tom
said that each person gets a new mix of DNA as half comes from each parent. 
Which one or more of the students gave a correct explanation? 
A Gina 
only. 
B Anna and Tom, but not Gina. 
C Gina and Anna, but not Tom. 
D All three students. 
 
Photo of a blood sample as viewed through a microscope 
Cells float in a liquid called Plasma 
White blood cell (has a nucleus) 
Red blood cell (has no nucleus) 
Question 3: CATCHING THE KILLER 
S402Q03
DNA is to be extracted from a blood sample and from cheek scrapings. What is the 
reason why DNA will be found in both samples? 
A They are the only place where DNA can be found. 
B Both samples contain red blood cells. 
C Both samples contain cells with nuclei. 
D Both samples contain body fluids. 

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Question 4: CATCHING THE KILLER 
S402Q04
The police are asking all citizens of Smithville to have a cheek scraping taken for DNA 
analysis. Here is a list of proposed safeguards for the people involved in this 
procedure. 
Circle “Agree” or “Disagree” for each of these safeguards. 
Proposed safeguard 
Agree or Disagree? 
Any citizen with a cold should not give a sample. 
Agree / Disagree 
A new scraper should be used for each citizen. 
Agree / Disagree 
The blood pressure of each citizen should be measured. 
Agree / Disagree 
Nurses taking the samples should wear safety gloves. 
Agree / Disagree