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Puneet wanted to grow… (Class 10 Science SQP 2025-26, Q16A)

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ScienceCBSE Class 10 · Sample paper, session 2025-26 · 5 marks · Long answer

CBSE Class 10 Science sample paper 2025-26: question 16(A)

From the official CBSE sample question paper for 2025-26, section A, question 16(A), for 5 marks. Try it first; the hints and our step-by-step solution are below.

Q16(A) · 5 marks · Long answerCompetency-basedHow do Organisms Reproduce?

Puneet wanted to grow banana plants.

  1. (i)

    Based on your knowledge on plant reproduction should he opt for seeds or any alternate method of reproduction. Justify your answer.

    2 marks
  2. (ii)

    Offsprings of a banana plant usually show very little variation. What causes variation and are variations good or bad? Justify.

    3 marks

Source: official sample paper from cbseacademic.nic.in (PDF). See it in the full Sample paper 2025-26.

Hints

Open one hint at a time and try again before the next.

Hint 1

Have you ever found seeds in the bananas you eat?

Hint 2

Variation comes from how DNA is copied. Think of one benefit and one drawback for a population.

Step-by-step solution

Each step shows the marks it earns, as an examiner would award them. Checked by an independent re-solve from the question paper.

  1. (i) Puneet should not use seeds. Cultivated banana plants have lost the capacity to produce seeds.

    1 mark

  2. (i) He should use vegetative propagation, growing new plants from parts of the parent such as the underground stem, suckers or stem cuttings. The new plants are also genetically like the parent and grow quickly.

    1 mark

  3. (ii) Cause of variation: DNA copying during reproduction is never completely accurate. Small errors or changes in DNA copying create variation. Sexual reproduction mixes DNA from two parents and so gives more variation. Banana offspring come from vegetative propagation, a form of asexual reproduction, so they show very little variation.

    1 mark

  4. (ii) Good: Variation helps a population survive. If the environment changes (heat, drought, disease), some variants may suit the new conditions and survive. The species is then not wiped out.

    1 mark

  5. (ii) Bad: Some variations are harmful. Desirable characters of the parent may be lost, a variant may not survive in its conditions, or drastic DNA changes may stop the cell's machinery from working properly. So variation is useful over long periods, but not every variation is beneficial.

    1 mark

Answer: (i) Not seeds (banana has lost the capacity to produce seeds); use vegetative propagation. (ii) Errors in DNA copying cause variation; it is good because it helps populations survive changing conditions, and bad because some variants lose desirable traits or cannot survive.

Where the marks are

  • Says seeds should not be used because banana does not produce seeds (1 mark)
  • Suggests vegetative propagation (1 mark)
  • Gives errors in DNA copying as the cause of variation (1 mark)
  • Justifies why variation is good: survival of the species in changed conditions (1 mark)
  • Justifies why variation can be bad: loss of desirable traits or variants unable to survive (1 mark)

Revise the chapter

Practise this chapterBoard-style questions from How do Organisms Reproduce?, one at a time, marked against the answer key and marking points.Back to the full paperSample paper 2025-26: every question, by section.

The question is transcribed from the official paper; figures are described in words. The solution, hints and chapter tag are ours. Spotted an error? Write tosupport@questionbuddy.in.