Lesson 4.6.2.2

4.6.2.2 Evolution Quiz: AQA Combined Science, Unit 6

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.6.2.2, Evolution: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA GCSE Combined Science (8464), Unit 6: Inheritance, variation and evolution, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. How is evolution defined in biological terms?

    • constant gene frequency
    • rapid individual growth
    • environmental adaptation only
    • inherited characteristic change

  2. Through which main process does evolution occur?

    • mitotic division
    • natural selection
    • selective breeding
    • genetic engineering

  3. How long ago did the simple life forms first develop on Earth?

    • over 3 million years
    • over 3 billion years
    • over 300 thousand years
    • over 300 billion years

  4. What defines when two populations of the same species have formed new species?

    • migrate apart
    • cannot interbreed
    • grow larger
    • change colour

  5. Which type of variants are always favoured by the process of natural selection?

    • strongest and fastest
    • largest and heaviest
    • brightest in colour
    • best suited to environment

  6. According to evolutionary theory, all living species evolved from what?

    • multicellular plants
    • simple life forms
    • complex mammals
    • single viral strains

  7. In evolution, which level of organisation is described as changing its inherited characteristics over time?

    • a population
    • a single cell
    • a single gene
    • an individual organism

  8. Which scientist is associated with the theory of evolution by natural selection?

    • Carl Woese
    • Charles Darwin
    • Carl Linnaeus
    • Niels Bohr

  9. Camouflaged moths becoming more common on soot-covered trees is an example of what?

    • artificial cloning
    • natural selection
    • selective breeding
    • genetic engineering

  10. What happens to a beneficial variant in a population over generations?

    • becomes extinct
    • turns into a mutation
    • remains unchanged
    • becomes more common

  11. What is the outcome when two split populations can no longer interbreed?

    • population fusion
    • hybrid vigour
    • increased variation
    • two new species

  12. Rising average antibiotic resistance in bacteria over generations is an example of what?

    • mitosis
    • evolution
    • osmosis
    • diffusion

  13. Fish size increasing because larger fish survive predators better is driven by what?

    • natural selection
    • environmental cloning
    • genetic modification
    • selective breeding

  14. Drought causing plants to develop thicker leaves over generations is caused by what?

    • genetic engineering
    • phenotypic plasticity
    • natural selection
    • artificial selection

  15. What has formed when two isolated flower populations can no longer produce fertile seeds?

    • sterile mutants
    • two new species
    • genetically identical clones
    • a single hybrid

  16. What process causes average shell thickness in a snail population to increase over generations?

    • selective breeding
    • acquired adaptation
    • genetic modification
    • natural selection

  17. What is the initial source of new phenotypes that drive evolution?

    • respiration
    • mitosis
    • mutation
    • fertilisation

  18. What must happen between two populations of a species before they form two separate new species?

    • grow larger
    • stop interbreeding
    • share mutations
    • increase migration

  19. Why is a change acquired during one individual's lifetime not considered evolution?

    • not inherited
    • artificial
    • always harmful
    • too rapid

  20. How does a plant species adapt to a new drought over many generations?

    • selective breeding
    • natural selection
    • genetic engineering
    • acclimatisation

All AQA Combined Science quizzes