Practical 3 report
The assessment for practical 3 is a written report in the format of extended answer questions. There
are 3 questions in this report and each student should answer all 3 questions.
Answers are expected to conform to the scientific writing guidelines on the Moodle page, including
all citations (in-text and reference list) to be in the CSIRO referencing format.
Guidelines on word count, submission, and getting-started hints can be found in the ‘Practical 3
Assessment Overview and Instructions’ document on Moodle. Students should ensure they read this
document before beginning their report.

1. You have performed an experiment (your practical 3, Metabolism experiment). You wish
to tell your scientist friend about this experiment so they can replicate it exactly. Write a
methods section for this practical.
This methods section should be brief. Do not write lists of materials and do not write
methods in point or numbered form – write sentences. You must describe how the activity
of amylase was calculated in the germinating barley (section 2g). Describe the steps
involved using words, not calculations. The methods should also explain (i) why a boiled
control was used in 2f, and (ii) how you would correct the value of amylase activity for any of
the stages if an achromic point had been reached for this control experiment.
(Recommended word length 250-350 words).
2. Your friend has performed the experiment and collected the data below. From this data,
calculate the amylase activity of the germinating barley (3-day old seedlings), showing all
steps of your working. (No part of this answer counts towards to word limit)

Weight
Volume
Time to achromic point

0 Days
0.447g
8.5ml
NA

3 Days
1.083g
8.3ml
12.43 minutes

7 Days
1.988g
8.5ml
17.25 minutes

3. A) One of the aims of this experiment was to ‘interpret results in terms of the metabolic
role of amylase during plant development’; how well do you think this experiment fulfilled
this aim? Explain your answer, including at least one strength and one weakness in the
experiment.
B) How would you improve this experiment to better align with the experimental aims?
(Recommended word length 550-560 words, split between A and B as you see fit).