Grade 6 Science · First Term Exam
Four stations, four living systems. At each one you look closely, take a field note you can actually remember, then prove you saw it. The exam is written in the same order as this page.
Station 01
Heart · Blood · Blood Vessels — pp. 49–55
Your heart will beat about 100,000 times today and you will not notice one of them. Five liters of blood, one closed loop, no beginning and no end. So where exactly does the blood turn around?
The circulatory system — also called the cardiovascular system (cardio = heart, vascular = blood vessels) — is made of three parts: the heart, the blood vessels, and the blood.
Field note 01 · the three vessels
AWAY · BACK · SWAP
Arteries carry blood away from the heart. Veins carry it back toward the heart. Capillaries are where the swap happens — gases, nutrients, wastes, and hormones are exchanged there, and nowhere else.
Say it out loud three times: away, back, swap. That one line answers about a third of the vessel questions on any test.
| Artery | Capillary | Vein | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | Away from heart | Between the two | Back toward heart |
| Wall | Thickest, elastic | Very thin, one layer | Thinner than artery |
| Pressure | High | Low | Lowest |
| Job | Deliver under pressure | Exchange gases and wastes | Return the blood |
| Smallest form | Arteriole | — | Venule |
The heart is a muscular organ made mainly of a thick layer called the myocardium, wrapped in a double-layered sac called the pericardium (its outer layer is the epicardium). The septum is the wall of muscle that splits it into a right and a left side.
Field note 02 · sides, valves, sounds
RIGHT is POOR · LEFT is RICH
The right side receives and pumps oxygen-poor blood (to the lungs). The left side pumps oxygen-rich blood to the whole body — which is why the left ventricle has the thickest wall of all.
TRI before you BI: the tricuspid valve is on the right, the bicuspid (mitral) valve is on the left. Tri comes before Bi in the alphabet the way right comes before left on the page.
LUB the cuspids, DUB the arteries: “lub” is the bicuspid and tricuspid valves closing; “dub” is the aortic and pulmonary valves closing. Two sounds = one heartbeat.
Field note 03 · the three blood cells
RED runs · WHITE fights · PLATELETS patch
Red blood cell (erythrocyte) — runs oxygen around the body. No nucleus, so there is more room for hemoglobin, the iron-rich substance that binds oxygen. Biconcave disk shape. Lives about 120 days.
White blood cell (leukocyte) — fights infection from bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Has a nucleus, irregular shape, and its number rises during an infection.
Platelet (thrombocyte) — patches you up. Smallest, no nucleus, responsible for blood clotting.
All three are made in the bone marrow. Around five liters of blood circulate through the body, and plasma — the light yellow liquid — is the largest component at 55%.
Station 02
Parts of a Flower · Seed Development · Pollination · Sexual and Asexual Propagation — pp. 80–90
A mango tree started as something small enough to be carried on the leg of a bee. Everything in this station is one journey: pollen leaving an anther and ending up as a seed.
Field note 04 · the female parts, in order
STICKY · SLIDE · STORE
The three S's of the pistil, in the exact order pollen travels them: the Stigma is sticky and catches the pollen; the Style is the slide the pollen travels down; the Ovary is the store, holding the ovules.
Picture the pistil as a bowling pin: sticky knob on top, long neck, heavy base.
Field note 05 · the male parts
FILAMENT holds · ANTHER makes
Together they are the stamen. The filament is the thin stalk that holds the anther up high where pollinators can reach it; the anther is the small sac at the top that makes and stores the pollen.
Picture the stamen as a lollipop: the filament is the stick, the anther is the candy.
Field note 06 · the trip, and the order
ANTHER → STIGMA. Always.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma. If the question describes pollen moving in any other direction, it is not pollination.
SELF stays. CROSS crosses. Self-pollination: the pollen lands on the stigma of the same flower. Cross-pollination: the pollen goes to the stigma of another flower — of the same species. Gumamela pollen can only pollinate another gumamela.
Pretty Flowers Sell Fruit — the four steps of seed development, in order: Pollination → Fertilization → Seed formation → Fruit development.
Propagation is the process of increasing a plant's population. It happens through seeds (sexual) or through vegetative parts such as stems, leaves, or roots (asexual).
Field note 07 · which kind is it?
SEED means SEXUAL. No seed means CLONE.
Sexual propagation uses seeds, made through pollination and fertilization. The new plant is not identical to the parent. Local examples: palay, corn, tomato, watermelon, kalabasa, guava, mango, coconut, pechay, cabbage, mustard, munggo, soya, sitaw.
Asexual (vegetative) propagation uses a piece of the parent — stem, leaves, roots, or buds — and produces a clone, a new plant identical to its parent. Local examples: roses, calamansi, bougainvillea, pomelo, ginger. It can happen naturally or be done artificially by farmers.
Field note 08 · the artificial methods, by their verbs
CUT · BEND · WRAP · JOIN · POKE
Each name is just its action. Cutting — you cut a stem and root it. Layering — you bend a branch down until it roots in the soil. Marcotting — you wrap a wounded branch in soil until roots form, then cut it off. Its other name is air layering, and the exam has already asked for it under that name. Grafting — you join a stem from one plant onto another. Budding — you poke a single bud into another plant's stem.
Source note: your textbook photos cut off before this list, but Quiz #3 asked about grafting and about marcotting/air layering, so these come from your own graded paper, not from a guess.
Field note 09 · natural vegetative propagation — by what the plant part does
RUN · SWELL · STACK · CREEP · SHOOT
Nature does asexual propagation without any farmer. Five ways, each named after what the plant part actually does:
Runner (stolon) — a stem that runs sideways along the ground and roots where it stops: strawberry.
Tuber — an underground stem that swells with stored food: potato.
Bulb — stacked underground layers: onion, garlic.
Rhizome — an underground stem that creeps sideways: ginger, banana.
Sucker — a new shoot from the base or roots of the parent: banana, pineapple.
A sixth way, from leaves: katakataka grows tiny plantlets along the edge of a fallen leaf.
Source note: this comes from Quiz #3, which asked about runners, tubers, and bulbs by name.
| Natural — the plant does it | Artificial — a person does it |
|---|---|
| Runner — strawberry | Cutting — cut a stem and root it |
| Tuber — potato | Layering — bend a branch to the soil |
| Bulb — onion, garlic | Marcotting (air layering) — wrap the branch |
| Rhizome — ginger, banana | Grafting — join two plants into one |
| Sucker — banana, pineapple | Budding — poke one bud into a stem |
| Sexual propagation | Asexual propagation | |
|---|---|---|
| Uses | Seeds | Stem, leaves, roots, or buds |
| Needs a flower? | Yes — pollination and fertilization | No |
| New plant is | Not identical to the parent | A clone — identical |
| Examples | Palay, corn, mango, sitaw | Rose, calamansi, ginger, pomelo |
Station 03
Characteristics and local examples
Only about 5 out of every 100 animal species on Earth have a backbone. The crab in the palengke, the ant on the table, the sea star on the shore — the majority is the group most people forget.
Field note 10 · the one test that decides it
VERTEBRAE = backbone. IN– = not.
Vertebrates have a backbone, or spinal column, made of small bones called vertebrae. It is part of the endoskeleton — an internal frame that supports the body and protects the heart, lungs, and brain. Most have bilateral symmetry: left and right sides match.
Invertebrates have no backbone and no internal bone skeleton. Instead some have shells, some have a hard outer exoskeleton, and some — the worms — are simply soft. They are about 95% of all animal species on Earth.
Field note 11 · the five vertebrate groups
FARM B
Fish · Amphibians · Reptiles · Mammals · Birds. Five groups, one word, and a farm is exactly where you would find all five.
Fur and feathers are warm; the FAR three are cold. Mammals (fur) and birds (feathers) are warm-blooded — they control their own body temperature. Fish, Amphibians, and Reptiles — the first three letters of FARM — are cold-blooded: their temperature changes with the environment.
Field note 12 · the eight invertebrate groups, in three chunks
S–C, three WORMS, then MAE
Do not memorize eight things. Memorize three chunks:
S–C — Sponges, Cnidarians (jellyfish, corals).
Three worms — flatworms, roundworms, segmented worms.
MAE — Mollusks (snails, squid, tahong), Arthropods (crabs, shrimp, insects, spiders), Echinoderms (sea stars, sea urchins).
Say it like a name: “S-C, three worms, and MAE.”
| Vertebrate | Invertebrate | |
|---|---|---|
| Backbone | Yes — vertebrae | None |
| Skeleton | Endoskeleton (inside) | Exoskeleton, shell, or soft body |
| Share of species | About 5% | About 95% |
| Groups | 5 — FARM B | 8 — S–C, 3 worms, MAE |
| Movement | Muscles and bones together | Legs, bristles, tentacles, contractions |
Station 04
Listed fourth on your pointers sheet
Every other station on this page was somebody's investigation first. Somebody wondered, guessed, tested, and only then wrote it in the book.
Honest note · no page photos for this topic
Your folder has no photos of this lesson. The other three topics came straight from your textbook pages; this one did not, so nothing below is quoted from your book — I did not invent textbook facts to fill the gap.
What is here is the standard scientific method every Grade 6 book teaches, plus the part learners actually lose points on: variables. Send me a photo of these pages and I will rebuild this station properly.
Field note 13 · the five steps, in order
Quiet Hens Eat All Corn
Question → Hypothesis → Experiment → Analyze → Conclude.
Question — what you noticed and want to find out. Hypothesis — your testable guess, written as “If ___, then ___.” Experiment — the fair test you run. Analyze — look at the data you recorded. Conclude — say whether the data supported the hypothesis, then communicate it.
A conclusion that says “my hypothesis was wrong” is still a complete, correct investigation. A guess being wrong is a result, not a failure.
Field note 14 · the three variables — the ones people lose points on
CHANGE it · MEASURE it · KEEP it
Independent variable — the one thing you change on purpose. Dependent variable — the thing you measure, because it depends on your change. Controlled variables — everything you deliberately keep the same, so the test is fair.
Test yourself with any question: What did I change? What did I measure? What did I keep the same? In that order, the three answers are the three variables.
| In the experiment | Which variable | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Three pots get 2, 4, and 6 hours of sunlight | Independent | Sunlight is what you changed |
| Height of each plant after two weeks | Dependent | It is what you measured |
| Same soil, same pot size, same water, same seed | Controlled | Kept the same to keep it fair |
Station 05
From your own graded paper · Science 6 Quiz #3 · August 27
Quiz #3 · scored 16 / 20
Sixteen right out of twenty is a good paper. But four items got away, and those four are the ones most likely to come back on Thursday — teachers reuse their own questions.
Here is exactly what slipped, in the teacher’s own wording:
Three of the four are propagation, which is why Station 02 now has a whole field note on the natural methods. Answer these six and the topic is closed.
The real thing
Three parts, exactly the three types listed on your pointers sheet: Multiple Choice, Situational Analysis, and Picture Analysis. 34 points here, 8 from the stations and 6 from the rerun, 48 in total.
Choose the letter of the best answer. 20 points.
Read each situation, then decide. 6 points.
Study each diagram, then answer using the letters. 8 points.
Remember the trap: the diagram shows the heart of a person facing you. That person's right side is on your left, so chambers A and B are the right atrium and right ventricle.
Field record
Stations 0/8 · Quiz 3 rerun 0/6 · Multiple Choice 0/20 · Situational 0/6 · Picture 0/8
Trainee Observer
Nothing recorded yet. Start at Station 01 and tap every card before you answer anything.
Every field note, word for word
Blood vessels
AWAY · BACK · SWAP
Arteries away from the heart. Veins back toward it. Capillaries are where the exchange happens.
Heart sides & valves
RIGHT is POOR · LEFT is RICH
Right side handles oxygen-poor blood; left side pumps oxygen-rich blood to the body. TRI before you BI: tricuspid right, bicuspid left. LUB the cuspids, DUB the arteries.
Blood cells
RED runs · WHITE fights · PLATELETS patch
Erythrocyte carries oxygen (hemoglobin, 120 days). Leukocyte fights infection. Thrombocyte clots. All made in bone marrow. 55% plasma, 45% cells.
Pistil
STICKY · SLIDE · STORE
Stigma catches, style is the slide, ovary stores the ovules. Ovules become seeds; the ovary becomes the fruit.
Stamen
FILAMENT holds · ANTHER makes
Filament is the stick, anther is the candy. A lollipop.
Pollination
ANTHER → STIGMA. Always.
SELF stays in the same flower. CROSS crosses to another flower of the same species.
Seed development
Pretty Flowers Sell Fruit
Pollination → Fertilization → Seed formation → Fruit development.
Propagation
SEED means SEXUAL. No seed means CLONE.
Asexual uses stem, leaves, roots, or buds, and makes an identical clone: rose, calamansi, bougainvillea, pomelo, ginger.
Natural propagation
RUN · SWELL · STACK · CREEP · SHOOT
Runner — strawberry. Tuber — potato. Bulb — onion, garlic. Rhizome — ginger, banana. Sucker — banana, pineapple. Leaves — katakataka.
Artificial methods
CUT · BEND · WRAP · JOIN · POKE
Cutting, layering, marcotting, grafting, budding — each name is its own action. Marcotting is also called air layering.
Backbone test
VERTEBRAE = backbone. IN– = not.
Vertebrates: endoskeleton inside. Invertebrates: exoskeleton, shell, or soft body — and 95% of all animal species.
Vertebrate groups
FARM B
Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals, Birds. Fur and feathers are warm; the FAR three are cold.
Invertebrate groups
S–C, three WORMS, then MAE
Sponges, Cnidarians · flat, round, segmented worms · Mollusks, Arthropods, Echinoderms.
Scientific method
Quiet Hens Eat All Corn
Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Analyze, Conclude. Hypothesis is written “If ___, then ___.”
The four from Quiz 3
Arteries · Strawberry · Grafting · Marcotting
Away from the heart is an artery. Runners means strawberry. Joining two plants is grafting. Air layering is marcotting.
Variables
CHANGE it · MEASURE it · KEEP it
Independent = what you change. Dependent = what you measure. Controlled = what you keep the same.