Plant and animal cells are the first topic in Class 9 biology where the exam asks for a table, a diagram and a reason in the same question, and the first where students lose marks for answers that are true but not what the marking scheme wants ("plant cells make food" is true; "plant cells have chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll and carry out photosynthesis" is the answer). These 30 questions cover NCERT Chapter 5, The Fundamental Unit of Life, from one-mark MCQs to the five-mark difference table and the diagram, with every answer written the way it is marked. They also serve Class 8 (Cell: Structure and Functions) and Grade 6 and 7 science abroad, where the same difference table appears.
The difference between a plant cell and an animal cell: the table to learn
| Feature | Plant cell | Animal cell |
|---|---|---|
| Cell wall | Present, made of cellulose, outside the cell membrane | Absent |
| Shape | Fixed, usually rectangular or box-like, because of the cell wall | Round or irregular; can change shape |
| Chloroplasts | Present (in green parts); contain chlorophyll; site of photosynthesis | Absent |
| Plastids | Present (chloroplasts, chromoplasts, leucoplasts) | Absent |
| Vacuole | One large central vacuole, up to 90 per cent of the cell, filled with cell sap; keeps the cell turgid | Small, temporary vacuoles, or none |
| Centrioles | Absent in most plant cells | Present; help form the spindle in cell division |
| Lysosomes | Rare | Common; the "suicide bags" that digest worn-out organelles |
| Stored food | Starch | Glycogen |
| Size | Generally larger (10 to 100 micrometres) | Generally smaller (10 to 30 micrometres) |
| Cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm, mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus | Present | Present |
For a five-mark question, five rows from this table with the feature named in the first column is full marks; "plant cells are green" is not a row.
Part A: ten MCQs (one mark each)
1. The cell wall of a plant cell is made of
A. cellulose · B. chitin · C. protein · D. lipid
2. Which of these is present in an animal cell but absent in most plant cells?
A. chloroplast · B. cell wall · C. centriole · D. large central vacuole
3. The organelle called the powerhouse of the cell is the
A. ribosome · B. mitochondrion · C. Golgi apparatus · D. lysosome
4. The large central vacuole of a plant cell is filled with
A. cell sap · B. chlorophyll · C. cytoplasm · D. starch grains
5. Which organelle packages and dispatches materials made in the cell?
A. endoplasmic reticulum · B. nucleus · C. Golgi apparatus · D. mitochondrion
6. The site of protein synthesis is the
A. lysosome · B. ribosome · C. plastid · D. vacuole
7. A plant cell placed in a concentrated salt solution will
A. burst · B. stay the same · C. lose water and its contents will shrink away from the cell wall (plasmolysis) · D. divide
8. Which structure is called the "brain" or control centre of the cell?
A. nucleus · B. nucleolus · C. cytoplasm · D. cell membrane
9. The cell membrane is described as selectively permeable because
A. it lets everything through · B. it lets nothing through · C. it lets some substances through and not others · D. it is made of cellulose
10. Chromoplasts give fruits and flowers their colour; leucoplasts
A. carry out photosynthesis · B. store starch, oils and proteins · C. make proteins · D. digest food
Part B: ten short-answer questions (two marks each)
11. Why is the cell called the fundamental unit of life?
12. State two functions of the cell membrane.
13. Why are mitochondria called the powerhouse of the cell?
14. What is the function of the cell wall, and what would happen to a plant without it?
15. Name the organelle that contains chlorophyll and state its function.
16. What is the difference between diffusion and osmosis?
17. Why are lysosomes called suicide bags of the cell?
18. What is the function of the nucleus, and what does it contain?
19. What is the endoplasmic reticulum, and what is the difference between rough and smooth ER?
20. What happens to an animal cell placed in pure water, and why does a plant cell in pure water not burst?
Part C: five questions on the difference between plant and animal cells (three marks each)
21. Give three differences between a plant cell and an animal cell, with the feature named.
22. Why do plant cells have a fixed shape while animal cells can change shape?
23. Both plant and animal cells have mitochondria. Why do plant cells need mitochondria if they have chloroplasts?
24. A student says "animal cells do not have vacuoles". Correct the statement.
25. Which three organelles would you expect to find in a leaf cell but not in a cheek cell, and what does each do?
Part D: five diagram and reasoning questions (three to five marks)
26. Draw a neat labelled diagram of a plant cell with seven labels.
27. Draw a neat labelled diagram of an animal cell with six labels.
28. A cell under the microscope is rectangular, green and has a large clear space in the middle. Identify the type of cell and give two reasons.
29. Explain how a raisin swells when kept in water, naming the process and the structure that controls it.
30. If the chloroplasts were removed from a plant cell, which two things would the cell no longer be able to do, and could the cell survive?
Answers, written the way they are marked
| No. | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 | A, cellulose. |
| 2 | C, centriole. |
| 3 | B, mitochondrion. |
| 4 | A, cell sap. |
| 5 | C, Golgi apparatus. |
| 6 | B, ribosome. |
| 7 | C, plasmolysis: water leaves the cell by osmosis and the cell contents shrink away from the wall. |
| 8 | A, nucleus. |
| 9 | C, it allows some substances to pass through and prevents others. |
| 10 | B, leucoplasts store starch, oils and proteins. |
| 11 | All living things are made of cells, and the cell is the smallest unit that carries out all the processes of life (nutrition, respiration, growth, division); every function of the organism is the sum of the functions of its cells. |
| 12 | (i) It separates the contents of the cell from the outside and holds them together. (ii) It is selectively permeable: it controls what enters and leaves the cell, by diffusion and osmosis. |
| 13 | Mitochondria release the energy stored in food (glucose) by cellular respiration and store it as ATP, which the cell uses for all its activities. |
| 14 | The cell wall gives the plant cell its fixed shape and mechanical strength, and lets it withstand the pressure of water entering by osmosis (so it does not burst). Without it the plant could not stand upright and its cells would burst in water. |
| 15 | Chloroplast. It contains chlorophyll, which traps light energy, and carries out photosynthesis, making glucose from carbon dioxide and water. |
| 16 | Diffusion is the movement of any substance (gas, liquid, solute) from higher to lower concentration. Osmosis is the movement of water only, through a selectively permeable membrane, from a region of higher water concentration to lower. |
| 17 | Lysosomes contain powerful digestive enzymes. When the cell is damaged or old, the lysosomes burst and the enzymes digest the cell's own contents, so the cell destroys itself. |
| 18 | The nucleus controls all the activities of the cell and carries the hereditary information. It contains chromosomes (DNA and protein), which carry the genes, and a nucleolus. |
| 19 | A network of membrane-bound tubes and sheets in the cytoplasm that transports materials. Rough ER has ribosomes attached and makes proteins; smooth ER has no ribosomes and makes lipids (fats). |
| 20 | Water enters the animal cell by osmosis, it swells and may burst, because it has no cell wall. The plant cell also takes in water and becomes turgid, but the rigid cell wall resists the pressure, so it does not burst. |
| 21 | Any three rows from the table: cell wall (present / absent); chloroplasts (present / absent); vacuole (one large central / small or absent); centrioles (absent / present); shape (fixed rectangular / round, irregular). |
| 22 | The plant cell has a rigid cell wall made of cellulose outside the cell membrane, which holds a fixed shape. The animal cell has only the flexible cell membrane, so it can change shape. |
| 23 | Chloroplasts make glucose by photosynthesis (only in light), but the cell needs energy released from that glucose, day and night, in every cell including roots; that release is respiration, which happens in mitochondria. |
| 24 | Animal cells do have vacuoles, but they are small and temporary, used for storage and for expelling substances. It is the large permanent central vacuole that animal cells lack. |
| 25 | Cell wall (fixed shape, protection), chloroplasts (photosynthesis) and the large central vacuole (storage of cell sap, keeps the cell turgid). |
| 26 | Labels: cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, large central vacuole, chloroplast, mitochondrion. One mark each for the labels in most schemes; neat pencil drawing, label lines not crossing. |
| 27 | Labels: cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondrion, vacuole (small), centriole. |
| 28 | A plant cell. Rectangular shape, which comes from a cell wall; green colour from chloroplasts; the large clear space is the central vacuole. Any two. |
| 29 | Osmosis: water moves from the region of higher water concentration (the water outside) into the raisin through its selectively permeable cell membranes, so the raisin swells. (Endosmosis.) |
| 30 | It could no longer carry out photosynthesis or make its own food (glucose), and it would lose its green colour. It could survive for a while on stored food, as root cells do, but a whole plant without chloroplasts would die once its stores ran out. |
The three places students lose marks
- Writing a function instead of a feature in the difference table. "Plant cells make their own food" is a function; the row is "chloroplasts: present / absent". The examiner is marking rows, so name the organelle.
- The vacuole. "Absent in animal cells" is marked wrong by strict examiners; "small or absent" is safe, and "one large central vacuole in plant cells" earns the mark.
- The diagram labels. The drawing is not marked; the labels are. A beautiful cell with "cell membrane" written where the cell wall is scores less than a rough one labelled correctly. Draw the wall as a thick outer line and the membrane as a thin line just inside it.
How we teach Class 9 biology
Sixty-minute 1-on-1 classes on a shared whiteboard, in the NCERT order, with the diagram drawn together and the difference tables tested from blank paper at the start of the next class. The exam-style answers above are how our students write them, because the marking scheme is taught alongside the biology. Our tutors are a team of 20+ women educators with master's degrees, teaching online since 2018, in English, Hindi or Punjabi, to students in India, the Gulf, the UK and the US. The first 30-minute class is free; details on the CBSE Class 9 and 10 science page. Related: photosynthesis explained and is Class 9 harder than Class 10.
Questions parents ask
1What is the difference between a plant cell and an animal cell, in one line?
2Which chapter are plant and animal cells in?
3Do animal cells have vacuoles?
4What are the diagram marks in the Class 9 exam?
5Why is the plant cell rectangular and the animal cell round?
See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →
Shobha
Founder and lead tutor, Science with Shobha
Teaching maths, science and English to children online since 2018. 500+ students, 20+ tutors, families in nine countries.