Although you may not have seen the graph, table, diagram or photograph before, or material presented may not relate to a sport or activity you are familiar with, it will relate to the studies you have undertaken over the past year. By careful analysis of what the material represents, you will be able to interpret the information required and relate it to previous examples of the same type of question. The biological factors refer to hereditary aspects such as race, gender, body type, muscle fibre type etc. Physiological factors are the functions of living organs such as heart, lungs, blood composition, muscle contraction in physical activity. Sociocultural factors refer to social and cultural areas such as family, geographic location, ethnicity and income to name a few.
Sociocultural questions have an especially broad scope open to many interpretations.
These questions are therefore carefully worded in order to achieve a specific response and students must read carefully so they understand the response required. When practising exam papers, after completion and correction, go back through the paper and see how often key words such as biological, physiological or sociocultural are used. In the 1997 exam questions 18 and 19 asked for biological factors and reasons. In your revision try to list the type of factors which come under each of these key headings. When the question involves being asked to choose the correct answer from a variety, use a set approach to answering.