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Class 9 Science: Tissues in Action, 8 practice questions with answers
These are 8 practice questions on Chapter 3, Tissues in Action, of the new NCERT Class 9 Science textbook, Exploration (First Edition, April 2026). Each has a worked answer and the textbook page it comes from. They cover the three kinds of meristem, identifying a plant tissue from its description, what xylem and phloem carry, what stomata do, tendons and ligaments, the three kinds of muscle, and estimating the mass of a person's skeleton. Try each one before you open the answer.
These questions are our own, drafted with AI help, and the one calculation was re-computed by a test script, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. If you find a mistake, please tell us.
What the chapter says you need
Facts from the NCERT textbook (Exploration: Textbook of Science for Grade 9, Chapter 3, printed pages 28 to 47):
- Plants grow at meristematic tissues: the apical meristem at root and shoot tips (length), the lateral meristem in a ring in the stem (girth), and the intercalary meristem at the base of the internode or just above a node, which lets plants such as grasses regrow after cutting (pages 30 and 31). Meristem cells are small, with thin walls, a large nucleus, dense cytoplasm and generally no vacuoles (page 31).
- Parenchyma is made of living, thin-walled, loosely packed cells with intercellular spaces; it mainly stores food (page 32). The epidermis has pores called stomata, which allow gas exchange and the loss of water vapour (transpiration); transpiration pulls water up the xylem (page 32).
- Xylem carries water and minerals from the roots to other parts of the plant; phloem (its sieve tubes) carries food from the leaves to other parts (page 33).
- Tendons connect muscles to bones; ligaments connect bones to bones and limit movement (Table 3.4, page 37; page 38).
- Skeletal muscles are voluntary, with long, cylindrical, unbranched, multinucleate, striated fibres (page 37). Smooth muscles (stomach, intestines) are involuntary, spindle-shaped, with a single nucleus and no striations; cardiac muscle is found only in the heart (page 38).
- On average, the adult human skeleton makes up about 12 to 15 per cent of body weight (page 38).
Plant tissues
Question 1. A bamboo stem grows longer in many sections at once: each section lengthens from its base, just above a node. Which meristem is at work there?
Answer: the intercalary meristem. The textbook places the intercalary meristem at the base of the internode or just above the node, which is where each bamboo section grows from; it is also what lets grasses (bamboo is one) regrow after cutting. (Intercalary meristem, page 31.)
Question 2. The trunk of a neem tree gets thicker every year. Which meristem is responsible?
Answer: the lateral meristem. It is a ring of actively dividing cells in the stem that adds new cells inside and outside, so the stem's diameter (girth) increases. (Lateral meristem, pages 30 and 31.)
Question 3. A plant tissue is made of living cells with thin walls, loosely packed with spaces between them, and its main job is to store food. Name the tissue.
Answer: parenchyma. These are exactly the features of parenchyma, a simple permanent tissue. (Parenchyma, page 32.)
Question 4. A tall tree's leaves need water from the soil, and its roots need food made in the leaves. Which tissue carries each?
Answer: xylem carries water and minerals up from the roots; phloem carries food from the leaves. Xylem transports water and minerals from the roots to other parts of the plant, and the sieve tubes of the phloem transport food from the leaves to other parts. (Conducting tissues, page 33.)
Question 5. What would happen to water transport in a plant if the stomata on its leaves were blocked?
Answer: it would slow down. Stomata let water vapour leave the leaf (transpiration). Transpiration creates the pull that draws water up through the xylem, so with blocked stomata, less water is pulled up. Gas exchange through the stomata would also stop. (Epidermis and stomata, page 32.)
Animal tissues
Question 6. During a football game, a player twists her knee and the joint moves further than it should. Which connective tissue normally holds the bones of the knee together and limits this movement: a tendon or a ligament?
Answer: a ligament. Ligaments connect bone to bone, provide stability and help prevent dislocation. Tendons instead connect muscle to bone. (Table 3.4, page 37; page 38.)
Question 7. Muscle cells taken from the wall of the stomach are spindle-shaped, have a single nucleus and show no striations. What kind of muscle is this, and is it under our control?
Answer: smooth muscle; it is involuntary. Smooth muscle is found in organs such as the stomach and intestines and brings about slow, continuous movements like digestion without our conscious control. (Smooth muscle, page 38; voluntary and involuntary movements, page 37.)
Question 8. A person's mass is 52 kg. Using the textbook's figure that the skeleton makes up about 12 to 15 per cent of body weight, estimate the mass of their skeleton.
Answer: about 6.24 kg to 7.8 kg. 12% of 52 kg = 0.12 × 52 = 6.24 kg, and 15% of 52 kg = 0.15 × 52 = 7.8 kg. The textbook notes that the real figure varies with age, gender and body composition. (Page 38; the book's own investigation of this, Activity 3.4, is on page 39.)
Practise more, and check your marks
- Free practice, marked instantly in your browser: Class 9 Tissues in Action questions, a separate short set on the same chapter.
- Printable Class 9 worksheets with answer keys, in English, Hindi and Marathi: Class 9 worksheets.
- The chapter before this one: Class 9 Cell: The Building Block of Life, practice questions.
- Where tissues lead in Class 10: Class 10 Life Processes, practice questions.
- Another Class 9 Science guide in this style: Class 9 Journey Inside the Atom.
Where CMDLearn fits
CMDLearn is building an AI tutor for Classes 1 to 10 that explains a step and checks the child's working, but leaves the writing to the child. It is still in development, and no child uses it yet. If you would like to hear when there is something to try, you can join the waitlist.
Sources
All opened and read on 21 October 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the textbook; printed page = PDF page + 27.
- NCERT, Exploration: Textbook of Science for Grade 9 (First Edition, April 2026), Chapter 3 "Tissues in Action", printed pages 28-47 (apical and lateral meristems, page 30; lateral and intercalary meristems and meristem cells, page 31; epidermis, stomata and parenchyma, page 32; xylem and phloem, page 33; connective tissues, Table 3.4, and skeletal muscle, page 37; smooth and cardiac muscle, tendons and the 12 to 15 per cent bone figure, page 38; Activity 3.4, page 39): ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/iesc103.pdf
- NCERT, Exploration: Textbook of Science for Grade 9, front matter and contents (chapter titles and starting pages): ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/iesc1ps.pdf
The facts are from the textbook pages above. The questions and worked answers are our own, and the one calculation was re-computed by script. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and the textbook.