Q 01/05

The human uterus is usually described as being shaped like which fruit?

A) An apple

B) A pear

C) A fig

D) A plum

Answer · why

B) A pear

A pear: it sits just behind and almost over the bladder, which is why a growing pregnancy makes women need to urinate more often.

Q 02/05

What is the inner lining of the uterus, shed during a period, called?

A) Serosa

B) Peritoneum

C) Endometrium

D) Zona pellucida

Answer · why

C) Endometrium

Endometrium: each cycle it thickens to receive an embryo, and if none implants, the lining breaks down and leaves the body as a period.

Q 03/05

The thick muscular wall of the uterus that contracts during childbirth is called what?

A) The mesometrium

B) The myometrium

C) The perimetrium

D) The decidua

Answer · why

B) The myometrium

The myometrium: it stretches during pregnancy, letting the uterus grow to several times its usual size before it contracts in labour.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many oocytes (immature eggs) are present in the ovaries at birth?

A) About 400

B) About 30,000

C) About 1 million

D) About 20 million

Answer · why

C) About 1 million

About 1 million: most of them die off naturally, so by puberty well over half are already gone.

Q 05/05

Approximately how many eggs does a woman release over her whole reproductive life?

A) About 40

B) About 400

C) About 4,000

D) About 40,000

Answer · why

B) About 400

About 400: usually just one egg is released each menstrual cycle, so decades of cycles add up to only a few hundred.