B1.1 Carbohydrates and lipids

Carbohydrates and lipids connect carbon chemistry, condensation and hydrolysis reactions, molecular structure, solubility, membrane formation, and energy storage functions in organisms.

What you’ll learn

13 learning objectives

Choose one objective for a focused lesson, or study the complete topic.

Exam analysis

An aggregate view of how the complete B1.1 Carbohydrates and lipids appears across past papers.

Chance of appearing38%of analysed past papers

Latest appearanceNovember 2025

Most common paperPaper1

Most tested objectives

B1.1.3—Digestion by hydrolysis23 questions
B1.1.10—Fatty acids21 questions
B1.1.5—Polysaccharides as energy storage16 questions

Common question formats

Definition or recall
Structured response
Process explanation
Diagram interpretation
Calculation
Comparison

Exam question appearances

November 2025Paper2 ["SL"] · TZ36(a)[ 5 ]B1.1.4—Form and function of monosaccharides

November 2025Paper1A ["SL"] · TZ12[ 1 ]B1.1.9—Formation of triglycerides and phospholipids

May 2025Paper2 ["SL"] · TZ27(a)[ 3 ]B1.1.5—Polysaccharides as energy storage

May 2025Paper2 ["SL"] · TZ17(a)[ 4 ]B1.1.1—Carbon atom properties

May 2025Paper2 ["SL"] · TZ14(a)[ 1 ]B1.1.3—Digestion by hydrolysis

Practice this topic

2 original exam-style questions based on the patterns above.

Coverage 2010–2025 · Updated 15 Jul 2026