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 appearing27%of analysed past papers

Latest appearanceMay 2025

Most common paperPaper1

Most tested objectives

B1.1.3—Digestion by hydrolysis7 questions
B1.1.5—Polysaccharides as energy storage7 questions
B1.1.10—Fatty acids6 questions

Common question formats

Definition or recall
Structured response
Process explanation
Diagram interpretation
Calculation
Comparison

Exam question appearances

May 2025Paper2 ["HL"] · TZ12(a)[ 1 ]B1.1.2—Macromolecules by condensation

November 2024Paper2 ["HL"] · TZ04(b)[ 1 ]B1.1.2—Macromolecules by condensation

November 2024Paper2 ["HL"] · TZ04(a)[ 1 ]B1.1.9—Formation of triglycerides and phospholipids

May 2024Paper2 ["HL"] · TZ18(a)[ 3 ]B1.1.6—Cellulose structure and function

May 2024Paper1 ["HL"] · TZ15[ 1 ]B1.1.10—Fatty acids

Practice this topic

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

Coverage 2012–2025 · Updated 15 Jul 2026