IGCSE Biology Tutoring, Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel
IGCSE Biology looks like a memory subject, but the marks go to precise wording: an answer that is roughly right in everyday language usually earns nothing against the mark scheme. Both boards also test experimental skill, largely through written questions that ask students to plan investigations, process results and evaluate methods.
Short answer
IGCSE Biology is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
Your lessons are taught by Nihan Çelik, who teaches IGCSE Biology.
- Structure shown for Cambridge International, Pearson Edexcel
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How IGCSE Biology is assessed, board by board
2 awarding bodies examine this subject, and they do not examine it the same way: different papers, different weightings, different practical arrangements. Find your board — it is printed on your school's timetable and on past papers — and read that block. Nothing on this page describes one board's paper as though it applied to all of them.
Cambridge International
Cambridge IGCSE Biology (0610)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (Core) or Paper 2 (Extended): Multiple Choice — Forty four-choice items | 30% | 45 min | 40 marks | multiple choice |
| Paper 3 (Core) or Paper 4 (Extended): Theory | 50% | 1 hour 15 min | 80 marks | short answer and structured questions |
| Paper 5: Practical Test — Experiments done in a laboratory. Schools enter for this or for Paper 6 | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | 40 marks | practical work |
| Paper 6: Alternative to Practical — A written paper about experiments, for schools that enter for it instead of Paper 5 | 20% | 1 hour | 40 marks | practical work and data response |
- Cambridge tiers this subject. Core candidates sit the Core papers and can be awarded grades C to G; Extended candidates sit the Extended papers and can be awarded A* to G. A student entered for Core cannot be given a grade above a C whatever they write, so if a sixth form is asking for a B in Biology, the entry tier is the first thing to check — and schools will usually still move a student between tiers if the work supports it.
- Practical skills carry 20% whichever paper the school enters for, and the Alternative to Practical is not the easier option — it asks students to describe, tabulate and evaluate experiments they can no longer see in front of them.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Biology (4BI1)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (4BI1/01) | 61.1% | 2 hours | 110 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
| Paper 2 (4BI1/02) | 38.9% | 1 hour 15 min | 70 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
- Pearson does not tier this subject: every candidate sits the same papers and every grade is reachable from them. That removes the entry-tier decision entirely, which is one of the practical differences between the two boards.
- There is no practical exam and no coursework: experimental skills are examined inside the written papers. The practicals still have to be done, because the questions assume the student has done them, but nobody marks the student doing them.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel are the two IGCSE boards covered here. Some schools use OxfordAQA International GCSEs, which are examined differently again; if that is your board, tell us on the intro call and we will confirm tutor availability for your specification before you book.
What IGCSE Biology covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Organisms and cells
Characteristics and classification of living organisms · Cell structure and levels of organisation · Diffusion, osmosis and active transport · Biological molecules and enzymes
Nutrition, gas exchange and respiration
Photosynthesis and leaf structure · Human diet and digestion · Gas exchange in humans · Aerobic and anaerobic respiration
Transport, excretion and coordination
Transport in plants: xylem, phloem and transpiration · The heart, blood vessels and blood · Pathogens and the immune response · Excretion and the kidney · Nervous and hormonal coordination, homeostasis and tropic responses
Reproduction and inheritance
Asexual and sexual reproduction in plants and humans · Chromosomes, genes and proteins · Mitosis and meiosis · Monohybrid inheritance and genetic diagrams · Variation, mutation and natural selection
Ecology and the environment
Food chains, food webs and energy flow · The carbon and nitrogen cycles · Populations, communities and ecosystems · Human influences on ecosystems
Use of biological resources
Food production and microorganisms in industry · Fermenters · Selective breeding · Genetic modification
Where IGCSE Biology marks are usually lost
Everyday words where the mark scheme wants terms
Examiners credit specific vocabulary — partially permeable membrane, active site, concentration gradient, denatured — and loose synonyms often fail. Writing that an enzyme “dies” at high temperature, or that oxygen “goes into” the blood without naming diffusion, loses the mark even when the idea behind it is right. The definitions in the syllabus are worth learning almost word for word.
Describing a trend without quoting the data
Data questions often ask students to describe a pattern and then explain it, and the two are marked separately. A description earns its marks when it quotes values from the graph, with units, and says where the pattern changes; an explanation needs the biology behind the shape. Students who merge the two, or explain when asked only to describe, drop marks on questions they understood.
Vague plans for biological investigations
Both boards ask students to plan investigations: the variable to change, the variables to keep constant, how to measure the outcome and how often to repeat it. “Keep everything the same” scores little. Biology adds its own traps, such as controlling temperature in an enzyme experiment, the size of leaves in a transpiration one, or explaining why a control is needed at all.
How we teach IGCSE Biology
A tutor teaches IGCSE Biology from the specification your school uses, because Cambridge and Pearson cover similar ground with different extended content: Cambridge’s Supplement for Extended candidates, Pearson’s bold statements examined only in its second paper. Each topic is learned as a process rather than a list — what happens, in what order and why — whether it is digestion, the cardiac cycle or the nitrogen cycle. Lessons build a glossary of the terms mark schemes reward, and past-paper answers are marked against the published mark schemes so students see which words earned credit. Genetic diagrams, graph work and, for Cambridge, magnification calculations are practised until they are routine. The practicals named in the specification are worked through on paper: method, variables, results tables, sources of error and improvements.
There is no separate diagnostic, because there is no single test that stands in for two years of a school syllabus. The first lesson is the assessment: the tutor works through your recent marked work, past-paper questions from your own specification, and the units your school has already covered, and reads current level, gaps, exam technique and where school work stands. It is a normal paid lesson and it teaches as it assesses.
Related subjects and pages
IGCSE Chemistry
Online IGCSE Chemistry tutoring for Cambridge 0620 and Pearson Edexcel 4CH1: formulae, balanced equations, mole calculations, chemical tests, practicals.
IGCSE Physics
Online IGCSE Physics tutoring for Cambridge 0625 and Pearson Edexcel 4PH1: equations to recall and rearrange, units, motion graphs, practicals.
IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double Award)
Online tutoring for IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Cambridge 0654) and Pearson Edexcel Science (Double Award) 4SD0: three sciences, two grades, practicals.
IGCSE Tutoring
Online IGCSE tutoring for Cambridge IGCSE and Pearson Edexcel International GCSE: tiers, papers, practicals by board, first-lesson assessment.
IGCSE prices
IGCSE tutoring from USD 95 per 90-minute lesson. Compare lesson packages and included materials.
IGCSE Biology: reviews from our students
Students and parents who prepared with us write these reviews themselves. We check each one before publishing it and never change its words or its star rating.
Nobody has reviewed this programme here yet. If you prepared with us, tell other students across Africa how it went.
Frequently asked questions
Short, direct answers. If yours is not here, ask us.
Talk to us about IGCSE Biology
Tell us your board or level, your predicted grade and when you sit it. We will tell you honestly whether you need a tutor, and which one.