IGCSE Food and Nutrition Tutoring, Cambridge International
IGCSE Food and Nutrition looks practical, but its theory paper asks for real science — nutrients, digestion, enzymes, the effects of heat on food — explained with the precision of a biology answer. The Practical Test, meanwhile, is partly decided before any cooking begins, in a Planning Session a week earlier where the dishes, the time plan and the shopping list are fixed.
Short answer
IGCSE Food and Nutrition 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
- Structure shown for Cambridge International
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How IGCSE Food and Nutrition is assessed, board by board
This page covers one specification for this subject: Cambridge IGCSE Food and Nutrition (0648). It is set out below from the board's own document. If your school enters you with a different board, tell us on the intro call and we will work from that board's specification instead.
Cambridge International
Cambridge IGCSE Food and Nutrition (0648)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Theory | 50% | 2 hours | 100 marks | short answer, structured questions and extended response |
| Paper 2: Practical Test — A practical examination set by Cambridge and marked in school against published criteria | 50% | 2 hours 30 min | — | practical work |
- Half the grade is a practical test, which tutoring can prepare for but cannot sit: planning, timing and the written test plan are teachable, the cooking is the student’s. Pearson’s International GCSE range does not include Food and Nutrition.
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 Food and Nutrition 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.
Nutrition and the body
Terms used in nutrition and nutrition-related problems · Sources and functions of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water · Food energy and dietary fibre · Digestion and absorption, including the role of enzymes and bile
Meal planning and dietary guidelines
Factors affecting food requirements · Meals for different ages, occupations, cultures and religions · Special needs, including pregnancy, allergies and intolerances, diabetes and vegetarian diets · Dietary reference values and nutritional tools · Attractive presentation of food
Foods and cooking
Composition and value of the main foods in the diet · Heat transfer and methods of cooking · Effects of heat: caramelisation, coagulation, dextrinisation, gelatinisation and browning · Basic proportions and methods of making cakes, pastries, sauces, batters and yeast products · Raising agents
Convenience foods
Types of convenience food and their intelligent use · Food additives · Packaging and labelling
Food spoilage, hygiene and preservation
Action of enzymes, bacteria, yeasts and moulds · Personal, food and kitchen hygiene and food storage · Methods of preservation and the principles behind them · Milk processing and the making of cheese and yoghurt
The kitchen
Kitchen planning · Choice, use and care of kitchen equipment · Kitchen safety and first aid
Where IGCSE Food and Nutrition marks are usually lost
Dishes that do not answer the test question
In the Planning Session each candidate is given a test question and chooses dishes to meet it. A dish that does not fit the task loses value however well it is cooked: Cambridge halves the maximum quality mark for an incorrect initial choice, and dishes added after the session earn nothing. Choices should also show a range of skills, balanced meals and sensible use of time and fuel.
A time plan that does not survive the kitchen
Cambridge calls the logical sequence of work the most important part of the plan: each dish followed through to serving, its method named, oven temperature and cooking time given, and time left for washing up. Plans that list dishes one after another, ignore what can be done while something bakes or forget the serving order fall apart during the test, and cost marks twice — on paper and at the stove.
Theory answers that stop at a fact
Theory questions reward explanation, not only recall. Saying that vitamin C is lost in cooking earns little; explaining that it is water-soluble and destroyed by heat, so vegetables should be cooked briefly in little water, earns the marks. Students also confuse terms the syllabus lists precisely — gelatinisation and dextrinisation, coagulation and caramelisation — which costs marks on short questions and weakens extended ones.
How we teach IGCSE Food and Nutrition
A tutor treats the subject as two jobs. For the theory paper, topics are taught as connected science: a nutrient’s sources, its function, what a deficiency causes and how cooking affects it, with the syllabus terms used exactly. Short answers are drilled for precision, and extended questions are practised with a quick plan so the answer explains rather than lists. For the Practical Test, lessons rehearse the Planning Session on practice tasks in its style: reading the task, choosing dishes that answer it and show a range of skills, writing exact quantities, and building a time plan in which dishes overlap sensibly. The cooking itself is practised in the student’s own kitchen and at school, and the tutor talks through how each practice run went against its plan.
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.
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