IGCSE Biology (0610)

Homeostasis (temperature and glucose)

What this topic tests, the mistakes that cost marks, and one exam-style question worked through step by step.

Key ideas and common mistakes

Managing type 1 diabetes requires both replacing insulin (since the body cannot make it) and adjusting lifestyle factors like diet and exercise, not just one or the other.
Common mistake: Students often forget the need for both medication and self-monitoring.
Distinguish between routes that lose water as vapour (e.g. exhaled air from lungs) and those that lose liquid water (e.g. urine, faeces), since only vapour loss is asked for.
Knowing that insulin (not glucagon) is the hormone released when blood glucose is too high.
Common mistake: Students often confuse which hormone lowers versus raises blood glucose in negative feedback regulation.
Homeostasis involves maintaining constant internal conditions.
Common mistake: Students must identify other regulated factors besides those already excluded (body temperature and blood glucose), not just list any body condition or external factor.
The hypothalamus in the brain detects changes in internal temperature by monitoring the temperature of the blood flowing through it.
Common mistake: Students often incorrectly state that skin or other organs detect core temperature changes.
Match each skin part to its job: muscle tissue pulls the hair upright, the duct and pore carry sweat to the surface, and the fatty layer under the dermis insulates.

Worked example

Outline how his condition is managed.

Try it first, then show the working

Any 2 of these:

insulin is supplied by injection / insulin pump · blood glucose concentration is tested / monitored regularly · exercise is taken into account / matched to insulin dose

Answer: He must be given insulin, usually by injection or from a pump, timed around meals, and he must monitor his blood glucose concentration regularly and control the amount and type of carbohydrate he eats and the exercise he takes.

Try one yourself

State one other route by which water vapour is lost from the body of the player.Answer it and get it marked → Blood glucose concentration is also controlled by negative feedback. State the name of the hormone released when the blood glucose concentration is…Answer it and get it marked → State two conditions, other than body temperature and blood glucose concentration, that must be kept constant inside the body.Answer it and get it marked →

17 exam-style questions on Homeostasis (temperature and glucose), each marked to the scheme.

Homeostasis (temperature and glucose)

Key ideas and common mistakes

Worked example

Try one yourself

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