A complete guide to Cambridge IGCSE Maths

Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics (specification 0580) is the international equivalent of GCSE Maths, run by Cambridge Assessment International Education. It is sat by students at international schools worldwide and by many UK independent schools. The course covers the standard areas of school maths and is assessed across four papers.

This guide walks through everything you need to know to sit the exam with confidence: How the papers are structured, the difference between Core and Extended tiers, what each paper covers, and the revision techniques that work best for Cambridge IGCSE maths.

Cambridge IGCSE Maths is fully linear. All papers are sat at the end of the course, in either May/June or October/November. There is no coursework and no controlled assessment.

The qualification is tiered. Core students sit Papers 1 and 3 and have access to grades C to G. Extended students sit Papers 2 and 4 and have access to grades A* to E. Within each tier, the two papers split 50/50 – one non-calculator and one calculator – and both are required. Your school decides which route to enter you for based on mocks and class performance.

The Cambridge IGCSE Maths specification is grouped into nine topic strands. Together they cover the breadth of school-level mathematics.

Integers, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio and proportion, indices, standard form, surds (Extended), bounds, and number sense.

Expressions, equations, inequalities, sequences, graphs, simultaneous equations, quadratic equations, and function transformations. Extended includes harder factorising, completing the square, and the quadratic formula.

Plotting graphs, gradients, intercepts, equations of straight lines, parallel and perpendicular lines, and midpoints.

Angles, triangles, polygons, congruence, similarity, circle theorems (Extended), and constructions.

Area, perimeter, volume, surface area, arcs and sectors, and compound shapes.

Pythagoras, sine, cosine, and tangent in right-angled triangles. Extended adds the sine rule, cosine rule, area of a triangle, and 3D trigonometry.

Reflection, rotation, enlargement, translation, and combined transformations. Extended includes vector notation, addition, scalar multiplication, and vector geometry.

Averages, range, charts, scatter diagrams, frequency tables, probability, tree diagrams, and (Extended) conditional probability and cumulative frequency.

Function notation, composite functions, inverse functions, and graphs of functions. This is one of the main differences from UK GCSE.

Cambridge prints a short formula list at the front of Papers 2 and 4 covering common geometry and trigonometry formulae. However, many formulae are NOT given and must be memorised. These include the quadratic formula, the rules of indices, and the basic trig ratios.

Cambridge IGCSE Maths is graded A* to G. Core gives access to grades C to G. Extended gives access to A* to E. There is overlap in the middle, so a strong Core candidate can earn a C and a weaker Extended candidate can earn an E or D.

Most academically strong students take Extended because it unlocks the higher grades and is the route accepted as equivalent for top universities and sixth forms. Your school will normally choose the route based on mocks.

Grade boundaries shift every series and are published by Cambridge on results day each August and January.

Maths is the most practice-driven subject at IGCSE. The students who get A* are not necessarily the most naturally talented, but the ones who have done the most varied past paper practice and built fast, accurate technique on every topic.

By the time you sit the real exam, you should have done at least twelve full Cambridge IGCSE Maths past papers under timed conditions. There is no substitute for repeated exposure to the question style and pacing.

Many students get caught out by Paper 1 or Paper 2 because they have done all their practice with a calculator. Set aside a weekly session that is non-calculator only. Long multiplication, fraction arithmetic, and percentage calculations need fluency.

Learn the fraction, surd, statistics, and table modes on a Casio fx-83 or fx-991. Many students lose marks because they cannot enter a calculation cleanly under exam pressure. The calculator paper carries the same weight as the non-calculator paper, so fluency here matters.

Cambridge awards method marks for clear working. If your final answer is wrong but your working shows the right approach, you can still pick up most of the marks. Train this habit on every question, not just the hard ones.

Every time you drop marks on a past paper, write the topic on a tracker. The same topics will keep coming up. The biggest grade jumps come from fixing recurring weaknesses, not from churning more papers.