IGCSE Curriculum Explained: Subjects, Exams and How It Works

The IGCSE curriculum is a two-year secondary programme for 14- to 16-year-olds, built from stand-alone subjects a student chooses individually rather than one fixed national syllabus — most students take eight to ten subjects in total, sat mainly as external written exams at the end of Year 11, with a few subjects adding coursework or other components. Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel are the two boards that set and examine it.

This guide covers how that structure actually works: what a school decides versus what the board decides, how assessment is put together subject by subject, how grading works, and how the choices made now connect to A Level two years later.

How the two-year structure works

Neither Cambridge nor Pearson Edexcel publishes one universal, board-wide list of compulsory IGCSE subjects — each school sets its own core requirements from the subjects the board offers, then lets students choose the rest from optional groups. In practice, English and Mathematics are compulsory at the large majority of schools, and most also require at least one Science, but the exact core is a school decision, not a board one. That is why the first practical step for a family is always the school's own subject-options booklet, not a generic list.

Once the core and options are set, each subject runs on its own two-year syllabus document published by the board — a Mathematics syllabus, a Physics syllabus, an English syllabus, each with its own assessment structure, content list and grade descriptions. There is no single combined "IGCSE syllabus" covering every subject; the curriculum is really a set of independent subject syllabuses studied in parallel across the same two years.

What subjects are on offer

Cambridge IGCSE offers a choice of over 70 subjects in any combination, spanning languages, humanities and social sciences, the sciences, mathematics, and creative and vocational subjects. Pearson Edexcel International GCSE offers 37 subjects, studied in over 80 countries, and is marketed as equivalent, grade for grade, to the GCSE taken in England. No single school teaches every subject either board offers — see the full subject list for what's actually available and at what level.

How assessment is structured, subject by subject

Most IGCSE subjects are assessed almost entirely by written exam, sat at the end of the two-year course and marked externally by the board rather than by the school. But "mostly written exams" is not a universal rule — some subjects blend in other components. Cambridge IGCSE First Language English (0500) is a concrete example: a school chooses between a second written paper (Directed Writing and Composition) or an internally assessed coursework portfolio of three extended assignments as the alternative route through the qualification, and offers an optional, separately endorsed Speaking and Listening test whose marks do not count towards the overall grade at all. Other subjects — sciences with a practical component, for instance — structure their own mix differently again.

The honest, useful version of "how is IGCSE assessed" is therefore: check the specific subject's syllabus rather than assuming one pattern applies everywhere. A subject's official syllabus document, published by the board, is the authoritative source for exactly what components it has, how they are weighted, and what each one is marked on.

Exam dates follow the board's own calendar rather than one fixed global date, too. Cambridge 0500, for example, is sat in the June and November series everywhere, with an additional March series for centres in India only — so the same subject can have three different sitting windows depending on where a school enters its candidates. Check the exact series your child's school has entered them for rather than assuming a single global exam period.

Why some subjects mix coursework in with written papers

The coursework option in a subject like 0500 exists because some skills are hard to demonstrate fairly under timed exam pressure alone. A coursework portfolio lets a student redraft and refine extended writing over weeks rather than producing a first and only draft in a two-hour exam, and a school can choose it as an alternative route through the same qualification rather than a compulsory add-on. The trade-off is that coursework is internally marked by the school first (then externally moderated by the board), which is why some schools prefer the fully externally-marked written-paper route instead — it removes any question about how consistently coursework is marked from one school to the next.

A separately endorsed component, like 0500's optional Speaking and Listening test, works differently again: because it is graded on its own scale and does not feed into the overall subject grade, a school can offer it to build a student's confidence and give them a recognised certificate for that skill, without it affecting the written-paper grade a university application will actually see.

Grading: A*–G and 9–1

Cambridge IGCSE is graded A* to G worldwide by default; schools in what Cambridge calls administrative zone 3 (which includes schools in England) can choose 9–1 grading instead, though every school can also keep A*–G. Pearson's International GCSE has moved to the 9–1 scale as its standard. For what the numbers actually mean and how they compare — including why a UK GCSE grade 4 is called a "standard pass" and grade 5 a "strong pass" — see this guide's companion article, "What Is IGCSE?", linked below.

How IGCSE choices connect to A Level

A student with a rough A Level direction in mind — sciences, economics, a modern language — benefits from working backwards from what those A Levels typically expect, rather than choosing IGCSEs first and hoping the pathway still fits two years later. Some A Level subjects, further maths and the sciences among them, commonly expect a specific IGCSE as an entry requirement at many schools; this varies by school and by board, so it is worth confirming a subject's usual prerequisites directly with the school rather than assuming a rule that applies everywhere.

• Ask the school which board (Cambridge or Edexcel) and which grading scale it enters students for, subject by subject.
• Check any A Level entry requirements for subjects your child may want to continue, before IGCSE options are finalised.
• Balance the workload across essay-based, calculation-based and coursework-led subjects rather than clustering similar demands together.

Where to start

If the subject list and the core requirements are now clear but the actual choices still feel difficult, that is a separate question from how the curriculum works — see this guide's companion article on choosing the right IGCSE subjects, linked below, for a step-by-step approach to picking options once the compulsory core is settled.

Once subjects are chosen, the two-year course rewards steady, syllabus-specific work far more than a late cram — which is what TutorWick's study plans are built around: pacing a student's specific Cambridge or Edexcel subjects across the two years rather than treating "IGCSE" as one generic programme.

• Confirm the board (Cambridge or Edexcel) and grading scale your child's school uses for each subject.
• Read the compulsory core against your family's plans before options are finalised, not after.
• Ask what components each subject has — written papers only, or written papers plus coursework, practicals or a separately endorsed test.
• Note the exam series (June, November or, for schools in India, March) your child will actually sit.

A tutor who already teaches a student's specific Cambridge or Edexcel syllabus can turn that checklist into an actual weekly plan — covering the syllabus content, building past-paper practice into the calendar around each subject's real exam series, and reporting progress back so a parent can see where a subject genuinely stands rather than guessing from a school report alone.

Is the IGCSE curriculum the same across every school?

No. The subject syllabuses come from the board, but each school sets its own compulsory core, chooses which board to enter students for, and decides which optional subjects to offer — so two schools both teaching "IGCSE" can have meaningfully different programmes.

How many IGCSE subjects do most students take?

It varies by school, but eight to ten subjects — including the compulsory core — is typical. Taking on significantly more rarely strengthens a university application and usually just thins out revision time for the subjects that matter most.