IGCSE
I have helped many students to attain top grades in IGCSE Maths and Physics. I would be happy to discuss a programme of tutoring to suit your child or children.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language-based examination similar to GCSE and is recognized in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognizing prior attainment. It was developed by University of Cambridge International Examinations. The examination boards Edexcel and OxfordAQA also offer their own versions of International GCSEs. Students normally begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 10 and take the test at the end of Year 11. However, in some international schools, students can begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 9 and take the test at the end of Year 10.
The qualifications are based on individual subjects of study, which means that one receives an "IGCSE" qualification for each subject one takes. Typical "core" subjects for IGCSE candidates include a First Language, Second Language, Mathematics and one or more subjects in the Sciences.
Before changes to GCSE first taken in 2017, the IGCSE was often considered to be more similar to the older O-Levels qualification than the current GCSE in England, and for this reason was often argued to be a more rigorous and more difficult examination. Before the early 2010s, most schools offering the IGCSE were private international schools for expatriate children around the world. However, in the 2010s, an increasing number of independent schools within the United Kingdom also began offering IGCSEs as an alternative to conventional British GCSEs for international IGCSE subjects, on the supposed basis that it is more challenging than the national curriculum. A comparison between GCSEs and IGCSEs was conducted by the Department of Education in 2019. The study found that it was easier to achieve a grade A in English Language and English Literature in IGCSEs but harder to achieve a grade A in science subjects. Most other subjects were roughly equivalent.