How to Prepare for Your Cambridge IGCSE Exams

Are you a student looking for tips to ace your International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) examinations?
Being one of the most popular secondary school certifications, IGCSE is affiliated with the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. The IGCSE examinations are evaluated as a combination of internal and external assessments. Out of your chosen subjects, you need to strive for an A in all of them. Although the journey to achieving it may be challenging, if there’s a will, there’s definitely a way! Today, we have come up with an extensive guide that will help you crack your IGCSE exams easily!

Prepare a Detailed Study Plan

There is no point in studying a day before your mock test or your class test. In this case, you will be anxious and won’t be able to grasp half the topics properly. Acing the exams in a limited time frame may not be a good option. Therefore, in order to succeed in your exams, you must prepare your study schedule in advance. You can prioritise the subjects or the topics that require your utmost attention, spend time preparing notes and revise as much as possible to be ready for the final examinations.

Utilise Various Study Materials

If you are planning to just study from your school textbook, then it may not be sufficient. The IGCSE exams are aimed at testing your comprehension level, so you need to check for other study sources too. As Cambridge sets the syllabus that is used by multiple publishers to create textbooks,  referring to just one source won't help you score the best grade. Therefore, you can refer to other books in the market and even check for relevant sources online to gain wider knowledge on each topic.

Solve Past-year Question Papers

As an IGCSE student, you must understand that just studying the syllabus and solving the book exercises may not be enough. You may dedicate more than six hours a day to learning and revising your syllabus, but it will only be effective when you solve the past-year question papers simultaneously. Solving the previous year's question papers helps you understand the areas that need improvement and thus helps you focus more on those areas so that you are well-prepared for the main exams. You can find the question papers either in your school libraries, bookstores, or even on relevant websites.

Pay Attention in Class

Paying attention in class helps you to focus more and understand the subjects better, thereby minimising your study hours. Therefore, you must take advantage of learning everything in depth from your respective subject teacher while you are in school. Besides gaining clarity on subjects and topics, your involvement in the class can help you retain the information better as you tend to remember things better when being attentive in class.

Practice Self-learning

You must practice the art of learning the subjects on your own. Self-learning includes reading and understanding the topics on your own and without any external motivation. Self-learning helps you to become self-sufficient, and this can be considered one of the essential life skills these days. Therefore, you must practice independent learning to understand the subjects better and motivate yourself to perform better all the time.

Beat the Competition

When we talk about beating the competition, we mean that you can prepare the chapters in advance to stay ahead of your classmates, especially in subjects where you struggle. If you practice the succeeding chapters of your weak subjects in advance, you will tend to spend less time revising them during main exams. Therefore, rather than spending time revising the existing chapters that you have clarity on, you must dedicate your time to studying the next chapters in advance and practise them beforehand so that you can understand them better when taught in class. By doing so, you will stay ahead of your peers and will also have enough time to complete your syllabus and revise on time.

Way Forward

In conclusion, if you are an IGCSE student preparing yourself for the Cambridge examinations, you can begin by making a comprehensive study plan. By prioritising the subjects and topics, you can dedicate time to consistent revisions and face the main examinations confidently. Moreover, you can refer to additional sources of study to gain a broader knowledge of each subject. You can also solve past-year question papers, as it helps you identify your weaknesses and allows you to improve your academic performance. Additionally, your attentive participation in the classroom not only fosters a deeper understanding of subjects but also creates a favourable impression on your teachers. Lastly, we suggest you embrace the art of self-learning and gain a competitive edge over others by preparing the chapters in advance. By applying these strategies, you will definitely ace your IGCSE examinations!