2,337 Replies to “What is IGCSE?”

    • Hi Jonathan,

      ‘Normally” the required subjects are English, Maths, Additional Maths, Physics, Chemistry. But, please check with the university to have 100% confirmation on the required subjects.

  1. hi i am currently 13 year sold sitting for the o levels in 2016. I live in Sri lanka and I want to know that English is not my first language and if i got stuck with a hard word in the o levels test in a comprehension can know the meaning. pls reply fast. thank you

    • Hello Rubina,
      You can try to read the next sentence, or the overall paragraph to guess the meaning of the words. Not able to understand ALL the words in the text is not a big deal. There are many ways to still score an A or A* 🙂

  2. Hi, my son is atending year 10 in the uk and we are planing to go back to our homeland, portugal, at the end of the schoolar year.
    We do not want lo loose the chance of having uk qualifications, so he can aplly for further education latter in the uk, is it a good choice to apply for igcse in one year time, studying at home for them and at the same time studying in a school in portugal?
    Can we set the exam in a school here in the uk when living in portugal (and came here to do it)?
    He has done a gcse in portuguese language, can that count as well as one of the five needed?

    Dulce Surgy

    • Hi Dulce,

      Is he in a GCSE school or IGCSE school? Please note these 2 are different exams.

      We would strongly suggest you to think carefully before you make the move back to Portugal.

      1. When you move back to Portugal, he will be starting year 11. Usually for IGCSE schools, they do not take new student at year 11.

      2. If he is currently in GCSE school, to sit for IGCSE exam in one year would be not so practical. IGCSE syllabus is considered much more challenging comparing to GCSE by most of the examiners. You need to let him have 2 year time for preparation if he is switching from GCSE to IGCSE.

      3. You can study IGCSE at home, and sit for the exam at any British Council in Portugal. Extensive travelling during the exam period will only add more pressure to the candidate. Further more, he will be tired from all the traveling and concentration in the exam would be affected.

      4. GCSE Portugal is not counted as one of the 5 core subject in IGCSE. They are from different examination board.

      GCSE is the local syllabus for UK schools, while IGCSE is the international syllabus for international candidates around the world.

Thank you for your visit! We have got a new site. Please go to our new site Skolatis.com to leave your comments and continue the hot discussions! See you there!