The world of international education is so vague. It’s very hard for a parent to understand what the difference is between the Cambridge or Edexcel exams. Is one better than the other? Will you have a better qualification? 

I’m going to run through all that complexity and make this simple for you to understand.

What is an IGCSE?

For starters, IGCSE stands for International General Certificate of Secondary Education. It is a globally recognized, two-year academic qualification designed for students aged 14 to 16. Most parents that I chat to think Cambridge is a curriculum. It’s absolutely not. The IGCSE is the qualification. Cambridge or Edexcel, they are just exam boards. They are just sets of exams made by private companies that schools teach the IGCSE curriculum towards. IGCSE is the important part here. That is the qualification. 

Which schools use Cambridge?

Often times in international schools in the EU, schools will actually use a mix of exam boards. For example some schools might use Cambridge for Physics and use Pearson Edexcel for Maths. That’s quite common. Whether you’re GEMS Dubai or Dubai College, it really can depend on the school and can actually just depend on the subject internally in the school.

Cambridge vs Edexcel exam 

For me they’re very similar. They both have two papers: Pearson Edexcel using a calculator for both papers and Cambridge having one calculator and one non-calculator. The maths is more or less the same. However, the questions are structured a bit differently. What I always say, chatting to teachers, is that if I stuck a logo from one Cambridge onto an Edexcel exam or the opposite round, 90% of the time the questions look pretty similar, hard to differentiate.

From a student’s perspective this is great. Maths is maths and it’s all about being fluent in your own maths ability.

Are the topics different?

This is a thing that surprises a lot of parents: they’re not really. 95% of the topics are the same. Your core stuff of algebra, trigonometry, geometry, number, they’re all still core to both exam boards.

There are small nuances and differences, like set notation emphasis, histograms, and slightly wordier questions. Also the fact you can’t bring a calculator into the Cambridge Paper 2 exam for Extended.

But apart from this there’s not really any major differences to worry about from a parent’s perspective.

Which one is harder?

For me, I wouldn’t pin down any one exam board being harder. They’re so similar in structure. The only nuance factor is, for Cambridge, students don’t have a calculator for the first exam. Sometimes that catches students off and they feel a bit more under pressure. Apart from that there are very few differences really and I wouldn’t say one exam is harder than the other.

Which is better for university? 

Neither.  This is one of the most common questions parents ask. Universities don’t prefer Cambridge or Edexcel, or vice versa. They are both internationally recognised qualifications, and universities focus on how well a student performed, not which of these two exam boards they studied.

Does my child need a different tutor?

Again another very common question that parents ask, and in short no. The maths is very similar across both exam boards. A good tutor will realise this and they will teach the core principles of maths to your child. I wouldn’t specify the exam boards as it’s not really relevant. I wouldn’t change your style of teaching dramatically based on an exam board. Maths is maths and that’s what’s important here. 

And if you do need tutoring for your IGCSE exams, our classes are live and ready to help your child improve their maths. You can try a free class here for yourself!

TJ