Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610: papers, Core and Extended, dates and grades

IGCSE Biology papers

The multiple choice papers have 40 four-option questions, and the theory papers are short-answer and structured questions. Paper 5 is a practical test in the lab and Paper 6 is a written paper on the same experimental skills; your school chooses which. This is the 2026 to 2028 syllabus (version 3, August 2026), which Cambridge says has no significant changes affecting teaching.

Core or Extended?

Cambridge says to enter Core if you have studied the Core content or are expected to get D or below, and Extended if you have studied the Core and Supplement content and are expected to get C or above. Core caps you at grade C. Extended adds Supplement content to most topics, for example converting between millimetres and micrometres when you work out the size of a specimen.

IGCSE Biology exam dates 2027

The June 2027 series runs from 26 April to 11 June 2027, so Biology theory opens it. Cambridge publishes a timetable for each zone, so check yours with your exams officer. IGCSE Biology is also sat in November, and in March in India. November 2026 results come out on 14 January 2027.

IGCSE Biology grade thresholds

Your three papers are weighted into a total out of 200. In June 2026, Cambridge set these thresholds for the most common combinations:

Other versions of the papers had different thresholds (for 23, 43, 63 the A* was 169 and the C was 97), and they change every series, so use them as a guide when you mark past papers.

What IGCSE Biology covers

The 2026 to 2028 syllabus has 21 topics:

• Cells and molecules: characteristics and classification of living organisms, organisation of the organism, movement into and out of cells, biological molecules, enzymes.
• Plants: plant nutrition and transport in plants.
• Humans: human nutrition, transport in animals, diseases and immunity, gas exchange, respiration, excretion, coordination and response, drugs, reproduction.
• Genetics: inheritance, and variation and selection.
• Ecology and technology: organisms and their environment, human influences on ecosystems, biotechnology and genetic modification.

Worked examples

Magnification

A drawing of a cell is 45 mm long, and the real cell is 0.15 mm long:

Extended candidates may need to convert: 0.15 mm is 150 μm, because each millimetre is a thousand micrometres.

Osmosis: percentage change in mass

A potato cylinder goes from 3.20 g to 2.88 g in a sugar solution. The percentage change is (2.88 − 3.20) ÷ 3.20 × 100 = −10%. It lost water by osmosis, so the solution had a lower water potential than the potato cells.

Monohybrid inheritance

Two pea plants both carry one allele for tall (T) and one for short (t). A Punnett square gives TT, Tt, Tt and tt, so the ratio of tall to short offspring is 3 : 1, and the probability of a short plant is 1 in 4.

Work out the odds of a trait from a cross in our Genetics & DNA course, then press Mark to check your answer in the course:

Use the daily paper as a short timed mock

Uni-Sine publishes a free daily paper for IGCSE Biology (Core) and IGCSE Biology (Extended). Each is a short timed mock: 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, with a suggested 30 to 40 minutes, marked when you finish. It is not a full Cambridge paper, and the questions are original, not past papers.

• What it covers well: cells, microscopy and transport, enzymes and digestion, photosynthesis, respiration, the heart and circulation, diseases and immunity, the nervous system and hormones, inheritance and evolution, and ecology.
• What it does not cover: the experimental skills of Paper 5 and Paper 6 and the multiple choice format of Papers 1 and 2. Classification, transport in plants, reproduction, excretion and biotechnology get less attention than on the real papers.

For full papers under exam conditions, use Cambridge past papers from your teacher, and read our IGCSE mocks guide for when mocks happen and how to revise for them.

Common mistakes in IGCSE Biology

• Mixing up the units in magnification. Put image and actual size in the same unit first.
• Saying "water concentration". Describe osmosis with water potential, or with solute concentration, as the mark scheme expects.
• Writing genotypes loosely. Show the parents' alleles, the gametes and the Punnett square.
• Not using the data. When a question gives a graph, quote numbers from it in your answer.

Read next

International · IGCSEIGCSE Physics (0625): Papers, 2027 Dates, ThresholdsCambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 explained: the papers, Core or Extended, June 2027 exam dates, June 2026 grade thresholds, the six topics and worked examples.