IGCSE mock exams: when they are, whether they count and how to revise

Each card is today's short timed IGCSE mock: 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks, marked when you finish.

When are IGCSE mocks?

Your school sets the dates, and they depend on which exam series you are entered for. Cambridge IGCSEs are sat in the June and November series, and in a March series in India.

Cambridge publishes a separate timetable for each zone, so check yours with your exams officer. IGCSE results for the June series come out in August. From 2027, Cambridge AS and A Level June results move earlier to 28 July, but the IGCSE results date is not changing.

Cambridge digital mocks

Some schools book Cambridge's own digital mock exams, sat on screen and marked by Cambridge. The January 2027 series runs from 18 January to 14 March 2027 and includes the multiple choice papers in IGCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Multiple choice results usually arrive within two hours. Cambridge doesn't review the marking of mocks: that service is only for the real exams.

Do IGCSE mocks count?

No. Your IGCSE grade comes only from the papers you sit in the real series, plus coursework in the few syllabuses that have it. Mocks matter for decisions your school makes before then:

• Core or Extended. In IGCSE Physics, for example, Core candidates can get grades C to G, while Extended candidates can get A* to G. If you are aiming above a C, you need Extended, and your mock is often the evidence for that choice.
• Predicted grades. If you are applying for A Levels, the IB or a new school, your teachers may use mocks when they predict your grades.
• Your revision plan. A mock shows which topics cost you marks while there is still time to fix them.

Are IGCSE mocks harder than the real exam?

Usually not, as most schools use real past papers. They feel harder because you sit them before you have finished the course. Grade thresholds also change from series to series, so a mock grade worked out from an old paper's thresholds is a guide, not a forecast.

When your papers come back, sort every lost mark into one of three piles: didn't know it, knew it but slipped, or ran out of time. Relearn the first, keep a written list of the second, and fix the third with timed practice.

How to revise for IGCSE mocks

1. Know your papers. Find out which papers you are sitting, Core or Extended, and whether there is a multiple choice paper.
2. Use past papers with their mark schemes. Mark schemes show exactly what earns each mark, and examiner reports say where students lose them.
3. Revise from the syllabus. Each syllabus lists every point you can be asked, and marks which are Extended only.
4. Sciences: practise the practical paper. Whether you sit the practical test or the alternative to practical paper, questions on method, results and errors are worth a lot.
5. Time yourself. Full papers at the weekend, short timed papers on school nights.

Use a daily paper as a short timed mock

A new paper appears every day for each IGCSE we cover: Maths Core and Extended, Physics Core and Extended, Chemistry Core and Extended, Biology Core and Extended, Combined Science, Co-ordinated Sciences and Computer Science.

1. Clear the desk and keep only what the exam allows.
2. Start the timer and don't pause it.
3. Mark the paper, then read the mark scheme for every part where you dropped marks.
4. Sort each lost mark into a pile, and sit tomorrow's paper the same way.

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