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  • Cambridge International AS & A Level Islamic Studies (9488)

Cambridge International AS & A Level Islamic Studies (9488)

Syllabus overview

The Islamic Studies syllabus enables learners to gain a better understanding of the religious writings, history and current affairs of Islam. As a result, they are able to think and argue intelligently about the subject. 

The syllabus is broad and ranges from the beginnings of Islam to the variety of beliefs and practices of Islam and the basis of Islamic law. Learners develop knowledge about aspects of the rich Islamic heritage and reflect on the role played by Islam today.

This syllabus replaces and from 2021 onwards. The last examination series for Cambridge International AS Level Islamic Studies (8053) and Cambridge International A Level Islamic Studies (9013) will be November 2020.

Syllabuses

The syllabus year refers to the year in which the examination will be taken.

  • 2021 - 2023 Syllabus (PDF, 725KB)
    • 2021 - 2023 Syllabus update (PDF, 146KB)
  • 2024 - 2026 Syllabus (PDF, 457KB)
    • 2024 - 2026 Syllabus update (PDF, 144KB)

Syllabus updates

  • Summary of the changes
    • To make sure this syllabus meets the needs of our schools, and reflects current educational and assessment thinking, we have worked with teachers, subject expert panels and universities around the world to update this qualification.

      This is the first development since we launched this course and we have made some significant changes in line with the feedback we received.

      How has the syllabus changed?

      • The syllabus content now includes exciting new material such as the Cultural Heritage of Islam and a wider variety of Qur'anic and Hadith texts for study.
      • To help those teaching the updated syllabus, we have kept some of the familiar content areas although this has been restructured in the new papers:
        • Paper 1 Islamic beliefs and practices.
        • Paper 2 Islamic law (shariah) and its application.
        • Paper 3 Heritage of Islam.
        • Paper 4 Islam in the modern world.
      • We have amended the assessment objectives to make sure that more higher order skills are assessed.
      • We have added a list of command words and their meanings to help learners know what’s expected of them in the exam.
      • We have combined the Cambridge International AS Level (8053) and the A Level (9013) into one single syllabus. The new syllabus code 9488 replaces both of the old syllabuses for examination in 2021-2023.

      How has the assessment changed?

      • The 2021-2023 assessment will include four papers (two at AS and two at A Level).
      • We have split the current Papers 1 and 2 into two additional shorter papers to make it easier for candidates to prepare thoroughly and to focus on the separate content areas in the examination itself.
      • The new papers will last 1 hour 30 minutes instead of the currrent 3-hour long papers. This is to help candidates maintain the same standard throughout the paper and avoid later responses decreasing in quality as they can in longer assessments.
      • To make the distinction between knowledge and analyisis and evaluation clearer, we have changed the assessment objectives (AOs) to:
        • AO1 knowledge and understanding
        • AO2 analysis and evaluation.
      • Following feedback from universities, we have increased the weighting of analsyis and evaluation. Students with confidence in these higher order skills will be better prapared for further study of Islamic Studies or similar courses at university.
      • We have introduced different and more varied style of questions to give students the opportunity to display a greater variety of skills.
      • A new section has been introduced to explain the details of the assessment providing further information to teachers and students on what's required.
      • We have updated the marking citeria with new levels of response marking grids. These are available in the specimen mark schemes that accompany this syllabus. The specimen mark schemes also include indicative content exemplifying the types of answers that candidates could give to the questions.

      When do these changes take place?

      The updated syllabus is for examination in November 2021, 2022 and 2023. Please see the 2021-2023 syllabus above for full details.

  • Teaching and learning resources
    • Coming soon

      We are developing a wide range of support to help you plan and teach the 2021-2023 syllabus.

      Support

      Look out for a list of suggested resources to help you deliver the course, available from April 2019 onwards through our School Support Hub.

Subscribe to syllabus updates

Important notices

  • Syllabus availability
    • This syllabus is available in November 2023 to administrative zones 4 and 5 only.

      From June 2024, this syllabus is available to centres in administrative zones 3 and 4 in June only.

      Check the administrative zone for your school.

  • Withdrawal of November series
    • We are withdrawing Cambridge International AS & A Level Islamic Studies (9488) from the November exam series, with the exception of Mauritius (see below).

      The last November exam series for international centres will be in November 2023.

      From 2024 onwards, this syllabus is available to administrative zones 3 & 4 in the June series. It will also be available in the November series in Mauritius only.

      Check the administrative zones for your school. We communicated this series withdrawal decision to schools in June 2021.

      Mauritius

      We support the work of the national education authorities in Mauritius to provide national assessments for their learners in secondary schools.

      Cambridge AS & A Level Islamic Studies (9488) will continue to be available in the November exam series for schools in Mauritius only.

  • Grade descriptions
    • For some subjects, the syllabus states that Grade Descriptions will be made available after first assessment in 2020, 2021 or 2022.

      Publication of grade descriptions was paused in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the temporary changes to the grading standard that have been in place for 2020, 2021 and 2022. We are currently working on producing these grade descriptions. This work will make sure that grade descriptions reflect examination outcomes appropriately and are based on the more stable grading standard that we expect to have in place for June 2023 onwards.

School Support Hub

We provide a wide range of support so that teachers can give their learners the best possible preparation for Cambridge programmes and qualifications. For teachers at registered Cambridge schools, support materials for specific syllabuses are available from the School Support Hub (username and password required).

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