Our support helps you understand the standard of Cambridge exams and prepare your students effectively. These materials are available under each subject in the programmes and qualifications area of our website and the School Support Hub.
Learner guides
Our Learner Guides introduce students to Cambridge IGCSE, O Level and International AS & A Level courses. They also explain how they will be assessed. By the end of each guide, students will:
- have an overview of the course and what they will learn
- understand the structure of the assessment
- know how to show their skills to the best of their ability
- understand how to reflect on their own learning.
The Learner Guides also help students plan and monitor their revision as they;
- outline basic revision skills
- include example revision planners
- provide top revision techniques and checklists
Past papers and mark schemes
Past papers help your students become familiar with exam requirements and command words in questions. The mark schemes explain how to answer questions to meet assessment objectives.
Example candidate responses
These booklets use examples of candidates’ work to show how different levels of performance (high, middle and low) relate to the subject’s curriculum and assessment objectives.
They will help you understand the standard required to achieve marks, beyond the guidance of the mark scheme.
Click here to view how to use the booklets (PDF, 276KB).
Sensitivity around topics covered in exams
We believe that open discussion of world issues is an incredibly important part of an international education. It helps learners to understand the world around them and become engaged and responsible young people with the skills they need for the future. Sometimes, this means that our syllabuses and question papers include topics that might be considered controversial or sensitive. We include these where they are relevant and essential to the study of a particular subject, and we know that teachers cover these topics in a sensitive way over the course of study, responding to the individual needs of learners.
We prepare our question papers well in advance of exams so we can be sure they meet our rigorous quality standards. This sometimes means that events like war, conflict or natural disasters take place after question papers have been despatched to our centres. These fast-changing situations may lead to a sudden increase in sensitivity around topics covered in exams, with unpredictable effects on students.
We take the welfare of students very seriously. We know that schools offer support for students during the exam window. View guidance and resources on mental health and wellbeing.
Although we take appropriate action where possible if we think there is a significant risk that students may be affected by the content of an exam, there may be occasions when students are negatively impacted. If a student’s performance in the exam is affected due to content that relates to current events, you can apply for special consideration on their behalf so we can take appropriate action.