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Assessment
How Cambridge IGCSE Biology is assessed
Core students take Papers 1 and 3 and can get grades C–G. Extended students learn the Core and Supplement content, take Papers 2 and 4, and can get grades A*–G. Everyone also takes Paper 5 or Paper 6.
Syllabus 0610, for exams in 2026–2028.
Core (grades C–G)
Paper 1: Multiple Choice (Core)
40 four-option multiple-choice questions
- Time
- 45 min
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 30%
Paper 3: Theory (Core)
Short-answer and structured questions
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 80
- Weight
- 50%
Extended (grades A*–G)
Paper 2: Multiple Choice (Extended)
40 four-option multiple-choice questions
- Time
- 45 min
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 30%
Paper 4: Theory (Extended)
Short-answer and structured questions
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 80
- Weight
- 50%
Everyone takes one practical paper
Paper 5: Practical Test
Practical test of experimental skills
- Time
- 1 h 15 min
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 20%
Paper 6: Alternative to Practical
Written paper on experimental skills
- Time
- 1 h
- Marks
- 40
- Weight
- 20%
Your school chooses Paper 5 (a practical test) or Paper 6 (a written alternative to practical). Either is worth 20%. There is no coursework.
From the official Cambridge International syllabus, checked October 2026. Read the syllabus
Syllabus content
What’s on the Cambridge IGCSE Biology syllabus
- Characteristics and classification of living organisms
- Organisation of the organism
- Movement into and out of cells
- Biological molecules
- Enzymes
- Plant nutrition
- Human nutrition
- Transport in plants
- Transport in animals
- Diseases and immunity
- Gas exchange in humans
- Respiration
- Excretion in humans
- Coordination and response
- Drugs
- Reproduction
- Inheritance
- Variation and selection
- Organisms and their environment
- Human influences on ecosystems
- Biotechnology and genetic modification
Where marks are lost
Common Cambridge IGCSE Biology mistakes
“Plants respire at night and photosynthesise in the day.”
Plants respire all the time, day and night. Photosynthesis only happens in the light.
Describing osmosis as diffusion of anything.
Osmosis is the movement of water molecules through a partially permeable membrane, from a dilute solution to a more concentrated one.
Describing a graph without numbers.
Give the trend, then quote values from the graph with their units. “It increases” on its own rarely gets full marks.
Six biology tutors, six ways to learn
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Cambridge IGCSE Biology questions, answered.
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