The Cambridge IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (0654) May/June 2026 papers and mark schemes are out, and they’re free. All six papers, 0654/12 to 0654/62, can be downloaded and printed on the Tutopiya Learning Portal. Below is a breakdown of what each paper tested, which questions were biology, chemistry or physics, and how the mark scheme gave marks.

Key points from the 2026 0654 papers

• Every paper split the three sciences in a fixed order. Biology came first, then chemistry, then physics. On the theory papers each science had four questions and 40 marks.
• Some topics appeared on both theory papers. Ethene and poly(ethene), sulfur dioxide from fossil fuels, the composition of air, ultrasound and the life of the Sun all came up on Paper 3 and Paper 4.
• Calculations were spread across all three sciences: a magnification, a stomata density using the area of a circle, reacting masses, resistors in parallel, electrical energy, pressure and the speed of light.
• Papers 5 and 6 used the same six investigations, from catalase in celery to the spring constant of a spring. If you sat one, the other is your best practice.
• Most long answers are points-based. You score by making separate, specific points, not by writing one long paragraph.

All May/June 2026 0654 papers

Paper	Code	Duration	Marks	Who sits it
Paper 1 Multiple Choice (Core)	0654/12	45 minutes	40	Core
Paper 2 Multiple Choice (Extended)	0654/22	45 minutes	40	Extended
Paper 3 Theory (Core)	0654/32	2 hours	120	Core
Paper 4 Theory (Extended)	0654/42	2 hours	120	Extended
Paper 5 Practical Test	0654/52	2 hours	60	Core and Extended (either 5 or 6)
Paper 6 Alternative to Practical	0654/62	1 hour 30 minutes	60	Core and Extended (either 5 or 6)

Timings and marks are taken from the front cover of each 2026 paper. Each paper comes with its official Cambridge mark scheme. For the full list of syllabus content, see the Cambridge IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences (Double) 0654 syllabus.

Which variant is this? Cambridge sets different versions of each paper (variants) for different time zones. The papers here are variant 2: 0654/12, /22, /32, /42, /52 and /62. All variants cover the same syllabus at the same difficulty, so variant 2 is just as good for practice as the one your school sat.

Download the 0654 May/June 2026 papers →

What came up in 0654 Paper 4 (Extended Theory), May/June 2026?

Paper 4 had twelve questions worth 120 marks: Questions 1 to 4 biology, 5 to 8 chemistry and 9 to 12 physics, 40 marks each.

Question	Science	Topic	Marks
1	Biology	Leaf structure: guard cells, chlorophyll, how the leaf layers suit photosynthesis, the limewater test, carbon dioxide levels in leaves and expired air, stomata density using the area of a circle	11
2	Biology	Blood glucose control: insulin, glycogen and the liver, the pancreas, negative feedback	7
3	Biology	Choosing chickens for selective breeding from a table, why only a bacterial infection gets antibiotics, bacterial cell structures, decomposition in the carbon cycle	11
4	Biology	Sexual reproduction (nuclei, zygote, haploid gametes), egg cell adaptations, comparing male and female gametes, asexual reproduction and its drawback	11
5	Chemistry	Nitrogen: particles in a solid, why hydrogen molecules move faster than nitrogen molecules, oxygen in air, oxides of nitrogen and catalytic converters, a dot-and-cross diagram for N₂	10
6	Chemistry	Copper versus potassium, why neon is unreactive, placing an element on the Periodic Table, magnesium’s electronic configuration, metallic bonding and malleability, ionic bonding in magnesium oxide	11
7	Chemistry	Rate of reaction: sodium thiosulfate and acid (the disappearing cross), concentration, distilled water, a higher temperature and collision theory, sulfur dioxide pollution	11
8	Chemistry	Reactions of ethene: steam, drawing poly(ethene), bromine water, combustion of ethane, fractional distillation of petroleum	8
9	Physics	Speed and velocity, a velocity-time graph and acceleration, resultant force and friction, kinetic energy to find maximum velocity	10
10	Physics	Uses and dangers of ultraviolet, longitudinal waves and ultrasound, compressions and rarefactions, a converging lens ray diagram	10
11	Physics	Resistance and wire length, series and parallel resistors, current at a point, energy supplied by a cell	9
12	Physics	Uranium-235 nucleus and its charge, fission, fusion in the Sun, radio waves from the Moon, the Big Bang theory	11

What made it hard: Question 12(d) was a two-step calculation. You first had to find the Moon’s orbital radius from its speed and period, then use the speed of light to find the travel time. Question 11(b) also needed you to combine two parallel resistors before adding the series one.

What came up in 0654 Paper 3 (Core Theory)?

Paper 3 also had twelve questions worth 120 marks, with the same order: biology (1 to 4), chemistry (5 to 8), physics (9 to 12).

Question	Science	Topic	Marks
1	Biology	Root hair cells: magnification, cell division, osmosis and its adaptations, chlorophyll and chloroplasts, starch tests on a variegated leaf	12
2	Biology	Condoms and sexually transmitted infections, HIV as a virus and how it spreads, fertilisation, changes before fertilisation	8
3	Biology	A food web: ecosystems, carnivores and tertiary consumers, feeding in the carbon cycle, energy flow, effects of removing the grass	10
4	Biology	Allele, genotype and phenotype, inheritance of sex, a pedigree for beta thalassaemia, homozygous, why low haemoglobin causes tiredness	10
5	Chemistry	The reactivity series: brass, Group II and alkali metals, electrolysis, catalysts, a reacting-mass calculation, limewater, forming a Ca²⁺ ion	9
6	Chemistry	Composition of air, protons, neutrons and electrons in oxygen, a redox reaction of magnesium and copper oxide, properties of ionic compounds	11
7	Chemistry	Ethene: atoms, relative molecular mass, unsaturated hydrocarbons, the bromine test, poly(ethene), gas particles	12
8	Chemistry	Fossil fuels and sulfur dioxide, the pH of acid rain, balancing the equation for water, boiling point as a test of purity	8
9	Physics	Resultant force on a spacecraft, background radiation, alpha particles, the life cycle of the Sun, why sound cannot cross space, distance to the Sun, the electromagnetic spectrum	10
10	Physics	Balanced forces on a motorcycle, drawing a parallel circuit with switches and a fuse, how a fuse works, electrostatic charge, warming air in tyres	8
11	Physics	A drone: battery energy, work done lifting it, power, gravitational potential energy, distance from a speed-time graph	11
12	Physics	Ultrasound and infrasound, frequency, pressure under an elephant’s feet, evaporation and cooling	11

Watch for: unit conversions. Question 11(a) gave the current in milliamps and the time in hours, so you had to change both before using the energy equation.

What came up in 0654 Paper 2 (Extended Multiple Choice)?

Paper 2 has 40 questions. Questions 1 to 13 were biology, 14 to 27 chemistry and 28 to 40 physics.

• Biology (1 to 13): characteristics of living things, a flaccid cell, glycogen, enzymes and high temperature, light intensity and photosynthesis, starch digestion in partially permeable tubing, xylem in a leaf, capillaries, antibody specificity, meiosis and mitosis in pollen, antibiotic resistance, a bottle-garden carbon cycle, conserving the Sunda pangolin.
• Chemistry (14 to 27): ionic compounds, why diamond cuts, moles of gas, electrolysis of copper(II) sulfate, catalysts on an energy diagram, physical change, rate and volume of gas, preparing salts, Group I and halogen trends, the blast furnace, the test for water, burning ethanol, chromatography.
• Physics (28 to 40): free fall, density by displacement, a load-extension graph, pressure, gas pressure and particle collisions, conduction in metals, refraction, diffraction, total internal reflection, induced magnetism, transformers, storing a gamma source, minor planets.

What came up in 0654 Paper 1 (Core Multiple Choice)?

Paper 1 has 40 questions in the same order: biology 1 to 13, chemistry 14 to 27, physics 28 to 40.

• Biology (1 to 13): actual size from magnification, active transport, proteins, enzyme optimum, chlorophyll, vitamin C, the water pathway in a plant, urea in plasma, insect- and wind-pollinated flowers, alleles, selective breeding of sheep, a food chain, why little egrets spread north.
• Chemistry (14 to 27): ions, Group IV configurations, a molecular formula, electrolysis of potassium iodide, endothermic reactions, physical change, indicators, making copper(II) chloride crystals, noble gases, metal extraction with carbon, purity of water samples, composition of air, hydrocarbons, fractional distillation.
• Physics (28 to 40): reading a stop-watch, weight and gravitational field strength, units of work and power, Brownian motion, conduction in rods, dispersion by a prism, the electromagnetic spectrum, why sound cannot cross space, magnetic materials, a parallel circuit, fuses, handling radioactive sources, light-years.

What came up in 0654 Papers 5 and 6 (Practical)?

Paper 5 (practical test) and Paper 6 (alternative to practical) used the same six investigations, two per science. On Paper 6 you read results from diagrams and answer extra questions instead of doing the experiments.

Question	Science	Both papers	Paper 6 extras	Marks
1	Biology	Catalase in celery puree: foam height with two enzyme volumes, averages, rate, a colder repeat, a source of error and an improvement	Reading heights from drawings, apparatus for 2 cm³, the test for reducing sugar	13
2	Biology	Plan an investigation into height and recovery time after exercise	—	7
3	Chemistry	Finding x in washing soda by heating to dry powder, mole calculations, heating to constant mass, making crystals, the test for water, why the method fails for a carbonate	Taring a balance, why a blue flame is used, recording masses to 3 significant figures	15
4	Chemistry	Identifying the ions in an unknown solution with sodium hydroxide, silver nitrate and barium nitrate	Why nitric acid is added, why not hydrochloric acid, how to do a flame test	5
5	Physics	Spring constant from timing 10 oscillations, T and T², a graph and its gradient, why timing 20 oscillations is better	Reading stop-watches, whether T² is proportional to m	13
6	Physics	Mixing hot and cold water: temperature changes, testing a prediction, thermometer mistakes, reading a thermometer too early	A safety hazard and precaution	7

What this means for you: the planning question was about people, not chemicals. Practise plans for “human” investigations too, where you control age, sex and fitness and use a pulse meter or stop-watch.

How the 0654 May/June 2026 mark scheme gives marks

Reading the 2026 mark schemes side by side shows a clear marking style across all three sciences.

1. Long answers are a list of marking points, not a level grid. Paper 4 Question 7(d)(ii) gave 3 marks for collision theory from four points: more kinetic energy, more particles with the activation energy, more frequent collisions and more successful collisions. The scheme ignores “faster collisions” and plain “more collisions”. You need “more collisions per second”.

2. Tick only the boxes you are asked to. Paper 4 Question 6(a) asked for two ticks. Three ticks with two correct scored 1 mark, and four ticks scored nothing. Under Cambridge’s list rule, a wrong answer still uses up one of your places, and two answers that contradict each other score nothing.

3. Spelling counts when two words could be confused. The scheme names ethane and ethene as an example. Paper 4 Question 8 used both, with reactions of ethene and the combustion of ethane, so a careless vowel could cost you the mark.

4. Equations earn marks in two parts. In Paper 4 Question 5(d)(ii) and Question 8(b), 1 mark was for the correct formulae and 1 for balancing. Multiples and fractions are accepted, so balancing ethane combustion with a half in front of oxygen still scores.

5. Calculations use error carried forward (ecf). In Paper 4 Question 11(b)(ii) you could still get both marks for the current if you used a wrong total resistance from part (i) correctly. A correct answer on the answer line gets full marks, but a missing or wrong unit normally loses the final mark unless the unit has its own mark.

6. The planning question has a fixed structure. The 7-mark recovery-time plan needed one mark from each of five sections (apparatus, method, measurements, control variables, processing results) plus any two more. Credited points included using at least five different heights, keeping age, sex or fitness the same, and plotting recovery time against height.

7. Practical recording rules are strict. Paper 5 Question 5 gave a mark for all times recorded to 0.1 s. The gradient mark on both papers needed a triangle covering at least half of the line. On Paper 6 Question 5(b)(i), axes needed both the quantity and the unit.

8. Know the shorthand. “A” means accept, “I” means ignore and “R” means reject. “AVP” is any other valid point, and “ORA” means the reverse argument also scores. For example, in Paper 4 Question 3(b) “fight bacteria” was ignored. The two marks were for saying antibiotics kill only bacteria and that needless use leads to resistance.

Which papers should you sit?

• Extended candidates: Paper 2, Paper 4, and either Paper 5 or Paper 6.
• Core candidates: Paper 1, Paper 3, and either Paper 5 or Paper 6.

Not sure whether your school entered you for Paper 5 or Paper 6? Do Paper 6 anyway. In 2026 it used the same investigations as Paper 5 and added questions on reading apparatus and safety.

How to use the 2026 papers as a mock

1. Keep them for last. Use older 0654 papers for topic practice and save May/June 2026 for a full mock two to four weeks before your exam.
2. Sit the theory paper in one two-hour block. It covers all three sciences, so practise switching from biology to chemistry to physics without losing pace.
3. Mark strictly with the mark scheme. Give a mark only when your answer contains the point in the scheme.
4. Log lost marks by science. Count how many marks you dropped in the biology, chemistry and physics questions, then revise the weakest science first.
5. Redo every calculation with the units written in, and check you converted milliamps, hours and minutes before substituting.

More IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences resources

• IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences 0654 past papers (all years)
• IGCSE past papers 2026: all subjects

🔍 Looking for a specific past paper? Use our free Past Paper Finder to search by subject, year and exam board.

Need help with a 0654 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an IGCSE Co-ordinated Sciences tutor →

Frequently asked questions

Are the 0654 May/June 2026 past papers free? +

Yes. All six question papers (0654/12 to 0654/62) and their official mark schemes are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

What topics came up in 0654 Paper 4 May/June 2026? +

Paper 4 (0654/42) had twelve questions, four per science. Biology covered leaf structure, blood glucose control, selective breeding and antibiotics, and human reproduction. Chemistry covered nitrogen and air, the Periodic Table and bonding, rates with sodium thiosulfate, and ethene. Physics covered motion graphs, waves and lenses, resistance and circuits, and nuclear physics and space.

How is the 0654 Paper 4 split between biology, chemistry and physics? +

Evenly. Questions 1 to 4 were biology, 5 to 8 chemistry and 9 to 12 physics, each block worth 40 of the 120 marks. Paper 3 followed the same pattern.

How is the 0654 planning question marked? +

The 7-mark plan on Papers 5 and 6 is points-based. You need one mark from each of five sections (apparatus, method, measurements, control variables and processing results) and then any two further marks from the list.

Why can't I find 0654/41 or 0654/43 for 2026? +

Only variant 2 of the May/June 2026 papers is on the portal at the moment. Cambridge sets different variants for different time zones; variants 1 and 3 test the same syllabus in the same format, so variant 2 prepares you just as well.

When will the October/November 2026 0654 papers be available? +

Cambridge usually releases the October/November papers in the new year. We add them to the Learning Portal once they are published.

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