Before you follow a resource’s paper advice, check five things: the board, the code, the exam years, the edition date and the source of its claims. If any one of them is missing or does not match yours, treat the paper advice as unverified.
Confirm your own details first with the syllabus and exam-year navigator. Then run the resource against them.
Why check before you follow?
Paper advice is specific: how long to spend on a section, what kind of question comes first, how many marks a part is worth. That kind of advice is only correct for the exam it was written for.
A confident tip for a different paper can move you away from the real demand. Checking takes five minutes and saves weeks of practising the wrong thing.
What are the five checks?
- Board. Does the resource name the same board as your entry?
- Code. Does the four-digit subject code match yours?
- Exam years. Does the resource say which years it covers, and does that include yours?
- Edition date. When was it made? An undated resource is a warning.
- Source. Does it say where paper advice comes from, such as the syllabus, or is it only opinion?
Score one point for each clear match. Four or five means the advice is probably safe to try. Two or fewer means compare everything with the syllabus first.
Worked example
Daniel finds a video titled “IGCSE Chemistry Paper 2: how to get full marks”. The description says it was made in 2019. It does not show a board or code.
| Check | What the video shows | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Not stated | Unclear |
| Code | Not stated | Unclear |
| Exam years | “IGCSE” only | Unclear |
| Edition date | 2019 | Old, so check |
| Source | “From my experience” | Opinion |
Score: 0 out of 5.
Daniel has Chemistry 0620 for 2027 on his entry slip. He does not dismiss the video. He uses it for explanations of ideas such as balancing equations, and he ignores its advice on timing and section order until he has checked them against the Cambridge 0620 page.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to trust a resource because it is popular or fluent.
Mistaken approach: “The video has a million views, so the paper advice must be right.”
Views measure how well a video is made, not whether it matches your exam.
The correction is to score the resource with the five checks and to keep advice about content separate from advice about paper structure. Content may transfer, structure may not.
Check yourself
1. A notes pack says “Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics 0580, for exams 2020 to 2022”. You sit your exam in 2027. What do you do with its paper advice?
Show answer
Board and code match, but your year is not covered. Use the explanations, and check any paper-structure advice against the current 0580 page for your year.
2. A website says “Top 10 questions that WILL come in this year’s paper”. Which of the five checks does it fail?
Show answer
Source. Nothing explains how it knows. Exam papers are not shared in advance, so this is a guess and should not guide your revision.
3. A resource passes board, code and years but has no date. Score it, and say what you do.
Show answer
Score: board, code and years pass (3), date and source unclear (0 or 1). Treat it with care. Use it, but cross-check any timing or structure advice with the Cambridge page.
When may paid one-to-one tuition be worth considering?
Self-study may be enough when you can score resources quickly and your syllabus is open beside you.
Tuition may be worth considering when you hold several resources that disagree, you cannot tell which advice to keep, or you want a teacher to explain what the paper really asks. Later arrangements are confirmed directly between you and the assigned teacher after the paid trial.
Where to go next
If you are not sure of your own code, start with finding the board and code in school-provided information. If a detail on your entry form stays unclear, ask the centre when a route field is unclear.
To bring a resource into a lesson, see online one-to-one Mathematics tuition.