The first term of IGCSE is mostly about routines and small gaps, not about covering everything. Set up a place for each subject, a short regular study slot, and a quick check of the skills each course quietly assumes.
Most students find the same jump: more content, less hand-holding, and homework that expects you to choose your own method. This page gives you a first-term plan you can start this week.
What changes at the start of IGCSE?
Teachers cover topics faster and expect you to practise between lessons. Questions use command words such as “explain” and “show that”, and they often combine two skills in one line.
You also own more admin: which subjects, which syllabus code, which notes belong to which course. Nothing here is hard, but nobody may hand it to you in one neat package.
A first-four-weeks plan
- Week 1, organise. Confirm your subjects with your school or exam centre. Set up one folder (paper and digital) per subject. Our page on building a course-code and source folder shows how.
- Week 1, schedule. Pick a fixed 20 to 30 minute slot per subject on several days. Short and regular beats long and rare.
- Week 2, check prerequisites. For each subject, try a small set of questions on the skills the course assumes (see the example below).
- Week 3, start a mistake log. Record errors with causes, using the mistake log template.
- Week 4, review. Look at what the log and the prerequisite checks show. Decide what to fix first.
Worked example: a prerequisite check for Chemistry
Early IGCSE Chemistry uses the formula n = m ÷ M (moles = mass ÷ molar mass). Students who never settled rearranging formulas often stall here, even though the chemistry is not hard.
Try this: a substance has molar mass 40 g/mol. How many grams are in 0.25 mol?
Rearrange first: n = m ÷ M, so m = n × M.
Substitute: m = 0.25 × 40 = 10 g.
Check: 10 ÷ 40 = 0.25 mol. ✓
The mistake to watch for: the student writes m = n ÷ M = 0.25 ÷ 40 = 0.00625. The answer looks odd but the pen went straight to the formula as it was printed. The gap is not chemistry: it is rearranging a formula to make m the subject.
This tells you what to repair: a small algebra skill, not “Chemistry is hard”.
How to use what you find
If a check question fails, write the skill behind it, not the subject. “Rearranging formulas” is repairable in an evening with six to eight practice questions. “I’m bad at Chemistry” is not repairable because it is not specific.
The prerequisite gap explorer lets you answer short questions and see which skill a wrong answer points to.
The mistake to avoid
The trap at this stage is treating every difficulty as proof you need more lessons. Another trap is waiting for a term test to find out. Gaps are cheapest to fix when they are small and recent.
A third trap is copying notes neatly without testing yourself. Tidy notes feel productive, but questions show what you can do.
Check yourself
1. Rearrange v = d ÷ t to make d the subject. Then find d when v = 12 m/s and t = 7 s.
Show answer
d = v × t. d = 12 × 7 = 84 m. Check: 84 ÷ 7 = 12.
2. Which is a better weekly plan for one subject: one 2-hour session on Sunday, or four 30-minute sessions? Give one reason.
Show answer
Four 30-minute sessions. Returning to a topic several times makes you recall it more than once, so it sticks better than one long session. The total time is the same.
3. You fail a prerequisite check question. Which note is more useful: “Bad at Chemistry” or “Cannot rearrange n = m ÷ M for m”?
Show answer
The second. It names a specific skill that can be practised and retested.
Where this leads next
Start by building your course-code and source folder, then come back to recognising a learning problem before it becomes a backlog. Check the wider map of learning routes under student learning routes.
It is reasonable to begin the year without tuition. A one-to-one teacher becomes worth considering when a specific topic keeps blocking you after you have tried examples, notes and asking at school. You can test that with a paid one-hour trial, and the online one-to-one Mathematics tuition page shows what a teacher can address.