Before You Teach IGCSE: Six Checks for the Right Syllabus

A familiar subject name is only the beginning

You open a textbook and recognise every topic. That feels reassuring, but it does not establish that the book matches the student’s examination. In the first IG Career session, a trainer described a teacher discovering that the material being used belonged to a different syllabus. The useful lesson is procedural: confirm the course identity before planning the teaching.

This matters when similar subject names conceal different qualifications, language routes or assessment structures. Being an experienced subject specialist gives you a strong starting point. A documented check connects that knowledge to what this particular student is preparing for.

Write down these six details

Create a course identity sheet and confirm it with the school or exam centre before committing to the teaching plan. Keep unresolved details visible rather than filling them in from memory.

• Exam board: record the awarding organisation, rather than writing only ‘British curriculum’.
• Qualification and subject: use the full official names, including the language route where relevant.
• Syllabus or specification code: match the identifier on the official subject page to the student’s course.
• Exam year and intended series: use the syllabus valid for the examination year and check updates.
• Assessment route and components: confirm which papers, options or other assessments apply to this student.
• Resource match: check the textbook edition, question papers and mark schemes against the confirmed course details.

Build a small, usable resource set

The second session demonstrated navigating from an official subject page to its syllabus and examination resources. Cambridge makes a selection of past papers, mark schemes and related materials available through subject pages, with further materials on its School Support Hub. Start with resources you are authorised to access.

For your first teaching topic, assemble the relevant syllabus objectives, a suitable question paper, its matching mark scheme and an examiner report where available. Write beside each file what you will use it for. The syllabus defines the scope; the question shows the task; the mark scheme helps you judge a response; the report can point you towards mistakes to look for. Collecting hundreds of files is less useful than understanding this small set.

Test one lesson against the documents

Choose one learning objective. Explain it in your own words, select a relevant question and work through the answer before teaching it. Check your reasoning against the mark scheme. Then prepare a follow-up question that will help you see whether the student understands the idea.

For example, a student may accurately describe an observation when the task asks them to explain it. Build your teaching around that difference: what happened, what caused it and which evidence supports the explanation? This is an illustrative planning exercise; the exact expectations must come from your subject’s question and mark scheme.

If an older paper includes content that has changed, label or exclude that question. A familiar topic heading is not enough to decide that every historic question still belongs in the current course.

Turn the check into a habit

Save the confirmed details with a date and the official links used. Repeat the check when a new student joins, the planned exam year changes or a revised syllabus is issued. If the family changes routes, revisit your materials and schedule together.

IG Career combines system orientation with live subject training and practical lesson-preparation and marking assessments. Bring a specific uncertainty to that training: ‘Here is the syllabus, the question and my proposed explanation. Do they fit together?’ A precise question makes the feedback much more useful.