IGCSE Chemistry Tutoring, Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel
IGCSE Chemistry makes students move constantly between three levels: what they see in a test tube, what the particles are doing, and the symbols that describe both. Most lost marks come from slips in that translation — a wrong formula, a missing state symbol, a mole calculation set up the wrong way round.
Short answer
IGCSE Chemistry is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
No group class runs for this exam.
From USD 95 per lesson
Your lessons are taught by Banu Tekin, who teaches IGCSE Chemistry.
- Structure shown for Cambridge International, Pearson Edexcel
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How IGCSE Chemistry is assessed, board by board
2 awarding bodies examine this subject, and they do not examine it the same way: different papers, different weightings, different practical arrangements. Find your board — it is printed on your school's timetable and on past papers — and read that block. Nothing on this page describes one board's paper as though it applied to all of them.
Cambridge International
Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (Core) or Paper 2 (Extended): Multiple Choice — Forty four-choice items | 30% | 45 min | 40 marks | multiple choice |
| Paper 3 (Core) or Paper 4 (Extended): Theory | 50% | 1 hour 15 min | 80 marks | short answer and structured questions |
| Paper 5: Practical Test — Experiments done in a laboratory. Schools enter for this or for Paper 6 | 20% | 1 hour 15 min | 40 marks | practical work |
| Paper 6: Alternative to Practical — A written paper about experiments, for schools that enter for it instead of Paper 5 | 20% | 1 hour | 40 marks | practical work and data response |
- Cambridge tiers this subject. Core candidates sit the Core papers and can be awarded grades C to G; Extended candidates sit the Extended papers and can be awarded A* to G. A student entered for Core cannot be given a grade above a C whatever they write, so if a sixth form is asking for a B in Chemistry, the entry tier is the first thing to check — and schools will usually still move a student between tiers if the work supports it.
- Practical skills carry 20% whichever paper the school enters for, and the Alternative to Practical is not the easier option — it asks students to describe, tabulate and evaluate experiments they can no longer see in front of them.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Chemistry (4CH1)
| Component | Share of grade | Length | Marks | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (4CH1/01) | 61.1% | 2 hours | 110 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
| Paper 2 (4CH1/02) | 38.9% | 1 hour 15 min | 70 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
- Pearson does not tier this subject: every candidate sits the same papers and every grade is reachable from them. That removes the entry-tier decision entirely, which is one of the practical differences between the two boards.
- There is no practical exam and no coursework: experimental skills are examined inside the written papers. The practicals still have to be done, because the questions assume the student has done them, but nobody marks the student doing them.
Checked on 22 September 2026
Cambridge International and Pearson Edexcel are the two IGCSE boards covered here. Some schools use OxfordAQA International GCSEs, which are examined differently again; if that is your board, tell us on the intro call and we will confirm tutor availability for your specification before you book.
What IGCSE Chemistry covers
The syllabus areas most boards share. Which ones appear, in what order and on which paper differs by board and by specification code — your own specification is the final word. Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper.
Particles, atoms and structure
States of matter and diffusion · Elements, compounds and mixtures · Separation, purification and chromatography · Atomic structure and isotopes · Ionic, covalent and metallic bonding
Formulae, equations and the mole
Chemical formulae and balanced equations with state symbols · Relative masses and the mole · Reacting masses, gas volumes and concentrations · Percentage yield and empirical formulae
Physical chemistry
Electrolysis · Exothermic and endothermic reactions · Rates of reaction and catalysts · Reversible reactions and equilibrium
Acids, bases and salts
Properties of acids, alkalis and bases · Titrations · Preparation of salts · Tests for ions and gases
Inorganic chemistry
The Periodic Table: alkali metals and halogens · Gases in the atmosphere and air quality · The reactivity series · Extraction, uses and corrosion of metals
Organic chemistry
Crude oil and fuels · Alkanes and alkenes · Alcohols and carboxylic acids · Polymers
Where IGCSE Chemistry marks are usually lost
Formulae built from memory instead of from charges
Both boards expect balanced symbol equations with state symbols, and the harder questions add ionic equations and the half-equations at the electrodes in electrolysis. A formula written wrongly makes everything after it wrong, however careful the balancing. Students who learn the charges on common ions and build each formula from them, rather than memorising formulae one by one, avoid most of these losses.
Mole calculations with no visible method
Calculations on reacting masses, gas volumes, concentrations and percentage yield follow a short chain of steps, and credit is given along the chain. Students who jump to a final number without showing the mole ratio from the equation lose the method marks as soon as one value goes wrong, and those who round too early drift from the expected answer. Units and significant figures are checked as well.
Naming a product when the question asks what you see
Practical and analysis questions often ask for observations: bubbles, a precipitate and its colour, a solution changing colour, a solid disappearing. Writing “carbon dioxide is produced” when the question wants what would be seen scores nothing, because nobody can see a gas’s name. The tests for cations, anions and gases have to be learned exactly — reagent, procedure and result, colours included.
How we teach IGCSE Chemistry
A tutor starts IGCSE Chemistry with the ideas everything else rests on: atomic structure, bonding and the charges on common ions. Once a student can build any formula and balance any equation, the mole becomes a method rather than a mystery, and it is practised in short, regular sets until each type of calculation is automatic. Inorganic and organic chemistry are taught as patterns — trends among the alkali metals and halogens, the reactivity series, homologous series — so that facts can be deduced rather than only remembered. Lessons follow your board’s specification, Cambridge or Pearson, and practical work is covered in the language examiners use: tests for ions and gases, salt preparation, titration, and how to evaluate a method.
There is no separate diagnostic, because there is no single test that stands in for two years of a school syllabus. The first lesson is the assessment: the tutor works through your recent marked work, past-paper questions from your own specification, and the units your school has already covered, and reads current level, gaps, exam technique and where school work stands. It is a normal paid lesson and it teaches as it assesses.
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IGCSE prices
IGCSE tutoring from USD 95 per 90-minute lesson. Compare lesson packages and included materials.
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