Can you revise for IGCSE with GCSE resources?

Which subjects carry over best?

Maths carries over almost completely. Every topic in Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics has a close match in the UK GCSE except differentiation, which Cambridge teaches on its Extended course and Pearson teaches on the Higher tier of its International GCSE Maths A. Sets are in the GCSE too, but only as Venn diagrams and set notation, so give them a little extra time.

The sciences carry over well. Cells, organisation, inheritance and ecology in Biology; atomic structure, bonding, quantities, rates and organic chemistry in Chemistry; forces, energy, waves, electricity, magnetism, radioactivity and space in Physics. All of them sit at the heart of the GCSE and of both international boards' courses. The emphasis differs, and each syllabus has a few topics of its own.

English and the humanities carry over least. The reading and writing skills of First Language English transfer, but set texts, history options and geography case studies differ from board to board, and English as a Second Language is a different course altogether.

What to check in your own syllabus

Your syllabus is free on your board's website, and it lists everything you can be asked about. Read it beside your GCSE resources and write down whatever they don't cover. That short list is the part to learn from your textbook or your teacher.

• The topic list. Look for the topics your course adds, such as differentiation in Maths.
• The tier. Cambridge calls its tiers Core and Extended. Pearson's International GCSE Maths has Foundation and Higher, and its sciences have no tiers at all.
• Practical skills. Cambridge's sciences have a paper on them, either a practical test or a written alternative. Pearson examines them inside its written papers.
• The grading scale. A* to G or 9 to 1 changes how grade boundaries read.

Where GCSE resources fall short

Past papers are the big one. Every board has its own style: how questions are worded, how the marks are split, what earns a method mark. GCSE past papers teach a UK board's style, so in the last months before your exams, switch to your own board's past papers and mark schemes.

Timing is the other. GCSE revision plans and countdowns are built around the UK summer exams. If you sit in November, plan backwards from your own timetable rather than theirs.

A way to use both

Use GCSE-style practice to learn and secure each shared topic. There is plenty of it, and practice that adapts to your level finds what you don't know yet faster than rereading notes. Learn the topics your course adds from your textbook or your teacher. Then, for the last few months before the exams, put your own board's past papers at the centre of your revision.