To only now now realise that iGCSEs are harder than GCSEs...

[dontgetmestartedwillu]

So, around the time when the new, reformed GCSEs were introduced in state schools there was lots of discussion about this and the conclusion from Mumsnetters was that the GCSEs were harder (no coursework).

Quite a few heated discussions on here on the topic a while back! But now I have heard from friends who work as a tutor (ex teacher) hat that isn't strictly true.

Yes, in some subjects there is typically coursework elements for the iGCSE but the exam questions are much less scaffolded for the iGCSEs and so require more breadth, depth and problem solving. She said there may be one really tough (impossible) question in the GCSE but, overall, the questions are requiring higher level problem solving skills in the iGCSEs.

My tutor (ex teacher) friend says the iGCSE actually prepares kids better for A-levels particularly in maths/STEM.

I didn't have a clue this was the case.

All this time I've just assumed that private school kids had all the advantage and that the state school kids had a much tougher ride to get good GCSEs versus their private school counterparts (who already benefit from smaller class sizes and more resources).

My friends tutor said the opposite for English. The course the state kids were doing was far harder than the course she taught in her day job.

I think it’s wrong there is a different exam at all surely the whole point of a public exam is it’s the same for everyone?

My DD went to a school where they did IGCSE in maths as there were a high proportion of children with SEN / dyslexia etc. and the questions were better suited for those who struggled with extensive text rather than just numeric format. There was no suggestion it was either easier or harder - just different question presentation.

Yes, actually she did say English was harder.

But even for GCSEs it isn't the same exam for everyone!
Each board sets it's own exams.
And within certain subjects there are foundation and higher papers

Also op you are about to get annihilated as I said it wasn’t right as my dds private school mates had far fewer exams than her and the private school parent lobby on here went crazy! The party line is they are Exactly The Same.

I don’t know what kind of teachers you have been talking to but the general conclusion, especially in STEM, is that GCSEs are now harder.

For instance, in Physics, subjects that GCSE has but IGCSE doesn’t include F=BIL and adding non colinear vectors using scale diagrams. In general, there are also more long wordy hard 6 markers.

When IGCSEs were introduced they were just the same as GCSEs but, over time, they made GCSEs easier and kept IGCSEs more rigorous, so private schools tended to choose IGCSEs.

But that trend reversed about a decade ago and now the reverse is true. A lot of private schools talk about migrating back to GCSEs but most haven’t yet, both due to laziness and not wanting to see a dip in their results.

Each board has always had different exams.

IGCSE has its place - especially for those who are home educated, educated in smaller settings without lab or tech resources, and those educated out of country, as they rely almost solely on the exam rather than practicals which form part of the end result (GCSE science for example)

The IGCSE is just a different format and layout

But even gcses aren't the same as there are different exam boards.

Again there are some igcses which are specifically used by selective schools to stretch the students.

Private schools are able to use them to do this and better prepare for A levels because they don't feature in the ridiculous league tables.

@Spirallingdownwards ,

I haven’t seen that at all. Which boards have harder IGCSEs? I don’t know any.

To stretch students in STEM and prepare them for A levels, they just show them things beyond the syllabus and attempt Olympiad (junior challenge) papers.

Can you specify what subjects you feel are harder? Because it’s fairly well known that they aren’t.

Ds is currently sitting igcse edexcel maths. His tutor (who works in a state school, and had never seen an igcse paper before he started tutoring ds) says its a much harder maths paper than the standard GCSE. He says some of the questions are close to A level standard.

@MissyB1 ,

That sounds like a really inexperienced tutor.

As someone who taught IGCSES for years, I always looked at questions from GCSEs and a variety of boards to give my pupils a look at different styles etc.

And my last school Maths department were one of the last to teach GCSEs and they were thinking of moving to the IGCSE paper to make it easier.

Our school did a mix of both. History was typically GCSE and French was typically iGCSE, for example. Geography, Art, Computer Science etc they could choose depending on the schedule. Whether one was ‘easier’ than the other is hard to judge considering the exam changes from year to year. It’s curved anyway, so if one exam students do better in because it’s ‘easier’ the same proportion should get the relevant grades anyway.

Maths teacher here, and I disagree that iGCSE's are always harder. There are topics in GCSE syllabus which aren't on iGCSE and vice versa, and boards may format questions differently. Schools teach according to the style and material required for their particular exam and board, so someone looking at an iGCSE paper might think it's harder when in fact they're just used to a different type of question.

Around here a number of very competitive independent schools openly tell us parents that they pick the "easier" exam boards, and if that's iGCSE then they will do that. They definitely forum shop to maximise results, and will not use the same exam board for every subject.

It's openly an industry in getting the maximum number of top grades for their statistics and nothing about being prepared for the next level. It's always been that way even when I was at Uni. It was obvious which children had been spoon fed at school because they were totally unprepared for the course at university. The state school children that had managed to get the entry grades for the course were almost all much better prepared for independent study.

English GCSEs are harder.

So, having looked deeper it seems like someone said, initially GCSEs/iGCSEs were similar. When GCSEs became easier, many private schools kept the iGCSEs because they were seen as more rigorous.

Then the reformed GCSEs were introduced. It seems they can be quite wordy and focusing on problem solving but that the content in the iGCSE generally prepare students better for A-level.

The below is from AI (assuming they will sweep across all online platforms for some sort of consensus):

✅ Verdict
For preparing specifically for A-level Maths, IGCSE Maths often has a slight edge, especially for students aiming for top grades or at selective schools, due to:

• More advanced algebra and core maths skills
• Content overlap with early A-level topics
• Stronger focus on mathematical fluency

However, reformed GCSE Maths is absolutely sufficient—especially at higher tier and grade 7–9—provided students get strong exposure to algebra, graphs, and problem-solving.

The school my ds started off at used to use IGCSE as they felt it prepared the students for A levels better. When the new GCSE's came in they almost entirely switched to the new ones.

Edexcel IGCSE Maths (Higher Tier)
Topic: Solving quadratic equations
Question:
Solve the equation
3x2−5x−2=03x^2 - 5x - 2 = 03x2−5x−2=0
(3 marks)
Comments:

• This is a direct, algebraically-focused question.
• Students are expected to use the quadratic formula, factorisation, or completing the square.
• Less scaffolding is provided.
• Tests core fluency and algebraic technique.

Edexcel GCSE Maths (Higher Tier, 9–1)
Topic: Solving quadratic equations with context
Question:
A rectangle has an area of 48 cm².
The length is x+4x + 4x+4 cm and the width is x−2x - 2x−2 cm.
(a) Show that x2+2x−8=48x^2 + 2x - 8 = 48x2+2x−8=48
(b) Solve the equation x2+2x−56=0x^2 + 2x - 56 = 0x2+2x−56=0
(5 marks)
Comments:

• Involves a contextual setup and a requirement to form and then solve a quadratic.
• Emphasises problem-solving and mathematical reasoning, aligned with GCSE objectives.
• More scaffolded, but longer and more interpretive.

So maybe they are difficult in different ways?

I can say confidently that Geography iGCSE is much easier than the GCSE from the same exam board (Edexcel/Pearson) - both are ‘traditional’ content and assessment style roughly the same but iGCSE has about two-thirds of the content (possibly less!). I’ve taught both in recent years. The CIE International A Level in Geography is also very different - some harder bits of knowledge included in a few places but less content in total and no coursework which altogether makes it significantly easier, in my experience.

It’s true that it can be hard to compare as each exam board does things differently and, in principle, they are supposed to then end up with similar proportions of each grade. I’d prefer it if there was one exam board and no iGCSEs, personally. If you need something different for international schools, and private schools in the UK want to use them, that’s valid but it should be called something else. You shouldn’t be able to apply for the next stage (college, Sixth Form, university, etc.) with e.g. a 9 in an iGCSE Geography where you would have had a 6 in a ‘normal’ GCSE with the same amount of knowledge.

Gosh really - a 6 in state would equate to a 9 in iGCSE. That's bonkers.

Assuming kids from private who do geography at A-level (and uni) do much worse than those having done GCSEs then?

Since the switch to 9-1, GCSEs have been harder. I don’t know anyone from either sector who thinks otherwise, including those who have taught and/or tutored both. FWIW I don’t blame private schools, who have the flexibility, for choosing the course likely to bring the better results. Any private school teachers I’ve spoken to about it have been candid about this!

I agree, they obviously do.

Saying that, for many years I guess the iGCSEs at private were seen as harder before the reformed GCSEs and I don't think they necessarily switched to GCSEs at that point. Or did they perhaps?

On that note, is there research that compares outcomes for those having taken iGCSEs v GCSEs (higher education/uni outcomes)?

Would be really interesting to read!