Gcse and IGCSE

I=international

IGCSE just means International GCSE, and is NOT another exam board.
As far as I know, Cambridge (CIE) and Edexcel offer IGCSE.

The biggest difference is the topic covered. GCSE in Britain covers Britain topics i.e. Geography of UK, History of UK etc. On the other hand, IGCSE does not cover Britain specifically, and does international topics. Geography is not based on Britain, and often the map work paper is based on a random island in Caribbean or something. We do World History like Cold War and for coursework, we choose a place out of US, Russia, Germany etc and not only Britain.
Science tends to be just a little bit more detailed. My school offers CIE IGCSE and used normal GCSE science textbooks before, but these textbooks did not cover everything needed for CIE IGCSE. So we had to buy new textbooks specifically made for CIE IGCSE.

CIE IGCSE is also famous for its nasty History papers, but I don't know how it's nasty because I've never done other exam board.

I don't know about English and Maths. I am certain that we do different books and anthology for English literature, but I don't think it matters. Maths may be harder or the same but again I don't know exactly because I've never done other exam board.

An important distinction is coursework.

I did IGCSE Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. No coursework/ISAs etc. The written exams at the end of the three year teaching period counted for everything.

IGCSE is available on CIE and Edexcel, and is only (currently) available in private grammar schools (correct me if I'm wrong). Not sure about this but I think Edexcel has an equivalent qualification for state schools called the Edexcel Certificate.

Not in my case.

My CIE IGCSE is two years course for every subject (Maybe except for languages, but anyway they are special). I have coursework for English language, three 800 words essays.
There ARE coursework for every subject (or at least the core subjects). However, my school always chooses "Alternative to coursework" option except for English language because coursework takes too much time. We choose coursework for English language because writing essays in a limited examination time is harder than managing time writing 3x800 words essay.

They are available in international schools as well, and that's where I am at. IGCSE is International, after all.
I believe any school can choose to take IGCSEs as long as they sign, but public schools generally don't bother about changing exam boards and learning new mark schemes etc or they're more expensive or something, I don't know.

Ah, my wisdom must have been anecdotal then. Edexcel IGCSEs in the sciences are definitely over 3 years.

On the point about state schools, I guess it's been too long since I've thought about GCSEs/IGCSEs now that I'm doing A levels Articles such as this one have just passed me by. Previously I had gathered the Department for Education disallowed funding to be given to schools for IGCSE, though that seems to have changed now.

Anyway, details, details. Supposedly standards are supposed to be equivalent between GCSE and IGCSE, the more people talk about the latter being 'easy' the more likely it is it'll get harder. At the end of the day it's not too unlike just switching an exam boards, to be perfectly honest. It's not like doing one gives you much weight over doing the other one.

An important distinction is coursework.

I did IGCSE Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. No coursework/ISAs etc. The written exams at the end of the three year teaching period counted for everything.

IGCSE is available on CIE and Edexcel, and is only (currently) available in private grammar schools (correct me if I'm wrong). Not sure about this but I think Edexcel has an equivalent qualification for state schools called the Edexcel Certificate.