The Student Room Group

Advice for cie igcse exams!!

Can anyone give me advice on any of the following subjects for my CIE IGCSE exams in lot/nov 2013? PLEASE?
-English Language (extended)
-English Literature (the great gatsby, death of a salesman, the siege, 14 poems from songs of ourselves)
-Maths (extended)
-Business Studies
-Economics
-Environmental Management
:confused:
Hi there,

First of I should tell you a bit about myself

I've taken the CIE IGCSE exams in 2012 May/June session and if you haven't already seen the exams that year, it was freaking difficult and different to other exams (usually there is an exam question trend in each subject).

I thought I screwed my exams up but ended up getting 6A* and 1A which was a shocking surprise to me.
I took the following subject: English First Language with Oral component, Cambridge INT. Maths, Additional Maths, Economics, Chemistry, Physics and Art and Design. (Note. I got an A in english)

In essence, I can only give you details to english, maybe a bit of maths as I am not sure what you mean by math extended, and economics.

English: It depends on what course you are embarking, as i took the coursework and exam paper 2 and oral here are my advices - Make sure you do well in all 3 of your coursework - if you do well in your coursework you're already in the right track of getting an A/A* trust me, this will reduce the stress and pressure you'll eventually get when exam period is just right around the corner. Don't use a lot of sophisticated words in your coursework, be real, truthful and natural, good english does not come from complicated and sophisticated english - good english comes from being concise and being able to express your ideas effectively using simple language. Make sure you don't rely on thesaurus, it is fine to use it sometimes, but don't overuse it (I learnt from that mistake).

As for the exam, there are 3 parts: the creative part, the analysing part and the summarizing part - don't expect examiners to be lenient, yet at the same time don't be put off by stress and pressure (I know people have said that a lot but it is true), whatever you do, remain calm and try and be positive, answer the question PRECISELY, I can't emphasize this enough but it is true, you have to make sure that you have cover all the sub-bullet points it tells you to write. For instance:
Write a letter to your close friend, in your letter you should include:
1. Your experience in the hospital
2. What you thought about the patients
3. What you can do to improve the healthcare in the hospital

MAKE SURE you write your essay in the format of a letter, and there are hints indicated in the question, as it is a letter to your close friend, the letter can be informally written. And make sure in your letter you should cover all bullet 1-3. And be as creative as possible! You'll get rewarded for innovation!

Then for the analysing part, it is usually quite vague and it was my weakest area; all you have to know is that english analysing is different to english LITERATURE analysing. In english they don't expect you to know something as hard as for instance, euphony, cacophony or something like antithesis. Maybe something simple like simile, metaphor, oxymoron, personification, rhyme, onomatopoeia.

And lastly for the third part (summarising part), again it is similar to the creative part in a sense it tells you specifically what to summarize from the passage. It is good to use a highlighter and highlight all the important points you can summarize, form a bullet point form structure and then write your main summary essay from the bullets you have written (DON'T WRITE IN BULLET FORM FOR YOUR FINAL ESSAY, You will score 0 for the language and structure part)

Maths: For maths it really depends on what course you are taking, I had to take 3 papers in my final year which constitutes the following:
Paper 1: Non calculator paper
Paper 4: Extended Paper (Calculator based)
Paper 6: Investigation paper

For me, I think i scored full marks for my non-calculator paper and got almost full marks for my extended paper. Despite that, I left 2-3 pages completely blank for my investigation paper and I thought I was saying goodbye to my A* but I ended up getting an A* nevertheless which completely came to me as a surprise.

It will be advantageous for you to score, if not full marks, a really really high score for your non-calculator paper as it is not only easy but that paper contributes a lot to your final grade, i'll explain what that means later.

For the extended paper, we had 2 hours to do it, make sure you take your time (not to the extend you use 30 minutes to do like 2 questions or something). The paper is very long, but make sure you don't rush it. Utilize your GDC as much as possible, especially in stats and function questions. In addition to that, I think in order to score well for this paper, make sure you know all your stuff, the basics and work through your textbook and memorize some formulas if you have to.

For the investigation paper, it was completely ridiculous. I went to the exam room, feeling optimistic due to the fact it was my last paper for maths. It turns out I left 3 pages blank which demoralized me. For this paper, make sure you do some pastpaper, if not, go online and search for some fun investigation in maths. There are 2 parts to this paper - A. Investigation B. Modelling. I completely screwed part A although people say part A is relatively easier whilst I managed to do part B.
Here is my paper - http://papers.xtremepapers.com/CIE/Cambridge%20IGCSE/International%20Mathematics%20(0607)/0607_s12_qp_6.pdf

Advice from me? There's not much you can revise for this paper as it is completely spontaneous and different to other papers, it tests your practicality in applying maths to real life examples and proofing stuff. I suggest you to do all the pastpapers (regardless of their timezones as different timezones have different papers, not sure about paper 6 though you might have to check and also do the november ones!) and again, YOUR GDC IS YOUR LIFE SAVIOUR IN THIS PAPER, you have to use A LOT of GDC for this paper so make sure you bring with you during your exam day.

To be completely honest, I only spent 3 days in revising everything for maths.

For economics, there are also 3 papers:
Paper 1: Multiple Choice Questions
Paper 2: Long answered analysing questions
Paper 3: Analysing Passage-Based questions

For economics, you really have to know your terms. Define EVERYTHING, you'll definitely lose marks if you don't define the terms related to the question. You need to know pretty much everything, ranging from theories, to understandings, to being able to apply it to the question, to analysing, etc. This applies to all 3 papers, I won't explain paper 1 as it's basically MCQ.

For paper 2, the first question is ALWAYS compulsory - it is usually either related to demand and supply (microeconomics), or macroeconomics or development (GDP, HDI, etc). Yet again, I can't stress enough about the fact economics is unpredictable - the examiners that year decided to put international trade as question 1 for the compulsory question which shocked all of us as they never did put international trade as the first question - people who did not revise international trade of course, suffered as they were not able to answer the questions. Revise everything starting from micro to macro to development to international (everything!).

For part 2, you need to choose 3 questions out of 4 to answer, make sure you note the amount of time you spend on each questions, trust me, i wrote 8 pages and I didn't have time to finish it as there were a lot to cover and we only had 2 hours to answer 4 questions which has 4-5 sub-questions in each question from (i)-(iv) or (v). Be concise and precise, define your terms, draw neat graphs, and don't go over the top (what i mean by that is don't go too off syllabus - you may want to look at some markscheme and read what examiners expect from students in each question, they write it in bullet form so you will get the gizz of it)


For the passage analysing questions, basically you have 1.5 hours to finish all questions, make sure you refer to the passage and i think in the very last question, it's always 10 points, you can refer to the passage but then extend it to your analysation. Make sure you elaborate and explain the points you have made, refer to the graphs you have drawn, etc.

Yeah I think for economics, it's utmost important to know all your stuff because you basically need it in all 3 papers.


There are 4 good tips that applies to all the subjects whenever you take/revise for the CIE papers:
1. DO NOT ONLY RELY ON PASTPAPERS, this will do you no good. I do acknowledge the fact people do pastpaper either to get the trend of what kind of possible questions will come up in your paper or to test themselves after revising everything or to simply relish from the idea of getting a really high mark in the pastpaper and simply assuming you'll do fine in your real exam. Ultimately, I can tell you, expect the unexpected (what I mean by that is the fact don't only expect that they'll test you on the main point of the syllabus, examiners may want to make the exam hard by putting something that is completely insignificant from the syllabus) that's what I learnt from the papers I have taken - the paper I took in my year were basically, all different from the previous paper and trend and the questions were not related to most of the main points from the syllabus. You need to learn you stuff, really understand it instead of solely memorising it for the sake of passing the exams (I mean if you understand the concepts you'll eventually memorise it anyways) and read additional materials to gain a deeper understanding.

2. CHECK THE % PROPORTION OF EACH PAPER THAT CONTRIBUTES TO YOUR FINAL GRADE - for instance, for maths
Paper 1: Non calculator paper ----> 25% of your final grade
Paper 4: Extended Paper (Calculator based) ---> 60% of your final grade
Paper 6: Investigation paper ----> 15% of your final grade

From this you can see, if you get full marks for paper 1, excellent. Do well on your paper 4 -> you'll basically guarantee yourself for an A/A*. Do badly on your paper 4? Don't worry, just do really really really well on paper 6 to get your 15%. You get what I mean. Don't screw up on the most important paper, that is the advice I can give you (note. different subjects have different %'s so you have to check it for yourself)

3. Print the syllabus of your subject and highlight the ones that you've already revised, this is especially important as this will mean you're on the right track and that it shows you're prepared for the exam. Always ask and inquire and you may even go google search and acquire new knowledge.

4. Always revise for all of the subjects you're taking, regardless of the fact that you're good at the subject. Don't be haughty and pretentious, don't say that you'll do fine in that subject because you're good at it, that's not the way in tackling any exams. I could have not revise for maths, yes, because I am good at it but I know if I really want that A*, I need to work for it. Don't adapt with those attitude of saying you'll be safe because you know all the stuff, there's no harm in revising a little more for the subjects you're good at. Learn how to prioritise, spend more time in the subjects you're weak at whilst spend a relatively smaller proportion of your time in the subjects you're good at, you know what I mean.

Anyways, good luck with your exams! :biggrin:
Reply 2
Wow. Thank you SOOOO much. This is some valuable stuff. Btw 6A* and one A is really gooooood :smile: congrats! Also, I'm using the revision guides to help me. Are they beneficial?
Reply 3
The English lit in CIE is generally hard. This is from someone who's done it at both IGCSE and A level. So you might want to get all the resources you could possibly find.


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 4
Do you have any resources I'd find useful?
Reply 5
Original post by ArsenalForLife
Do you have any resources I'd find useful?


You could start with York notes and check the net for poetry analysis


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by ArsenalForLife
Wow. Thank you SOOOO much. This is some valuable stuff. Btw 6A* and one A is really gooooood :smile: congrats! Also, I'm using the revision guides to help me. Are they beneficial?


Yes revision guides are generally useful, but then again, revision guides usually gives you all the necessary stuff that relates to the main points on the syllabus (whence it's usefulness). However, it may skip some minor points (eg. some insignificant points on the syllabus - as I mentioned previously, those minor points may appear on the exam) which then means you may have to resort to your textbook or google search (:
Reply 7
Does anyone have the may/June 2013 cie igcse English literature paper 5?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Quick Reply

Latest