Cambridge A-Levels

Key Topics to Master:

• Critical evaluation of arguments, evidence and perspectives on global issues
• Independent research report, planned and executed by the candidate
• Team project work assessed on collaboration and reflection
• Comparing national, local and personal perspectives on the same issue
• Referencing and academic honesty at pre-university level
• The one AICE credit an AS Level carries, against two credits for a full A Level

Key Topics to Master:

• Mathematics 9709 with six components: Pure Mathematics 1, 2 and 3, Mechanics, and Probability and Statistics 1 and 2
• Further Mathematics 9231, which includes Further Pure Mathematics 1 and 2 among its four components
• Biology 9700, Chemistry 9701 and Physics 9702, each with a laboratory practical paper and a separate planning and evaluation paper
• Computer Science 9618, which carries a higher private candidate entry fee than most sciences
• Assessment objective weights published per syllabus: Mathematics 9709 is 52 per cent AO1 knowledge and understanding and 48 per cent AO2 application and communication at A Level
• Marine Science 9693, Environmental Management and Psychology 9990

Key Topics to Master:

• English Language 9093 and Language and Literature in English 8695
• Literature in English 9695 at A Level
• English General Paper 8021, which can count as an alternative outcome in the AICE Diploma
• First language syllabuses such as Spanish 8665 and Arabic Language 8680
• Foreign language syllabuses including French 8682 and 9716, German 8683, Spanish 8685 and 9719, Japanese 8281 and Urdu 8686
• Language subjects assessed in the target language rather than in English

Key Topics to Master:

• History 9489, assessed through source evaluation and extended essays
• Geography 9696, including data response and fieldwork-informed questions
• Economics 9708 and Business 9609
• Sociology 9699 and Law 9084
• Classical Studies 9274 and Islamic Studies 9488
• Art and Design and Music, which carry substantial internally assessed portfolio components

Key Topics to Master:

• Thinking Skills at AS or A Level, covering critical thinking and problem solving
• Global Perspectives and Research 9239 counted here when the full A Level is taken
• English General Paper 8021 at AS Level only, usable as an alternative outcome
• Information Technology 9626
• The rule that an AS Level earns one credit and an A Level earns two
• The seven-credit AICE Diploma total, with at least one credit from each of Groups 1, 2 and 3

• 1Ask your exams officer which of the three published routes you are on: AS only, staged A Level across two years, or all A Level components in one series.
• 2Write down the exact component numbers you are entered for, because Mathematics 9709 grade thresholds differ by route and 11, 31, 41, 51 is not the same entry as 13, 33, 43, 53.
• 3Confirm your administrative zone, since the zone sets your paper variants and therefore which past papers match your exam.
• 4Download the syllabus PDF for the correct year for every subject and copy the assessment overview onto one page: paper, duration, marks and percentage weighting.
• 5If you are on the staged route, confirm with your exams officer that your carry-forward entry is valid under the time limits in the Cambridge Handbook.

• 1Copy each syllabus content heading into a red, amber, green checklist and rate every line honestly.
• 2Note the assessment objective weights per subject. A Level Mathematics 9709 is 52 per cent AO1 and 48 per cent AO2, so nearly half the marks reward choosing a method rather than executing a taught one.
• 3Note the component weights. Biology 9700 Paper 4 alone is 38.5 per cent of the A Level, which is more than Papers 1, 3 and 5 combined.
• 4Read the command words section at the back of each syllabus and write your own definition for each term.
• 5Allocate your weekly study hours in proportion to component weight, not to how much you like the subject.

• 1Sit one past paper for the heaviest weighted component in every subject, timed and with the correct variant number.
• 2Mark against the published mark scheme and award marks only where your wording matches.
• 3Look up the grade threshold table for that series and convert each raw mark into a grade using the correct component combination.
• 4Read the examiner report for the same paper and list every common error the report names that you also made.
• 5Record your mark by question rather than by paper so you can see which syllabus lines are bleeding marks.

• 1Take 25 past paper questions across subjects and answer only what the command word demands.
• 2In the sciences, drill the difference between state, describe, explain, suggest and evaluate against real mark schemes.
• 3In Mathematics 9709, write out full method lines on every question, since method marks are available where the final answer is wrong.
• 4In History 9489, practise the source evaluation questions separately from the essay questions, because they use different criteria.
• 5Rewrite your five weakest week-3 answers to full marks using mark scheme wording, then reattempt them from blank paper three days later.

• 1In Biology 9700, treat Paper 3 Advanced Practical Skills and Paper 5 Planning, Analysis and Evaluation as separate disciplines, worth 11.5 per cent each of the A Level.
• 2For Paper 3, rehearse the apparatus and techniques listed in the practical assessment section until nothing is unfamiliar under time.
• 3For Paper 5, drill experimental design: independent, dependent and controlled variables, sample size, replication and the identification of anomalies.
• 4Practise drawing and reading graphs with error bars, calculating gradients and stating limitations in the wording examiners accept.
• 5Note that Cambridge states the context of these questions may fall outside the syllabus content, so practise on unfamiliar biology deliberately.

• 1Confirm which optional Mathematics 9709 components you sit, since Mechanics Paper 4 and Probability and Statistics Paper 5 each carry 20 per cent of the A Level and Paper 6 is A Level only.
• 2Work Paper 1 style questions to a 1 minute 28 second per mark budget, which is 110 minutes for 75 marks.
• 3Work Paper 4 and Paper 5 style questions to 1 minute 30 seconds per mark, which is 75 minutes for 50 marks.
• 4Drill the topics that recur in Pure Mathematics 3: integration by parts and substitution, differential equations, complex numbers and vectors.
• 5Learn which formulas appear on the list of formulas issued with the paper and which you must carry in your head.

• 1Write one timed essay per week in each essay subject, on paper, to the exact time the real paper allows.
• 2Plan for 5 minutes before writing and keep the plan on the script, since a visible structure helps an examiner follow the argument.
• 3In Economics 9708 and Business 9609, practise data response separately from the extended evaluation questions.
• 4In Literature in English 9695, write to the assessment criteria for each paper rather than to a general essay template.
• 5Ask a teacher to mark one essay per subject against the published criteria and to state the grade it would receive.

• 1Sit every component of every subject across the week, in the right order and to the right timings.
• 2Use one consistent series so the grade threshold table gives a coherent grade profile across subjects.
• 3Weight and combine your component marks the way Cambridge does before converting to a syllabus grade, since Biology 9700 Paper 4 at 38.5 per cent dominates the total.
• 4Convert each result into a grade and identify the two subjects closest to a threshold.
• 5Rebuild your red, amber, green checklist from mock evidence rather than from impressions.

• 1Take the two subjects nearest a grade boundary and sit three more component papers each, spread across the week.
• 2For every lost mark, write the syllabus line it came from and revise that line specifically rather than the whole topic.
• 3Compare your marks against the threshold spread across variants, since in June 2026 an A* in Mathematics 9709 needed 223 on one route and 231 on another.
• 4Redo every question you got wrong from memory rather than reading the worked solution.
• 5Check whether an enquiry about results on a previous series is still open to you, since Service 2S returns a copy of the script.

• 1Clear every remaining red line on every checklist, one subject per day, converting each line into three practice questions rather than reading notes.
• 2Build one page per subject holding formulas, definitions, required practicals and named examples.
• 3Test yourself on those pages twice from blank paper, on different days.
• 4Stop making new notes after this week and switch entirely to questions.
• 5Reread the examiner reports for your two weakest components and check you no longer make the errors they name.

• 1Sit one more full paper per component, recording the clock time at which you finished each section.
• 2In Biology 9700 Paper 4, check you had 50 of 100 marks secured by the 60-minute point of the 2-hour paper.
• 3In Biology 9700 Paper 1, check you completed all 40 multiple-choice items inside 75 minutes, which allows 1 minute 53 seconds per item.
• 4Leave nothing blank in any component, since Cambridge does not deduct marks for wrong answers.
• 5List every question where you ran out of time rather than knowledge, and drill that question type specifically.

• 1Check your personal timetable against your administrative zone timetable, including date, start time and room for every component.
• 2Pack black pens, pencils, ruler, and an approved scientific or graphic calculator with fresh batteries, checking the Cambridge Handbook rules on permitted models.
• 3Confirm that any access arrangement your centre agreed with Cambridge is in place, since these must be approved before the exams rather than on the day.
• 4Reread only your one-page summaries and error logs, and stop full papers 48 hours before your first exam.
• 5If you sit a practical paper, confirm the session time separately, because practical sessions are often scheduled outside the main written timetable.