IGCSE Add Math Exam Guide
IGCSE Add Math 0606 Exam Format Explained
Written by Teacher Rig
8 years teaching IGCSE Add Math · Updated 12 June 2026
If you are sitting Cambridge IGCSE Additional Mathematics 0606 in 2025, 2026 or 2027, the exam structure is simple to describe, and the details matter more than most students realise.
The format at a glance
| Paper 1 | Paper 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Calculator | Not allowed | Allowed (scientific) |
| Weighting | 50% | 50% |
| Duration | 2 hours | 2 hours |
| Marks | 80 | 80 |
| Style | Compulsory structured questions | Compulsory structured questions |
Two written papers, equally weighted. Every question is compulsory, there is no choice of questions, so there is nowhere to hide a weak topic. There is no coursework and no practical paper: your grade is decided entirely in those four hours.
One tier for everyone
0606 has no Core/Extended split. This surprises families coming from IGCSE Mathematics 0580, where students choose a tier. In Add Math, the full grade range A*–E is open to every candidate on the same papers. The practical effect: each paper ramps from accessible early questions to demanding final ones, and your grade depends on how far up that ramp you can score reliably.
The change that matters: Paper 1 is non-calculator
The headline change for the 2025–2027 syllabus is that Paper 1 must be done without a calculator. Half of your final grade now depends on clean manual arithmetic and algebra: exact trig values, surd manipulation, long division of polynomials, solving quadratics by hand, log laws applied without numerical shortcuts. Students trained on older calculator-everywhere papers consistently underestimate this. We’ve written a dedicated non-calculator paper guide covering how to prepare.
Two other syllabus changes for 2025–2027:
- Indices and surds were removed as a taught topic, they’re now assumed knowledge from IGCSE Maths. They still appear inside questions, especially on Paper 1.
- Coordinate geometry of the circle was added, a genuinely new topic, and new topics are reliably examined.
What the papers actually test
Both papers sample widely across the 14 syllabus topics. In practice, calculus is the largest single source of marks, with trigonometry, quadratics and logarithms close behind. The syllabus also explicitly expects full, clear working, answers without method earn little. How marks are split between method and accuracy is covered in how to show working for full marks.
Timing strategy
80 marks in 120 minutes is 1.5 minutes per mark. A useful rule: if a 3-mark part has taken five minutes and you have no route forward, move on and return. The hard marks at the end of each paper are worth the same as the easy marks at the start, secure the certain ones first. Grade thresholds shift slightly every session (explained in grade boundaries), so banked marks anywhere on the paper are what count.
Preparing for this format
The format rewards students who practise under exam conditions early: timed papers, no calculator on Paper 1 practice, real mark schemes. Our 8-week revision plan schedules this, and the past papers guide shows which sessions match the current syllabus.
If you’d rather not figure the format out alone: Teacher Rig has taught IGCSE Add Math for 8 years and runs 1-to-1 online classes (RM80/hr, 1.5-hour classes) built around exactly these papers, starting with a free 1-hour trial, booked on WhatsApp.