How many papers is IGCSE Chemistry? Timings, exam order, technique and a prep plan

Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry 0620 is three papers. Extended candidates sit Paper 2 multiple choice (45 min) · Paper 4 theory (1 h 15 min) · Paper 6 Alternative to Practical (1 h), or Paper 5 practical test (1 h 15 min). Core candidates sit Papers 1, 3 and 5 or 6.

Edexcel International GCSE Chemistry 4CH1 is two papers, Paper 1C (2 h) and Paper 2C (1 h 15 min), with no tiers.

Exam days do not follow the paper numbers, and the "June" series starts in late April. In June 2026, 0620 Extended candidates sat Paper 4 first (28 April), then Paper 6 (7 May), and Paper 2 last (9 June).

Both boards in one table. Minutes per mark shows which paper is tightest. For each board in detail, see the 0620 page and the 4CH1 page.

Cambridge and Pearson publish a new timetable every series, so the order can change. The table below is the June 2026 series, already sat, to show how far apart the papers fall. The June 2027 timetable was not public yet (as of 29 October 2026); ask the school or exam centre for your child's.

What the real timetable shows: the heaviest paper (0620 Paper 4) can come first, so be ready by late April, not June, and the last paper can be about 6 weeks after the first, so revision has to cover every paper up to the final day.

Students in Thailand can sit two series a year: May/June (exams from late April to June, results around August) and October/November (exams in October and November, results around January). The school makes the entries; home-school students enter through an exam centre.

Fees, deadlines and private-candidate entry are in the IGCSE Chemistry exam fees guide.

That is about a minute a question. Recall questions such as ion tests or flame colours should take 30 seconds, which banks time for the calculations. Wrong answers lose nothing, so never leave a question blank.

Shade each answer on the answer sheet in pencil as you go, not all at the end. Work calculations on the question paper and cross out wrong options one by one.

Read the stem to the word NOT or incorrect. Many chemistry multiple-choice questions are asked the other way round, and the distractors are the answers of students who stopped reading too early.

75 minutes for 80 marks. The number in brackets, such as [2], tells you both the time to spend (about 2 minutes) and how many points the examiner wants. Show every step of a calculation with units: a wrong final answer can still earn the method marks.

Check the command word first. State wants a short answer, Explain wants reasons, and the mark scheme wants its own words, such as the observation (bubbles) rather than the name of the gas (50 keywords to write exactly · the phrases examiners want in Explain answers).

Paper 6 needs no lab, but the answers have to sound like someone who has done the experiment: read each scale to the precision the apparatus allows, put units in the table headings, draw a smooth line of best fit, and make improvements specific to that experiment (Paper 6 skill by skill).

4CH1 has no separate practical paper. Questions on the required practicals appear in both Paper 1C and 2C, and Paper 2C also examines the deeper bold content, so revise that before the second paper.

Prep hours depend on how solid the school foundation is: about 15–20 hours if it is solid, 30–40 if not. The quickest start is the free 20-minute chemistry check: it shows the weak topics and the hours per week to the next series.

A black or dark blue pen for written answers, a pencil for graphs, diagrams and the multiple-choice sheet, an eraser, a ruler and a calculator the centre allows. The 0620 multiple-choice and theory papers print the Periodic Table at the back, so atomic masses do not need memorising.

Before handing in, check there are no blanks, every calculation has units and every equation is balanced. For your child's dates and times, the exam centre's statement of entry is the one to trust.

The course prepares every paper: multiple choice, written answers that AI marks against the marking points, and timed mock exams. When something will not click, book live 1-on-1 lessons with Boom on Google Meet in 10-hour packs, starting with a free call.