How To Score An A* In IGCSE Physics 0625 (Kenyan Teacher's Method)

An A* in Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 is not the preserve of "naturally gifted" students. It is the result of a specific method: knowing the paper structure cold, recognising Cambridge's command words on sight, avoiding the four pitfalls that drain marks from otherwise strong candidates, and following a 12-week revision plan that closes the gaps systematically. Here is the method, written from teaching it to Kenyan IGCSE students.

Know what 0625 looks like before you sit it

Cambridge IGCSE Physics 0625 is taken at two tiers — Core (Paper 1 + Paper 3 + Paper 6) and Extended (Paper 2 + Paper 4 + Paper 6). A* is only available at Extended, so this article assumes Extended. The three papers:

• Paper 2 — multiple choice (45 minutes). 40 questions. No working required; one right answer per question. Easiest to score on if you have done enough practice.
• Paper 4 — theory (1 hour 15 minutes). Structured questions, short and long. This is where A* is won or lost. 80 marks total.
• Paper 6 — alternative to practical (1 hour). Tests practical understanding via paper-based tasks. 40 marks. Easier than students fear if they have actually done the school practicals.

An A* in 0625 typically requires around 85% overall. The grade boundary shifts session to session but that range is consistent.

Command words — the part schools rarely teach properly

Cambridge mark schemes reward exact response shapes. Every question begins with a command word that tells you what shape Cambridge wants. Learn these by heart:

• State — a brief, factual answer. No explanation needed. One mark.
• Describe — observed features only. No explanation of why. Usually 2-3 marks.
• Explain — describe AND give the reason. If you only describe, you lose half the marks.
• Calculate — show working. M1 (method) + A1 (answer) + unit. Skip the unit and lose a mark.
• Determine — calculate from given data, usually a graph or table. Show how you used the data.
• Suggest — Cambridge wants any plausible answer that fits the physics. Wider acceptance than "state" but still must be physics.
• Compare — both similarities AND differences. Lose half the marks if you only do one.

Walk into Paper 4 fluent in these and you will already outperform half the candidates who treat every question the same way.

The four pitfalls that kill A* candidates

1. Skipping diagram annotations

Questions that show a circuit, a wave, a force diagram or a ray diagram almost always have a marking point for "labelled X" or "arrow showing direction of Y". Students who answer in prose miss the easy marks for adding to the diagram. Always check the diagram. Always add the labels.

2. Forgetting units in calculation answers

Cambridge reserves a separate mark for the unit in most calculation questions. "5.2" earns the calculation mark but loses the unit mark. "5.2 N" or "5.2 m/s²" earns both. A* candidates simply do not lose unit marks.

3. Mixing up significant figures

If the question gives data to 3 significant figures, the answer should be 3 significant figures. Cambridge will accept the next significant figure either way but penalises rounding wildly off. The default rule: match the question's precision.

4. Long descriptions in 1-mark questions

If a question is worth 1 mark, Cambridge wants 1 thing. Write a paragraph and you waste time you need on the 6-mark questions at the end. Mark allocation is your time budget.

The 12-week A* revision plan

This plan assumes 12 weeks before the exam. Compress it for shorter timelines.

Weeks 1–3: Strand audit. Print the official Cambridge 0625 syllabus and go through it strand by strand. Mark each sub-strand as "strong", "shaky", or "blank". Honestly. Spend these three weeks pulling the "blank" strands up to "shaky".

Weeks 4–6: Paper 6 practical mindset. Most students leave Paper 6 to the last week. Wrong. Doing the practical paper early teaches you how Cambridge phrases questions across all three papers. Do one Paper 6 per week, mark scheme in hand.

Weeks 7–9: Paper 4 timed practice. One full Paper 4 per week, strictly timed, no notes, no phone. Mark it yourself using the official mark scheme. For every mark lost, write a one-line "why" in a notebook.

Weeks 10–11: Paper 2 multiple-choice intensity. Three Paper 2s per week in week 10, four in week 11. The MCQ paper is pattern recognition — the more papers you do, the more patterns you see.

Week 12: Light review + sleep. Do not learn new physics in the final week. Review your notebook of mistakes from weeks 7–11. Sleep 8 hours every night. Walk into the exam fresh.

Where this site fits in

We publish a full set of IGCSE Physics 0625 resources at KSH 100 each: lesson notes covering the entire syllabus, scheme of work, revision paper, mark scheme, assessment rubric, plus exam, homework and setbook-guide variants. A single IGCSE Physics revision paper is KSH 200. The Complete Cambridge Revision Bundle (all 7 core IGCSE subjects, 95 pages) is KSH 700 — less than 10% of the cost of one hour with a specialist IGCSE Physics tutor in Nairobi. Or grab the Complete Cambridge Revision Bundle (all 7 core subjects) for KSH 700 — that is one paper from each subject for the price of three and a half single subjects. Or grab the Complete Cambridge Revision Bundle (all 7 core subjects) for KSH 700 — that is one paper from each subject for the price of three and a half single subjects.

If you get stuck mid-question, Somo (our free Cambridge-trained AI tutor) handles 0625 Physics in English with step-by-step working in the same style as Cambridge mark schemes.

Start your A* method today.

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Sources: Cambridge International IGCSE Physics 0625 syllabus 2025–2027; Cambridge published mark schemes and examiner reports (multiple sessions); teaching observation across Nairobi IGCSE classrooms. Last updated: May 2026.