Sciences and mathematics
Separate and combined sciences, both maths routes, and computer science. Practical papers are taught through method writing and variable control rather than through demonstrations you cannot run at home.
Cambridge Assessment · Years 10 and 11
Cambridge IGCSE, taught one student at a time
Two-year IGCSE programmes mapped to the current Cambridge syllabus, taught live by tutors who have marked the papers they are preparing your child for. Every session is 55 minutes, one to one, and recorded.
📘
Wide rangeSciences to languages
🕘
55 minutesStandard session
🎯
24 hoursFree cancellation notice
Why this format
The IGCSE problem is coverage, not intelligence
Most students who miss their IGCSE target are not weak. They are behind on one or two topics that the syllabus keeps returning to, and in a class of thirty nobody has the time to find out which two. A one-to-one course starts by finding them, which usually takes a single diagnostic paper and one honest conversation.
Because the tutor is teaching one person, the plan can be rewritten in the middle of a lesson. If organic chemistry collapses in week four, week five becomes organic chemistry rather than the next thing on a scheme of work that was written for somebody else.
- A diagnostic past paper section marked before the first paid lesson, so the plan starts from evidence
- Topic-by-topic coverage against the current syllabus, ticked off in a shared document you can see
- Past paper drills from 2015 onward, with the examiner report read alongside the mark scheme
- A written progress note after every session and a fuller report every six weeks
📘
✅ Syllabus mapped
🎥 Sessions recorded
📝 Past paper drills
Course at a glance
The detail that decides whether a course fits your term, your time zone and your exam entry.
BoardCambridge Assessment International Education
Year groupsYears 10 and 11, ages 14 to 16
Exam seriesMay/June and October/November, with a January window in some regions
Grading9 to 1, or A* to G depending on the subject
TieringCore and Extended papers in most sciences and mathematics
Session length55 minutes, or 85 minutes as a double
Class sizeOne student, or a sibling pair on the same syllabus
🧭
Diagnostic first
Six-week plan
Written notes
Professional expert tutoring
Subjects we teach at IGCSE
Codes are checked against the syllabus year your child sits, because Cambridge revises specifications and a 2023 mark scheme will quietly mislead a 2027 candidate.
Humanities and languages
Essay subjects where the mark is decided by structure and command words. Tutors mark full-length responses to the official grid and hand back the annotated script, not a grade out of ten.
Business and creative
Case-study subjects that reward evaluation and punish list-making. We drill the chain of reasoning that turns two marks into six, then rehearse it against unseen case material.
Not seeing a subject? We hold tutors across most IGCSE subjects and can usually confirm availability within a working day. Write to hello@hashscholars.com with the code and the exam series.
How a course actually runs
What the first six weeks look like
Nothing here is optional or upsold. It is simply how the course is built.
01
Diagnostic before you pay
You send the last school report and we send back a past paper section, chosen for the topics that report suggests are weak. The tutor marks it during the free trial while your child watches, which is usually the first time anyone has explained why a mark was not awarded.
02
A plan you can argue with
Within two days you get a six-week plan listing the topics, the papers attached to each, and the date of the checkpoint test. Parents read it. Students read it. If a topic is missing because school has already nailed it, we cut it.
03
The session itself
Fifty-five minutes on Zoom with a shared whiteboard. The tutor works problems live rather than presenting slides, and the student writes on the same board. Silence is allowed; thinking time is part of the lesson.
04
What arrives that evening
The annotated whiteboard as a PDF, the session recording, a three-line note saying what was covered and what was shaky, and one task with a deadline. The task is short by design, because a long task set on a Tuesday is a task nobody does.
05
The run-in to the series
Six weeks out the plan changes shape. New content stops, timed papers start, and the tutor works through examiner reports for the specific questions your child dropped marks on. The last two sessions are exam logistics and sleep.
Start with the diagnostic, not the contract
The free trial gives you a marked piece of your child's work and a written opinion from a tutor. Plenty of families take that and go away to think, which is fine.
Where marks are won and lost
Where IGCSE marks actually go missing
Drawn from the examiner reports for recent series, and from what our tutors see week to week.
| Subject | Papers sat | What we drill | The usual grade leak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sciences 0610 / 0620 / 0625 | Multiple choice, theory, and the alternative to practical | Method writing, control of variables, graph work against the clock | Describing a method nobody else could repeat |
| Mathematics 0580 and 0606 | Two written papers, Core or Extended | Non-calculator accuracy, worded problems, the final four marks of long questions | Working that stops the moment an answer appears, so method marks vanish |
| First Language English 0500 | Reading passages and directed writing | Summary discipline, register switching, the fifteen-mark analysis | Retelling the passage instead of analysing how the writer builds effect |
| Business 0450 and Economics 0455 | Case study and data response | Command word triage, chains of reasoning, evaluation that reaches a decision | Listing advantages and disadvantages, then refusing to conclude |
| Computer Science 0478 | Theory, then algorithms and programming | Trace tables, pseudocode conventions, Python 3 written under exam conditions | Pseudocode that runs in the head but not against the mark scheme |
Scheduling and fees
How sessions are booked
Fees depend on the subject and the tutor's examining background, and we quote them in writing before anything is booked.
Free trial
A 45-minute live class with the tutor you would actually be assigned. They set a short diagnostic task, mark it live, and tell you where the gaps are. No card details.
Weekly slot
One fixed 55 minute session a week, billed monthly in advance. Your tutor and your time do not move unless you move them.
Exam sprint
A block of eight sessions in the six weeks before the series, built around past papers and examiner reports rather than new content.
Sibling pair
Two students on the same syllabus in one private session at a reduced rate per head. Beyond two it becomes a class, and those run separately as group study classes of up to five.
Cancel or reschedule at least 24 hours before your slot and the class is credited back to your tuition balance. Later cancellations are charged in full. Trial classes are always free. The full terms are in the refund policy.
Questions parents ask first
IGCSE, answered plainly
Can you teach the syllabus if my child's school follows a different order?
Yes, and we prefer it. The tutor works from your child's school scheme of work so the two do not contradict each other, which matters most in the sciences where schools split topics differently.
Send us a photograph of the school's term plan in the trial and the tutor will build around it.
Is it too late to start in Year 11?
It is late but not lost, and we will say so honestly after the diagnostic. A Year 11 course usually becomes an exam-technique course with targeted content repair rather than a full run through the syllabus.
If a target grade is genuinely out of reach in the time available, the tutor will tell you that in writing rather than sell you eighteen sessions.
Do you help with the alternative to practical paper?
Yes. Paper 6 is taught through method writing, apparatus diagrams, results tables and error analysis. Students practise writing a method that a stranger could follow, which is the whole test.
What if the tutor is not the right fit?
Tell us after any session and we reassign, at no cost, with the plan and the notes handed over so your child does not start again. Fit is a scheduling problem, not a failure.
Are recordings kept private?
Recordings are shared with the registered parent account only, and are deleted twelve months after the course ends unless you ask us to keep them. Tutors cannot download them.
More answers sit on the full FAQ page.
Related reading: IGCSE Chemistry 0620: Where Marks Are Lost and How to Use Past Papers
A tutor's guide to Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry 0620: which papers you sit, where candidates lose marks, and a past paper routine that actually improves grades.
IGCSE admissions open
Book an IGCSE trial for your subject
Tell us the subject code, the exam series and roughly when your child is free. We come back with a tutor, a time and a diagnostic task within one working day.
Contact us