IGCSE Chemistry Tutoring for Students in the UAE
Almost every student who is struggling with IGCSE Chemistry is struggling with moles, and almost none of them say so — the symptom is usually "I can’t do the calculations". Fix the quantitative foundation and the rest of the syllabus stops feeling like memorisation.
- 2 awarding bodies, each examined differently — both set out below
- 17 syllabus areas mapped to your school’s scheme of work
- Taught by a specialist in this subject, not a generalist
- 90-minute online lessons, scheduled in UAE time
How Chemistry is assessed, board by board
2 awarding bodies examine Chemistry and they do not do it the same way. Find yours below — each block names the syllabus it came from and the date it was checked. If you do not know which board your school entered you for, the specification code is on the front of the syllabus and on every past paper.
Cambridge International
Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620)
| Component | Weight | Length | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (Core) or Paper 2 (Extended): Multiple Choice | 30% | 45 min · 40 marks | multiple choice — Forty four-choice items |
| Paper 3 (Core) or Paper 4 (Extended): Theory | 50% | 1 hour 15 min · 80 marks | short answer and structured questions |
| Paper 5: Practical Test | 20% | 1 hour 15 min · 40 marks | practical work — Experiments done in a laboratory. Schools enter for this or for Paper 6 |
| Paper 6: Alternative to Practical | 20% | 1 hour · 40 marks | practical work and data response — A written paper about experiments, for schools that enter for it instead of Paper 5 |
- Cambridge tiers this subject. Core candidates sit the Core papers and can be awarded grades C to G; Extended candidates sit the Extended papers and can be awarded A* to G. A student entered for Core cannot be given a grade above a C whatever they write, so if a sixth form is asking for a B in Chemistry, the entry tier is the first thing to check — and schools will usually still move a student between tiers if the work supports it.
- Practical skills carry 20% whichever paper the school enters for, and the Alternative to Practical is not the easier option — it asks students to describe, tabulate and evaluate experiments they can no longer see in front of them.
Read from the published syllabus and checked on 2026-09-22.
Pearson Edexcel
Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Chemistry (4CH1)
| Component | Weight | Length | What it asks for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (4CH1/01) | 61.1% | 2 hours · 110 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
| Paper 2 (4CH1/02) | 38.9% | 1 hour 15 min · 70 marks | multiple choice, short answer, extended response and calculations |
- Pearson does not tier this subject: every candidate sits the same papers and every grade is reachable from them. That removes the entry-tier decision entirely, which is one of the practical differences between the two boards.
- There is no practical exam and no coursework: experimental skills are examined inside the written papers. The practicals still have to be done, because the questions assume the student has done them, but nobody marks the student doing them.
Read from the published syllabus and checked on 2026-09-22.
Weightings are the awarding body’s own published figures. Where a board tiers the entry, the same weighting applies to both tiers — what changes is the grade range available.
What students usually need help with
Not a list of topics — a list of the specific things that cost marks in Chemistry regardless of how well the content is known.
Moles, properly
Concentration, reacting masses, empirical formulae and titration are one skill wearing four hats. Students who have learned them as four separate procedures collapse when a question combines two.
Ionic equations
Writing the full equation and then not reducing it, or reducing it without balancing charges, is one of the most common recurring losses across both boards.
Electrolysis
Half-equations at each electrode, and knowing whether the electrolyte is molten or aqueous, which changes the products entirely.
Test results and observations
Questions ask what you would see, not what happened. "A white precipitate forms" scores; "silver chloride is produced" often does not.
What the syllabus covers
The content both boards cover, grouped by area. Unit names and their order differ by specification — this shows the shape of the course; your own syllabus shows what is examinable.
Principles of chemistry
States of matter, diffusion and separation techniques · Atomic structure, the periodic table and electronic configuration · Ionic, covalent and metallic bonding · Stoichiometry: relative masses, the mole, empirical formulae, reacting masses and concentrations
Physical chemistry
Energetics: exothermic and endothermic change · Rates of reaction and the collision theory · Reversible reactions and equilibrium · Redox, oxidation numbers and electrolysis · Acids, bases, salts and titration
Inorganic chemistry
Group I, Group VII and the transition elements · Gases in the atmosphere and the reactivity series · Extraction and uses of metals · Tests for ions and gases
Organic chemistry and chemistry in society
Alkanes, alkenes and homologous series · Alcohols, carboxylic acids and esters · Addition and condensation polymers · Crude oil, fuels and industrial processes
Where marks are actually lost
Mole calculations are the load-bearing wall. A student who is shaky on moles loses marks in stoichiometry, in titration, in electrolysis, in energetics and in the organic yield questions — five topics that look unrelated on a revision checklist and are the same arithmetic underneath. This is why a few lessons spent rebuilding that one skill often moves a grade further than a term of topic-by-topic revision.
The other reliable loss is observation language. Chemistry mark schemes are written around what a candidate would see and measure, so "the solution turns from orange to green" earns the mark and "it is reduced" does not, even though the second shows more understanding. Both boards do this, and it is learnable in a way that content gaps are not — it is a habit of writing, and it is usually worth several grades of difference over a full paper.
Send the specification code
Two students can both be "doing IGCSE Chemistry" and sit different papers, at different lengths, with a different grade ceiling. The specification code — 0610, 4BI1 and so on — is on the front of your syllabus and on every past paper, and it is the first thing we ask for. With it we can put you with a tutor who has taught that paper; without it, the subject match can be right and the exam preparation wrong.
Frequently asked questions
The questions UAE students and parents ask us most often about this program.
Related programs
Other preparation tracks students often combine with this one.
IGCSE Tutoring
Subject tutoring for Year 10 and Year 11 students working towards IGCSE or GCSE. Lessons follow your school’s board and specification, with past papers from the start rather than at the end.
IGCSE Pricing
IGCSE tutoring is priced per subject. Starting in Year 10 rather than Year 11 is the single biggest thing a family can do to reduce what it spends.
How it works
Every student starts with a free consultation and ends with a plan that has a date on it. What happens in between depends on which exam you are sitting.
Tell us where Chemistry is going wrong
Send a recent piece of marked work or a past paper with the marks on it, and tell us the specification code. That shows us more in five minutes than a description of the problem does in an hour.