Cambridge O Level Mathematics 4024 (Syllabus D)

Two papers, each 2 hours, 100 marks and 50%. Paper 1 has no calculator. Paper 2 needs a scientific calculator. There is no March series. Use the June or November papers your centre actually enters.

How to sit each paper

• Paper 1: exact answers, simplest form, instruments for constructions. Recent 4024/12 papers are a run of short questions into the low-to-mid twenties. Do a first pass of the ones you can finish, then return. A 2-mark question does not get ten minutes.
• Paper 2: same length, calculator allowed, non-exact answers to 3 significant figures unless the question says otherwise. Keep extra figures in the working and round once. If a later part needs the number, use the unrounded value.
• Both papers can ask any topic except that Paper 1 excludes the calculator section. Do not leave statistics or probability for “if there is time”.

Study order

The syllabus list is not a teaching order. This sequence still covers every heading before a full paper.

1. Number without a calculator: fractions, ratio, standard form, bounds, indices.
2. Algebra and graphs: factorise, linear and simple quadratic equations, inequalities, sketching.
3. Coordinate geometry and geometry: gradient, midpoint, constructions, the circle facts you have to reason in one line.
4. Mensuration and trigonometry: area and volume from the formula list, sine and cosine rules, right-angled trig.
5. Transformations and vectors, then probability, then statistics.
6. Only then a timed Paper 1, and the next day a timed Paper 2.

Ten weeks

1. Week 1. One old Paper 1, untimed if you are early, timed if the exam is inside a term. Mark it. List the headings you lost.
2. Weeks 2 to 3. Number and algebra from that list, calculator out of the room.
3. Weeks 4 to 5. Geometry, mensuration, trigonometry. One construction and one sine-rule question in the same sitting.
4. Week 6. Transformations, vectors, probability.
5. Week 7. Statistics, including the graphs the syllabus names. Then a short mixed set.
6. Week 8. Timed Paper 1. Mark with the matching scheme the same evening.
7. Week 9. Timed Paper 2. Check every non-exact answer for 3 significant figures.
8. Week 10. Only the error log. No new booklet.

Pitfalls

• Revising 0580 Extended papers because they “look similar”. Differentiation and some probability items are not 4024. The comparison guide is the list.
• Rounding on Paper 1. A decimal you needed a calculator to produce is usually the wrong form.
• Ignoring the variant. 4024/12 is not 4024/11.

Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics 0580

Decide Core or Extended before the first week. Core is Paper 1 and Paper 3: each 1 hour 30 and 80 marks, grades C to G. Extended is Paper 2 and Paper 4: each 2 hours and 100 marks, grades A* to E. From the 2028 syllabus, Paper 1 and Paper 2 are non-calculator. The calculator papers are Paper 3 (Core) and Paper 4 (Extended).

How to sit the Extended pair

• Paper 2 is the non-calculator paper. Treat it like 4024 Paper 1: exact values, short questions, no decimal you cannot justify.
• Paper 4 is the calculator paper. 3 significant figures, or 1 decimal place for angles in degrees when that is what the question asks. Show the method when the question says show or when the working is the mark.
• Core candidates should not sit Paper 2 and Paper 4 as practice for their entry. The questions use content they are not being assessed on, and the timing is different.

What to prioritise

Extended contains the Core content and more. The comparison with 4024 names the Extended-only items, including differentiation, exact trigonometric values, trigonometric graphs and equations, and conditional probability. If those headings are missing from your notes, you are still on Core.

Ten weeks for Extended

1. Week 1. One Paper 2, two hours, no calculator. Mark it and sort misses into number, algebra, shape, and data.
2. Weeks 2 to 4. The largest pile, from the 0580 hub, still without a calculator on the number work.
3. Week 5. The Extended-only algebra and trigonometry: simultaneous linear and non-linear, exact trig values, trig graphs.
4. Week 6. Differentiation, then conditional probability and the statistics items that are Extended-only, including stem-and-leaf and quartiles from a list.
5. Week 7. Timed Paper 2.
6. Week 8. Timed Paper 4, with the calculator, and a rounding check on every non-exact answer.
7. Week 9. Redo only the questions that lost the method, not the ones you got right slowly.
8. Week 10. One more of each paper if the error log is short. Otherwise the log only.

Pitfalls

• Calling 0580 Paper 1 the Extended paper. It is Core. Extended non-calculator work is Paper 2.
• Using a March paper if your centre does not sit March. March is for India. June and November are the wider series.
• A 4024 Paper 2 is not a substitute for 0580 Paper 4 once differentiation is in the entry.

Cambridge O Level Additional Mathematics 4037

4037 is not a harder 4024 paper and it is not 9709. If Additional Mathematics is on the statement of entry, 4024 past papers will not prepare the calculus, logarithms and trigonometric equations this syllabus is known for. Confirm the current paper lengths and the formula list on the syllabus for your year before you time yourself. This plan does not guess those lengths.

How to use the papers

1. Work the 4037 hub topic by topic. Do not open a 4024 or 0580 paper and call it Additional Mathematics practice.
2. When a topic is stable, sit the yearly Paper 1 papers on this site under the time printed on that paper, not under a time borrowed from 4024.
3. Mark with the 4037 mark scheme for that series. Method marks on “show that” questions are the usual place students lose a grade they thought they had.
4. Keep 4024, if you are also entered for it, on a different day. The two codes do not share a calculator rule or a question style.

Pitfalls

• Dropping 4037 into the 4024 ten-week plan. The comparison guide is about 4024 and 0580. It is not a 4037 syllabus.
• Starting past papers before the algebra that calculus depends on. A derivative of a function you cannot simplify will not score.

Cambridge International AS & A Level Mathematics 9709

Fix the route first. Paper 1 with Paper 5, then Paper 3 with either Paper 4 or Paper 6. Or Paper 1 with Paper 4, then Paper 3 with Paper 5 only. Paper 4 cannot be combined with Paper 6. Paper 2 does not carry forward to A Level. The route picker is on the comparison guide.

How to approach each paper

• Paper 1, Pure Mathematics 1. 1 hour 50, 75 marks, about 10 to 12 questions, 30% of the A Level and 60% of the AS. Show factorisation, the formula with values substituted, or completing the square. A calculator root with no working does not earn the method mark.
• Paper 3, Pure Mathematics 3. 1 hour 50, 75 marks, 30% of the A Level. It assumes Paper 1. Logs, further calculus, vectors, differential equations and complex numbers need their own weeks, not a weekend.
• Paper 4, Mechanics. 1 hour 15, 50 marks, 40% of the AS or 20% of the A Level. Draw the diagram, then the equation. Momentum is on the current syllabus. Topic accuracy matters more than a stack of unseen papers, because the threshold on this shorter paper is often high.
• Paper 5, Statistics 1. Same length and mark total as Mechanics. Give the normal distribution and the normal approximation their own drills, with a diagram. Permutations and conditional probability are not “reading the table” questions.
• Paper 6, Statistics 2. Only after Paper 5, and only on that route. Poisson, linear combinations, sampling and estimation. 1 hour 15, 50 marks, 20% of the A Level.

Order inside Paper 1

Quadratics, functions, coordinate geometry, radians, trigonometry, series, differentiation, integration. Series includes the binomial expansion for positive integer n, arithmetic and geometric nth terms and sums, convergence, and the sum to infinity. Those often become quadratics. Write the solving.

Ten weeks when the entry is fixed

1. Week 1. Timed Paper 1. Mark M and A. Keep the six topics that lost a method mark.
2. Weeks 2 and 3. Those topics from the Paper 1 hub. One mixed exercise at the end of each week.
3. Week 4. The 20% paper you are entered for: Mechanics diagrams or Statistics 1 normal questions, not both unless you are sitting both.
4. Week 5. A second timed Paper 1 and a timed Paper 4 or Paper 5, on different days.
5. Weeks 6 and 7. Paper 3, using the Paper 1 skill you just repaired. A differential equation still needs the derivative.
6. Week 8. Paper 6 if your route has it. Otherwise a second Paper 3.
7. Week 9. Full timing on two separate days. Do not sit three papers in one day.
8. Week 10. The error log only.

Pearson Edexcel International A Level

Each unit on this site is 1 hour 30 minutes and 75 marks. The International A Level in Mathematics is P1 to P4 plus one pair: M1 with S1, M1 with D1, M1 with M2, S1 with D1, or S1 with S2. An A* needs a grade A overall, at least 480 of 600 uniform marks, and at least 180 of the 200 uniform marks on P3 and P4 together. A strong WMA11 does not award the A* by itself.

WMA11 Pure Mathematics 1, first

Calculators are allowed. Symbolic algebra, differentiation and integration on the calculator are not. Rationalise surds on the paper. The January 2025 WMA11 paper mixed integration, coordinate geometry, modelling, algebra, differentiation, reciprocal functions, circular measure and inequalities. Study in topic order, then sit a paper that jumps.

1. Week 1. Indices, surds, and one rationalise-the-denominator question written in full.
2. Week 2. Quadratics: factorise, formula, completing the square, discriminant. Use the calculator only when the question allows it.
3. Week 3. Coordinate geometry and graph transformations. Name a translation as a vector.
4. Week 4. Trigonometry and radians. Check degree mode against radian mode before you start.
5. Week 5. Differentiation, including a tangent or a normal.
6. Week 6. Integration and area.
7. Week 7. One full WMA11 in 90 minutes. Mark it with that series’ scheme.
8. Week 8. Only the misses. Then the next unit, not a third WMA11, if the error log is short.

The other units this site teaches

• WMA12 Pure 2. Proof, series, exponentials and logarithms, then calculus again. Do not start it until WMA11 surds and quadratics are reliable. January, June and October.
• WMA13 Pure 3. Algebra, trig, exponentials, calculus, numerical methods. This is one of the two units in the A* pair. January, June and October.
• WMA14 Pure 4. Proof, binomial expansion, calculus, vectors. The other A* unit. Same three series.
• WME01 Mechanics 1. Models, vectors, straight-line kinematics, dynamics, statics, moments. Diagram first. January, June and October.
• WST01 Statistics 1. Data, probability, correlation and regression, discrete distributions, the normal distribution. January, June and October.

M3, S3 and Decision are in the specification for January and June, and they are not separate hubs here. If your pair includes D1, use Pearson’s own papers for that unit rather than a pure-maths hub. P1 to P4, M1, M2, S1 and S2 are the units listed for October as well as January and June.

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Mathematics A (4MA1)

4MA1 is not Cambridge 0580 and it is not 4024. A Cambridge non-calculator paper will not match the Pearson question style or the grade set. Use the 4MA1 hub and the yearly papers linked below. Time yourself to the length printed on the Pearson paper, not to a 4024 two-hour clock you have remembered.

A workable order

1. Number, algebra and graphs, which is where this site’s 4MA1 course starts.
2. Higher-tier questions once the algebra is stable, if that is the tier on your entry. Foundation papers are the wrong practice for a Higher entry, and the reverse is also true.
3. One full paper under the printed time. Mark it with the 4MA1 scheme for that series.
4. Redo the topics that lost method marks before you take another full paper.

Pitfalls

• Buying 0580 Extended packs because the name “IGCSE maths” matched a search. The code on the entry is the check.
• Timing yourself to a Cambridge paper length. Use the time printed on the 4MA1 paper in front of you.