Career Launcher UAE offers IGCSE physics tuition for Cambridge 0625 and 0972, Pearson Edexcel 4PH1 and OxfordAQA 9203, as a separate science or within Combined Science, in Dubai and Sharjah, from centres in Bur Dubai, Al Nahda 2 and Al Qasimia, and online.
Lessons follow the syllabus your school enters you for, including its practical paper, and use that board’s past papers and mark schemes. Classes run as batch classes, small groups or one to one.
THE SYLLABUS, BOARD BY BOARD
IGCSE Physics: the papers you will sit.
Schools in the UAE enter IGCSE physics with Cambridge (0625, or 0972, the same course graded 9 to 1, which Cambridge offers to UAE schools), Pearson Edexcel (4PH1) or OxfordAQA (9203). Combined and Double Award Science (Cambridge 0653 and 0654, Edexcel 4SD0, OxfordAQA 9204) cover most of the same physics.
Cambridge
Cambridge IGCSE Physics (0625)
Grades
A* to G. Cambridge IGCSE (9–1) Physics, 0972, is the same course and papers graded 9 to 1.
Tiers
Core (Papers 1 and 3, grades C to G) or Extended (Papers 2 and 4, grades A* to G), plus one practical paper for everyone.
Exams
June and November. A March series is for schools in India only.
Practical skills
Paper 5, a practical test in a laboratory, or Paper 6, a written Alternative to Practical. Both test the same experimental skills.
Paper 1 or 2 (Multiple Choice)45 minutes, 40 marks, 30%40 four-option questions, Core or Extended.
Paper 3 or 4 (Theory)1 hour 15 minutes, 80 marks, 50%Short-answer and structured questions, Core or Extended.
Paper 5 (Practical Test)1 hour 15 minutes, 40 marks, 20%Experiments in a laboratory.
Paper 6 (Alternative to Practical)1 hour, 40 marks, 20%Written questions on experiments, in place of Paper 5.
No equation sheet is given: the syllabus asks students to recall and use each equation, from speed and density to F = ma and wave speed. Cambridge’s next syllabus, for 2029, makes no changes that affect teaching.
May/June and November. In June, schools in the UAE sit Pearson’s regional (R) versions of the papers.
Practical skills
No practical exam. The practicals in the specification are tested in the written papers.
Paper 1 (1P)2 hours, 110 marks, 61%Multiple choice, short answers, calculations and longer answers on the content shared with Double Award Science.
Paper 2 (2P)1 hour 15 minutes, 70 marks, 39%The same mix of questions on the whole course, including the physics-only content.
Pearson gives an equation sheet in every International GCSE physics exam from 2025, and has said it stays for the life of this specification, so equations need not be memorised.
No practical exam. Five required practicals, from the extension of a spring to the strength of an electromagnet, are done in class and tested in the written papers.
Paper 11 hour 30 minutes, 90 marks, 50%Structured and open questions on any part of the course.
Paper 21 hour 30 minutes, 90 marks, 50%Structured and open questions, with more on analysing data and practical methods.
Motion, forces and energy: physical quantities and measurement; motion; mass and weight; density; forces; momentum; energy, work and power; pressure
Thermal physics: the kinetic particle model of matter; thermal properties and temperature; transfer of thermal energy
Waves: general properties of waves; light; the electromagnetic spectrum; sound
Electricity and magnetism: simple magnetism; electrical quantities; electric circuits; electrical safety; electromagnetic effects
Nuclear physics: the nuclear model of the atom; radioactivity
Space physics: the Earth and the Solar System; stars and the Universe
Edexcel 4PH1 syllabus
Forces and motion: movement and position; forces, movement, shape and momentum
Electricity: mains electricity; energy and voltage in circuits; electric charge
Waves: properties of waves; the electromagnetic spectrum; light and sound
Energy resources and energy transfers: energy transfers; work and power; energy resources and electricity generation
Solids, liquids and gases: density and pressure; change of state; ideal gas molecules
Magnetism and electromagnetism: magnetism; electromagnetism; electromagnetic induction
Radioactivity and particles: radioactivity; fission and fusion
Astrophysics: motion in the universe; stellar evolution; cosmology
OxfordAQA 9203 syllabus
Forces and their effects: forces and their interactions; motion; resultant forces; momentum; safety in public transport; forces and terminal velocity; centre of mass; moments and levers
Energy: forces and energy; energy transfers, conservation and dissipation; energy resources
Waves: general properties of waves; the electromagnetic spectrum; sound and ultrasound; reflection; refraction and total internal reflection; lenses and the eye
Particle model of matter: kinetic theory; energy transfers and particle motion
Electricity and magnetism: electrical circuits; magnetism and electromagnetism
Generating and distributing electricity, and household use: generating electricity; transmission and distribution; using electricity in the home; the motor effect; transferring electrical energy
Nuclear physics: atomic structure; ionising radiation from the nucleus; nuclear fission; nuclear fusion
Space physics: the life cycle of a star; the solar system and orbital motion; red shift and the expanding universe
WHERE MARKS ARE LOST
What the examiners keep pointing out.
From the boards’ own reports on recent exams, in our words. These are the points lessons and practice papers are built around.
Reading a graph at a point. To find an acceleration at one instant, weaker candidates drew the tangent at the wrong time or not at all, or divided the speed by the time, which does not give it. Cambridge 0625 examiner report, June 2024
Units and significant figures. Final answers lost marks for having no unit or too few significant figures, and symbols were mixed up: t is time, not temperature, and Q is charge, not energy. Cambridge 0625 examiner report, June 2024
Definitions missing the key words. Many definitions of the focal point left out that the rays arrive parallel to the principal axis, and convection was given where the answer was conduction. Cambridge 0625 examiner report, June 2024
Graphs in the Alternative to Practical. Candidates did not start the axes at the origin when told to, joined points dot to dot instead of drawing a line of best fit, or used a small triangle for the gradient. Some answers looked learned from old mark schemes and did not fit the question. Cambridge 0625 examiner report, June 2024
Converting units before calculating. Centimetres were not changed to metres, or grams to kilograms, before using an equation, so the answer could not come out in joules or metres. Pearson 4PH1 examiner report, June 2025
Judging the data, not the theory. Asked whether a graph supported a conclusion, most wrote about fair tests instead of the data itself: too few points, a narrow range or an anomaly. Pearson 4PH1 examiner report, June 2025
HOW LESSONS WORK
Start from the gap. Build to the exam.
Start from the syllabus code. The first conversation takes the board, the code, the tier and a recent test or mock, so lessons start from where marks are actually going.
Teach the topic, then the question. Each topic is taught for understanding, then practised on the board’s own past papers and marked against its mark scheme.
Mocks, then the exam. Timed papers and mock review in the run-up to the exams, so method, wording and pace hold up on the day.
TAKING GCSE INSTEAD?
GCSE Physics.
UK GCSE Physics is a separate qualification. AQA 8463 and Pearson Edexcel 1PH0 each have two papers of 1 hour 45 minutes and 100 marks at Foundation (grades 5 to 1) or Higher (9 to 4), sat in May or June, with required practicals tested in the papers and an equation sheet in the exam. Tell us the board, and lessons follow that specification.
WHERE TO FIND US
IGCSE physics tuition in Dubai and Sharjah.
Three centres, and online classes for students who live further away. Contact the closest centre and the team will confirm where and how IGCSE physics is taught for your board.
It depends on the board. Cambridge 0625 and 0972 give no equation sheet, so students must recall and use each equation. Pearson Edexcel gives an equation sheet in every International GCSE physics exam from 2025 and has said it will stay for the life of the specification.
What is the Cambridge Alternative to Practical paper?
Paper 6 is a one-hour written paper about experiments, taken instead of the Paper 5 practical test in a laboratory. Both are worth 20% and test the same skills, such as taking readings, plotting graphs and judging results, so students practise them with real data.
Should my child take Core or Extended IGCSE physics?
On Cambridge 0625, Core leads to grades C to G and Extended to A* to G, so anyone aiming at a C or above should take Extended. Edexcel 4PH1 and OxfordAQA 9203 are not tiered: everyone sits the same papers.
Is the physics in Combined Science the same as separate physics?
Mostly, in less depth. Edexcel’s Double Award physics paper is the same Paper 1 as 4PH1, without the physics-only content. Cambridge Combined Science (0653) and Co-ordinated Sciences (0654) cover less physics than 0625, and OxfordAQA marks its physics-only content in the specification.
Is IGCSE physics tuition at a centre or online?
Both. Classes run at our centres in Bur Dubai, Al Nahda 2 and Al Qasimia, Sharjah, and online, as batch classes, small groups or one to one. The team confirms the format, the tutor and the timings before you enrol.
Ideally early in Year 10, when the two-year course begins, and at the latest once the Year 11 mocks show where marks are being lost. An early start leaves time to fix gaps in core topics rather than cramming past papers in the spring.
