Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences
What you need to know
We’ve created new resources to support the updated Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined Science (0653) and Co-ordinated Sciences (0654/0973) syllabuses for examination from 2025. This brochure explains how these resources will help you.
Full syllabus details can be found on the Cambridge Assessment International Education website www.cambridgeinternational.org. We are working with Cambridge International towards endorsement of these titles.
What this means for you Key changes
The aims of the syllabuses have been updated. The meanings are the same as in the previous version of the syllabus. They match the aims of the Cambridge IGCSE™ single sciences.
The three Assessment Objectives (AOs) have been retained, but the wording has been updated and clarified to match that in the Cambridge IGCSE single sciences. The weighting has not changed. Full wording and AO details can be found in the relevant syllabus on the Cambridge International website www.cambridgeinternational.org
Command words are consistent with those used across Cambridge IGCSE™ Biology, Chemistry and Physics for examination from 2023.
Individual Learning Objectives (LOs) have been updated throughout to bring them in line with the Cambridge IGCSE single sciences.
LOs have been moved and rehomed under new headings throughout both syllabuses. Some LOs have changed tier. In many places, topic headers have changed numbering and title.
There are no changes to the assessment model or weighting.
These changes have been made for accessibility and consistency across Cambridge IGCSETM, and should not affect your teaching.
How we support you
Our editions reflect the updates to the syllabus.
There is a new explanation for the treatment of the term ‘energy’ in the syllabuses, acknowledging that the term is used differently in physics to biology and chemistry. This is separate to syllabus content.
Content on ‘Co-ordination and response’ has been removed.
Some content on ‘Asexual reproduction’ has been removed (from 10.1 onwards in the previous syllabus).
Content on ‘Pregnancy and placenta’ has been removed. ‘Trophic levels’ content is no longer in the syllabus.
A new topic ‘Disease and immunity’ has been included. A new topic ‘Drugs’ has been included.
‘Active transport’ has been included as a sub-topic in ‘Movement in and out of cells’.
‘Habitat destruction’ and ‘Conservation’ have been included as sub-topics in the topic ‘Human influences on ecosystems’.
This should have minimal effects on your teaching, other than the order in which you may choose to deliver content.
This will not affect your teaching.
Our editions reflect the updates to the syllabus.
This should aid in making the distinction clearer to learners.
You will no longer include this content in your teaching.
We continue to support you with preparing your students for their exams. The teacher’s resource contains downloadable end-of-chapter tests for each chapter of the coursebook as well as end-of-course practice tests; the coursebook includes end-of-chapter practice questions; the workbook contains practice questions in every chapter.
We define ‘energy’ in our ‘Key terms’ feature in all three sciences in our coursebook, accounting for the difference in use. ‘Key terms’ provide glossary definitions to aid learners’ comprehension, in context alongside the text.
Our resources reflect this removal of content.
New topics and content to include in your teaching.
The new topics – ‘Drugs’ and ‘Disease and immunity’ – have new chapters dedicated to them across the series; the teacher’s resource ‘Background knowledge’ feature helps you familiarise yourself with the content required and identify learners’ prior knowledge; the coursebook ‘Getting started’ activities help you gauge what your students already know about this topic, and the accompanying support in the teacher’s resource helps you use this information.
New sub-topics and LOs are supported in our resources. Our resources mirror the syllabus structure, so you will find content in the same place as the content in the syllabus.
We’ve created new resources to support the updated Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined Science (0653) and Co-ordinated Sciences (0654/0973) syllabuses for examination from 2025. This brochure explains how these resources will help you.
Full syllabus details can be found on the Cambridge Assessment International Education website www.cambridgeinternational.org. We are working with Cambridge International towards endorsement of these titles.
Inclusion of references to bacterial cells within the topic ‘Cell structure’.
‘Active transport’ is included as a sub-topic in the topic ‘Movement into and out of cells.’
A new topic ‘Disease and immunity’ has been included.
A new sub-topic, ‘Sexually transmitted infection’, has been included in the topic ‘Reproduction’.
A new topic ‘Drugs’ has been included.
The sub-topic ‘Conservation’ is included in the topic ‘Human influences on ecosystems’.
Content on ‘Anaerobic respiration in yeast’ from ‘Gas exchange and respiration’ has been removed.
Content on ‘Tropic responses’ has been removed.
Explicit references to the term ‘evolution’ have been removed.
Content on ‘Teeth and villi’ has been removed.
The sub-topic ‘Smoking’ has been removed.
Content on ‘Sense organs’ is no longer in the syllabus.
There are a reduced number of LOs in the topic ‘Variation and selection’.
‘Chemistry of the environment’ is a new sub-topic heading, however the change is mainly a re-organisation of material already in the syllabus.
‘Oxides’ has been included as a new sub-topic in ‘Acids, bases and salts’.
‘Uses of metals’ has been included as a new sub-topic in the topic ‘Metals’.
New topics and content to include in your teaching.
The new topics – ‘Drugs’ and ‘Disease and immunity’ – have new chapters dedicated to these new areas; as above, the teacher’s resource contains the ‘Background knowledge’ feature; the coursebook contains ‘Getting started’ activities with accompanying support in the teacher’s resource to help you support student comprehension.
New sub-topics and LOs are supported in our resources, which mirror the syllabus structure.
You will no longer include this content in your teaching.
Our resources reflect this removal of content.
New content to include in your teaching. New sub-topics and LOs are supported in our resources. Our resources mirror the syllabus structure, so you will find the content in our resources in the same place as the content in the syllabus.
New content on ‘Acid-base titrations’.
‘Chemistry of the environment’ is a new sub-topic heading, but it contains mostly content already in the syllabus, organised differently.
New sub-topic, ‘Hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells’.
Most of the content on ‘Carbon dioxide and methane’ has been subsumed into other topics.
New content to include in your teaching. New sub-topics and LOs are supported in our resources. Our resources mirror the syllabus structure, so you will find the content in our resources in the same place as the content in the syllabus.
This should not affect your teaching.
Our resources mirror the syllabus structure, so you will find the content in our resources in the same place as the content in the syllabus.
The topic ‘Sulfur’ has been removed.
The topic ‘Carbonates’ has been removed.
Content on ‘Nitrogen and fertilisers’ has been removed.
You will no longer include this content in your teaching.
Our resources reflect this removal of content.
We’ve created new resources to support the updated Cambridge IGCSE™ Combined Science (0653) and Co-ordinated Sciences (0654/0973) syllabuses for examination from 2025. This brochure explains how these resources will help you.
Key changes
The following content from the topic ‘Effects of forces’ is no longer included in the syllabus:
• Extension–load graphs
• Hooke’s Law
• Limit of proportionality
‘Melting and boiling’ from the topic ‘Thermal physics’ is covered in chemistry, so it has been removed from physics.
A new topic ‘Space physics’ has been included.
‘Dispersion of light’ has been included in the topic ‘Waves’. Sub-topic ‘Cells, batteries, generators and motors’ has been included in the topic ‘Electricity’.
A new topic ‘Space physics’ has been included.
‘Dispersion of light’ has been included in the topic ‘Waves’.
‘Measurement of temperature’ has been removed from ‘Thermal physics’. Many individual LOs from within sub-topics and topics, throughout most topics, have been removed.
Full syllabus details can be found on the Cambridge Assessment International Education website www.cambridgeinternational.org. We are working with Cambridge International towards endorsement of these titles.
What this means for you
You will no longer include this content in your teaching.
How we support you
Our resources reflect this removal of content.
You will no longer need to teach this for physics.
New topic and content to include in your teaching.
Our resources reflect this reshuffling of content.
As above, the teacher’s resource contains the ‘Background knowledge’ feature; the coursebook contains ‘Getting started’ activities with accompanying support in the teacher’s resource to help you support student comprehension.
New topic and content to include in your teaching.
The new topic – ‘Space physics’ – has a new chapter dedicated to this area across the series; as above, the teacher’s resource contains the ‘Background knowledge’ feature; the coursebook contains ‘Getting started’ activities with accompanying support in the teacher’s resource to help you support student comprehension.
New sub-topics and LOs are supported in our resources, which mirror the syllabus structure.
You will no longer include this content in your teaching.
Our resources reflect this removal of content.
Content will be available in print and digital resources
Develop the problem-solvers of the future with new editions of our Combined and Co-ordinated Sciences series which fully support the syllabuses for examination from 2025. You can be assured that this series offers an accessible learning journey, developing confident learners. These engaging resources are based on the tried and tested approach of our Cambridge IGCSE™ Biology, Chemistry and Physics series, the result of extensive research with practising teachers. The series offers an accessible learning experience for all students. Resources are written in accessible language with features to support our English as a second language learners. Exercises in the workbook first support, then offer practice opportunities and finally challenge learners. Guidance from the teacher’s resource alongside this structured approach enables you to offer differentiated support where it is needed, building both scientific skills and skills for life.
Coursebooks (digital coursebook/coursebook with digital access)
The coursebook is the core component of each series and helps students develop analysis, evaluation and problem-solving skills through an active learning approach of enquiry-led tasks, open-ended questions and opportunities to share thinking. Worked examples help learners navigate equations and calculations. End-of-chapter practice questions build confidence, while regular self-assessment, peer assessment and reflection opportunities help students check their progress.
Digital teacher’s resource
The digital teacher’s resource is designed to help teachers use the series in the most effective way, bridging the gap between teaching theory and practice. It helps teachers support their learners, plan great lessons and teach to the syllabus. The resource includes sample data to analyse and evaluate when practical work cannot be carried out and time-saving downloadable differentiation worksheet packs for each chapter.
Workbooks with digital access
Each science has its own workbook. The workbooks provide valuable opportunities to practise skills and consolidate knowledge in preparation for examinations. Exercises follow a progressive three-tier structure to support and develop learners, catering for a range of abilities. Learners are progressively given more opportunities to solve problems independently of support boxes, developing their abilities.
Brighter Thinking, Better Learning
Brighter Thinking drives our approach to science: a solid foundation of research from leading educational thinkers, expert authors and science teachers in Cambridge and around the world underpins the resources we publish to support
students learning science. Through a flexible suite of resources, designed to meet a wide range of needs in the classroom, Better Learning is possible. Students can accelerate their learning and develop skills for life.
Contact your local Cambridge University Press representative: cambridge.org/education/find-your-sales-consultant
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