Start here: the two papers and the formula list

Read this once before you start revising. It explains what the two papers look like, what you are given in the exam and — more importantly — what you are not.

📄The two papers

Everyone sits both papers. There is no Core or Extended tier: grades A* to E are available, and there is no F or G — below the E threshold the result is ungraded.

Both papers contain structured and unstructured questions on any part of the syllabus, and you answer all of them. There is no choice of question. The assessment objectives are split roughly evenly between technique (AO1, 45–55%) and problem-solving and communication (AO2, 45–55%).

What “non-calculator” really means

Paper 1 is where Additional Maths is hardest, because the answers must be exact: surds such as \( 2\sqrt{3} \), multiples of \( \pi \), fractions, and logarithms such as \( \ln 3 \) or \( \tfrac{1}{2}\ln 7 \). The questions are built so that the arithmetic works out — if you are facing \( \sqrt{2.37} \) on Paper 1, check the step before. You need the exact trigonometric values for \( 30^{\circ}, 45^{\circ}, 60^{\circ} \) (and their radian forms) from memory.

Accuracy on Paper 2

• Non-exact answers to 3 significant figures, and angles in degrees to 1 decimal place, unless the question says otherwise.
• For \( \pi \), use the calculator value or 3.142.
• Keep full calculator values through the working and round only at the end. Rounding at an intermediate step is the most common reason a correct method gets an inaccurate answer.
• Correct answers without working can earn the marks on Paper 2 for things like solving a quadratic — but a wrong answer with no working earns nothing, so show it anyway.

📑The List of formulas — and what is missing from it

Page 2 of each paper prints a List of formulas. Know exactly what is on it, so you do not waste revision time memorising those, and so you do not look for something that is not there.

Given in the exam

• Equation of a circle, \( (x - a)^{2} + (y - b)^{2} = r^{2} \)
• Curved surface area of a cone, \( \pi rl \); surface area of a sphere, \( 4\pi r^{2} \); volume of a pyramid or cone, \( \tfrac{1}{3}Ah \); volume of a sphere, \( \tfrac{4}{3}\pi r^{3} \)
• The quadratic formula
• The binomial theorem, with \( \binom{n}{r} = \dfrac{n!}{(n - r)!\,r!} \)
• Arithmetic series: \( u_{n} \) and \( S_{n} \); geometric series: \( u_{n} \), \( S_{n} \) and \( S_{\infty} \)
• The identities \( \sin^{2}A + \cos^{2}A = 1 \), \( \sec^{2}A = 1 + \tan^{2}A \), \( \operatorname{cosec}^{2}A = 1 + \cot^{2}A \)
• The sine rule, the cosine rule and \( \tfrac{1}{2}ab\sin C \)

Not given — learn these

• Every calculus result: the derivatives of \( x^{n} \), \( \sin x \), \( \cos x \), \( \tan x \), \( e^{x} \), \( \ln x \); the chain, product and quotient rules; all the integrals. The syllabus says explicitly that no calculus formulas are given.
• Radian measure: \( s = r\theta \) and \( A = \tfrac{1}{2}r^{2}\theta \) (also stated explicitly as not given).
• The laws of logarithms and change of base.
• Gradient, midpoint and length formulas, and \( m_{1}m_{2} = -1 \) for perpendicular lines.
• The discriminant conditions, \( {}^{n}P_{r} \), the unit vector \( \tfrac{\mathbf{a}}{|\mathbf{a}|} \), and the definitions of \( \sec \), \( \operatorname{cosec} \) and \( \cot \).

🗣️Command words

The syllabus defines the command words used in questions. In our words:

• Calculate / Work out / Find — get the answer from the information given, showing working.
• Show (that) — the answer is printed, so the marks are entirely for a complete, step-by-step argument that reaches it. Finish by writing the given result.
• Explain — give the reason, in words, backed by the relevant mathematics (“\( f(1) = f(5) \), so \(f\) is many-one”).
• Sketch — a freehand graph showing the key features: shape, intercepts, turning points, asymptotes. The 2028–2030 syllabus adds “taking care over proportions”.
• Write down / State — little or no working is expected; usually 1 mark.
• Determine — establish for certain, with justification (for example, the nature of a stationary point).
• Hence — use the previous part. Hence or otherwise — the previous part is the intended route, but any correct method scores.

✅How the marks are awarded

Cambridge mark schemes use three kinds of mark, and knowing them changes how you write answers:

• M (method) — for a correct method applied to the problem, even if the arithmetic then goes wrong.
• A (accuracy) — for a correct answer or step, and only if the method mark it depends on was earned.
• B — for a correct result or statement, independent of method.

So: always show the method, because an M mark survives a slip; write the formula before substituting into it; and cross out working only once you have replaced it with something better. Where a question says “solutions by accurate drawing will not be accepted”, a calculation is required.

For a sense of scale: in the June 2026 series a grade C needed roughly 37–39% of the 160 combined marks, and an A* roughly 86–88%. Thresholds move each series, so treat those as a guide, not a target.

📅Which syllabus?

These notes were written against the 0606 syllabus for 2025, 2026 and 2027 and checked against the syllabus for 2028, 2029 and 2030 (version 1, September 2025). The subject content of the two is identical, topic for topic; Cambridge’s own summary is “no significant changes which affect teaching”. The only visible changes are in the command-word table (the Sketch wording above). The update to the 2025–2027 syllabus published in February 2024 amended only the marking principles in the mark schemes.

The notes assume IGCSE Mathematics (0580 or equivalent). Topics such as surds and indices are not tested directly in 0606, but you will need them inside almost every question.

🧭How to use these notes

1. Read the objectives box at the top of a topic and tick off the ones you can already do.
2. Work through the explanations and the worked example with a pen, not just your eyes.
3. Attempt every practice question before opening its answer. Each is labelled Paper 1 style (no calculator) or Paper 2 style (calculator), and carries a mark allocation like the real papers.
4. Finish with timed past papers from your school: 2 hours, 80 marks, no calculator for Paper 1.