IGCSE Maths May/June 2026: Complete Countdown Guide (Timetable, Predicted Papers, Last-Month Plan)

The Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics 0580 May/June 2026 exam series is the main sitting for candidates across the Northern Hemisphere and follows the standard Cambridge calendar. Papers are written, marked and graded by Cambridge Assessment International Education on a fixed global schedule, with papers released in the morning UK time and sat simultaneously by candidates in every time zone — subject to the Key Time window that Cambridge publishes each session. For 2026, candidates sitting the Extended (Core + Extended) tier will write Paper 2 (non-calculator, Extended, 1 hour 30 minutes) and Paper 4 (calculator, Extended, 2 hours 30 minutes). Candidates on the Core tier will write Paper 1 and Paper 3. The overwhelming majority of international students in Milan, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and London take the Extended tier because it is the route to an A* grade and is the qualification most senior schools and IB schools expect. Your exam timetable is issued by your school, and the specific dates you receive are the authoritative source: Cambridge releases a global provisional timetable each year, but individual session dates can fall within a 24-hour window depending on your centre time zone. If you are unsure of your exact date, ask your exams officer — do not rely on informal sources. The May/June 2026 window runs across several weeks in May and early June, and results are released by Cambridge on the statement-of-results day in mid-August 2026.

Paper 2 is the non-calculator paper and is where most students either win or lose their A*. It lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, carries 100 marks and covers the full Extended syllabus, with a deliberate emphasis on algebraic manipulation, fraction and surd arithmetic, mental estimation and indices. Over the past five sessions, Paper 2 has shown a clear trend: the early questions are more numerical and accessible, while the back half of the paper is dominated by multi-step algebra, inequalities, quadratic and simultaneous work, transformations, probability trees, and at least one extended function or graph question. Paper 4 is the calculator paper and lasts 2 hours 30 minutes for 130 marks. It rewards candidates who can interpret wordy contexts quickly, convert between units without panic, and use their calculator confidently for statistics (mean from frequency tables, cumulative frequency, standard deviation where relevant), trigonometry in non-right-angled triangles, and compound interest calculations. Trigonometry, vectors and transformations, probability from Venn diagrams, and one extended "show that" question are reliable features of Paper 4. The May/June 2025 series introduced a slightly higher density of worded modelling questions compared with previous years, and the October/November 2025 papers confirmed this trend is here to stay: expect 2026 to continue asking you to translate short real-world contexts into mathematical expressions before you can calculate anything. The single best preparation is to work through both the May/June 2024 and October/November 2024 series under exam conditions, time yourself, and then mark honestly with the published mark scheme.

Every tool linked here is free, requires no sign-up, and is maintained specifically for the 2026 Cambridge IGCSE 0580 series. The Predicted Paper 2026 is our most-used resource: it is a fresh set of Extended-tier questions written in the style and topic balance of the upcoming May/June session, designed to surface the topics most likely to appear based on the last six series. Use it as a 90-minute simulation once your syllabus coverage is complete — typically three to four weeks before the exam. The IGCSE Maths Exam Simulator lets you run a full mock under timed conditions with instant automated marking. The IGCSE Maths Formula Sheet collects every formula in the 0580 syllabus in one page, split by topic, with quick visual references for the facts Cambridge does and does not give you on the day. The Grade Calculator takes your raw marks from any past paper or mock and converts them into an estimated A*/A/B/C grade using historical grade-boundary data — it is the fastest way to understand where you currently sit and how many more marks you need to chase. For candidates who want deliberate daily practice, the IGCSE Maths Practice section contains targeted drills for the topics that carry the most marks (algebra, functions, probability, trigonometry) and the topic hub pages let you drill down to specific weak areas such as calculus, quadratic equations or coordinate geometry.

With four weeks to go, your aim is no longer to learn new content — it is to consolidate, simulate and refine exam technique. The table below is the exact structure I use with my one-to-one students in the final four weeks before the May/June session. It assumes your school has already covered the full Extended syllabus at least once and that you have access to at least three recent series of past papers.

For Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics 0580 Extended, the A* boundary has ranged between roughly 170 and 190 marks out of 230 over the past five May/June sessions, and the A boundary between approximately 140 and 160. These numbers move each session because Cambridge adjusts boundaries to account for paper difficulty, so a slightly harder Paper 4 is usually compensated by a lower A* threshold. What this means for you, practically, is that chasing a raw mark target (for example, "I want 200/230") is more reliable than chasing a percentage: as long as you consistently score above the upper end of recent A* boundaries in your mocks, you have a substantial buffer for exam-day nerves. Our dedicated grade boundaries 2026 article has the full paper-by-paper historical data from 2021 to 2025 and a data-driven forecast for the 2026 A*/A thresholds. Pair that with the Grade Calculator on the site to convert any mock mark into an expected grade: if your current mock puts you at, say, 165/230 with four weeks to go, you have a concrete target (add roughly 10-15 marks) rather than a vague "study more" goal.