The Pass Mark for IGCSE Maths

Cambridge sets thresholds, and does not use the word pass

A Cambridge grade threshold table lists a minimum raw mark for each grade, per component and per option, for that series only. Nowhere does it name a pass. The qualification reports grades from A* to G and then, below G, ungraded — and G is a reported grade, not a failure.

"Pass" is a word borrowed from the institutions that read the certificate. Schools, sixth forms and universities decide where their own line falls, and in practice almost all of them draw it at C, or at grade 4 on the 9–1 syllabus.

What a grade C actually took in June 2025

Extended options are marked out of 200 after weighting; Core options out of 160. Here is the same grade across all six options in one series.

The Extended figures sit between 41% and 49%. The Core figures sit between 54% and 58%. A candidate hearing "you need about half" has been given advice that is roughly right for one route and roughly wrong for the other.

• Extended BX — 81/200 = 41%
• Extended BY — 86/200 = 43%
• Extended BZ — 97/200 = 49%
• Core AX — 86/160 = 54%
• Core AY — 86/160 = 54%
• Core AZ — 92/160 = 58%

Why Core asks for a higher percentage and gives you less

Core papers are written for grades C to G, so a C is the ceiling of what they assess and a candidate has to get most of the paper right to reach it. Extended papers run all the way to A*, so a large part of each paper is above a C candidate and the threshold falls accordingly.

The trade is real in both directions. Core makes a C reachable through accuracy on familiar material; Extended makes a C reachable on a much smaller share of the marks, but leaves the higher grades available. What Core cannot do is produce anything above a C, and that ceiling is the reason the entry decision deserves more attention than it usually gets.

A grade C and a grade 4 are the same mark

The two syllabuses are sat on the same papers, and the June 2025 tables show it exactly. On option BY, a grade C on 0580 fell at 86 marks out of 200 and a grade 4 on 0980 fell at 86 marks out of 200. At component level the correspondence repeats: 43 out of 100 on Paper 22 was a C on one syllabus and a 4 on the other.

So if your school switched syllabus between your mocks and your exam, nothing about the target changed. And if you are reading advice written for 0580 while sitting 0980, the C figures are directly usable as grade 4 figures.

Where a C actually sits in the world

Cambridge publishes the cumulative distribution for every subject. In June 2025, across all Core and Extended entries worldwide in IGCSE Mathematics, 70.9% of candidates were awarded grade C or above and 7.9% were ungraded.

That puts a C below the middle of the field rather than at it. It is a useful corrective for a student being told a C is a safe landing place, and it is the reason we set targets against the destination rather than against a pass line that Cambridge never drew.