IGCSE
IGCSE or International General Certificate of Secondary Education was developed by University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). Similar to the GED, IGCSE can also be used as a fast-track study course for students to apply to college prior to completing high school. Upon passing at least 5 individual subject tests, student will be awarded an IGCSE certificate which is equivalent to obtaining a high school diploma. As such, IGCSE is suitable for home-school students or working adults who wish to pursue a high school diploma equivalence.
The content in the IGCSE is comparable to GED (USA) or O-Levels (UK/Singapore) and can prepare students for further studies such as the A-Levels or university courses.
The differences between IGCSE and GED are as follow:
- There are over 70 IGCSE subjects (30 in Thailand) for students to choose ranging from science and maths, to language and business studies. Students are only required to choose only 5 subjects and pass these exams to obtain IGCSE certificate (for the GED, students are given a fixed set of 5 mandatory subjects).
- Questions in the IGCSE are mostly descriptive, consisting of short answers and writing mini-essays. GED, on the other hand, consists mostly of multiple choice questions.
- IGCSE is a paper-based test whereas the GED comes in both paper-based (old version) and computer-based (new version).
- Unlike the GED which is offered throughout the year, IGCSE examinations are offered only twice a year in June and November. The results are out in August and January respectively.
The IGCSE test centre is located at the British Council. The list of subjects you can take are as follow:
Courses that are offered at Prodigy Academics include:
1. English as a Second Language
2. Mathematics
3. Business (Business Studies, Travel and Tourism and Economics)
4. Science (Chemistry, Physics, or Biology)
IGCSE grades range from A* (A-Star), A, B, C, D, E, F, G to U (ungraded).
Core versus Extended
When taking the IGCSE, test takers can choose between either a 'core' (basic) or 'extended' (advance) version. Students who choose 'core' can only receive C as the highest grade whereas students who choose 'extended' can receive A* as the highest score.
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