Syllabus Shift: The Non-Calculator Era

The May/June 2025 sitting marks a significant shift for Cambridge IGCSE Additional Mathematics (0606), with Paper 1 now officially a non-calculator examination. This change significantly elevates the difficulty, as candidates must rely entirely on manual arithmetic, precise fraction manipulation, and exact algebraic forms. Decimal approximations are no longer a fallback; students must be fluent in expressing answers in terms of \( e \), \( \ln \), \( \pi \), and simplified surds.

Where the Marks Were Won and Lost

Calculus remained the single largest source of marks, accounting for over a quarter of the entire assessment. High-scoring candidates demonstrated exceptional fluency in the product and quotient rules, as well as finding areas under curves by manual integration on Paper 1. However, many candidates lost easy marks on simpler topics due to careless arithmetic and failure to state intercepts or asymptotes on graph sketches, such as the logarithmic function in Q9(b).

Examiner Pitfalls to Avoid

  • Ignoring Domain Restrictions: In composite functions and inverse functions, candidates often fail to state or check whether the range of the inner function fits the domain of the outer function.
  • Kinematics Extremes: In piecewise motion problems (e.g., Q11), students frequently forget to reject mathematically valid but physically impossible boundary values (such as rejecting \( k = 30 \) when velocity becomes negative).
  • Integration Constant Omission: Failing to write the constant of integration \( c \) immediately upon integrating remains a classic blunder that compromises the rest of the problem.

Preparation Strategy & Future Predictions

To succeed under this new format, students must shift their preparation toward rigorous manual practice. Focus heavily on Linear Law, Binomial expansions, and Vector ratios, as these offer high returns on revision time (ROI). For future sittings, expect examiners to continue testing trigonometric identities and exact coordinate geometry of the circle, where algebraic precision is paramount.