International General Certificate of Secondary Education

The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an academically rigorous, internationally used, and specialized English language curriculum which is offered to students to prepare them for International Baccalaureate, A Level and BTEC Level 3 (which is recommended for higher tier students). It is based on the GCE O-Level and is recognised as being equivalent to the GCSE. The IGCSE was developed by University of Cambridge International Examinations. The examination board Edexcel offers its own version, the Edexcel International GCSE.

The IGCSE is an international alternative to many popular national curricula. However, unlike many school-leaving qualifications in many countries, the IGCSE is not a group award or "certificate of education". It is a qualification based on individual subjects of study, which means that one receives an "IGCSE" qualification for each subject one takes. For this reason, schools worldwide have different expectations about how many IGCSEs students should take. Typical "core" curricula for IGCSE candidates include a First Language, Second Language, Mathematics and one or more subjects in the Sciences. IGCSE candidates then choose a number of additional courses ranging from Social Sciences to Creative Arts.