Best IGCSE Biology Notes for 2026–2028: Ranked Against the A* Threshold

TL;DR: In the March 2026 series, an A* in Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610 needed 171 of the 200 available marks, which is 85.5%, according to Cambridge's published grade thresholds. At that margin, the best IGCSE Biology notes are the ones that carry the syllabus's own definitions, separate Core from Extended on the page, and build Paper 6 skills from the first chapter, and on those tests the Chem-Bio IGCSE Biology complete notes eBook ranks first, ahead of Save My Exams, PMT and free student-made PDFs. Biology is a definitions subject: the wording that earns the mark is printed in the syllabus, and half of all marks test knowledge with understanding. Each option below suits a different student, so every rank comes with a "best for" verdict.

Disclosure: the notes ranked first are mine. The ranking criteria come from Cambridge's 0610 syllabus (version 3, August 2026) and its grade thresholds, and every feature listed for the other three options was checked against their published information in October 2026.

In this guide

• What score do you need for an A*?
• The ranking and comparison table
• Why the syllabus wording matters
• Core or Extended?
• Why the Chem-Bio notes rank first
• Save My Exams, PMT and free notes
• Preparing for Paper 6
• Is it worth paying?
• FAQ

What score do you need for an A* in IGCSE Biology?

You needed 171 out of 200 weighted marks for an A* in Cambridge IGCSE Biology in the March 2026 series, 150 for an A and 129 for a B, according to Cambridge's grade thresholds for that series. Paper by paper, an A needed 32 out of 40 on Paper 2, 57 out of 80 on Paper 4 and 31 out of 40 on Paper 6.

Why open an article about notes with grade thresholds? Because 85.5% tells you what kind of notes you need. You do not reach 171 by knowing the biology roughly. You reach it by writing the definition the mark scheme is looking for, in the words it is looking for, every time. Thresholds move between series: in the June 2024 series, an A on Paper 4 needed between 46 and 50 out of 80 depending on the variant, against 57 in March 2026. The target moves. The method does not.

I break down the mark each paper needs in my video on the exact score an A* takes in every IGCSE paper.

What are the best IGCSE Biology notes for 2026–2028?

The best IGCSE Biology notes for 2026–2028 are the Chem-Bio complete notes eBook for exam-focused revision aimed at the A*, Save My Exams for a large bank of practice questions, PMT for free topic-by-topic question practice, and free student-made PDFs for a recap on a zero budget. I judged all four on five things the 0610 syllabus makes non-negotiable: definitions in syllabus wording, Core and Extended clearly separated, built-in testing, Paper 6 skills, and a named author who keeps the notes current.

Read the table by column, not by rank. Save My Exams wins on sheer question volume. PMT and the student PDFs win on price. The Chem-Bio notes rank first because they are the only option built around all five criteria inside one book, by one accountable author, for this syllabus alone. If you are also choosing Chemistry notes, the same method is applied in my guide to the best IGCSE Chemistry notes.

Why IGCSE Biology notes must use the syllabus wording

IGCSE Biology notes must use the syllabus wording because the definitions are printed in the syllabus itself and the mark scheme credits that wording. The 0610 syllabus describes diffusion as the net movement of particles from a region of their higher concentration to a region of their lower concentration, down a concentration gradient, as a result of their random movement. It describes osmosis, for Extended candidates, in terms of water potential and a partially permeable membrane. These are not textbook paraphrases. They are the sentences the examiner holds up against your answer.

How much of the exam is this? Knowledge with understanding (AO1) is 50% of the whole qualification and 63% of Papers 1 to 4, and the syllabus lists scientific vocabulary and terminology as part of it. Where the command word is define , the syllabus's command-word table asks for the precise meaning. Where it is state , it asks you to express the point in clear terms. Neither leaves room for "sort of" versions.

The latest examiner reports show where students lose those marks. Two habits keep coming up. Students write that respiration "produces" energy, when the syllabus describes respiration as the chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules and release energy, and release is the word that earns the mark. And students abbreviate rough endoplasmic reticulum to RER, which is not an accepted answer. Notes that train the full term, every time, train the habit that scores.

That is why I updated my own notes after the June 2026 session with the latest definitions from those papers and the key points from the examiner reports, and why every definition in the book carries a sign telling you that this is one to learn word for word. Once you know the definitions, test them against real questions in the classified IGCSE Biology solved past papers, which are sorted by topic.

Do I need different notes for Core and Extended?

You need notes that mark Core and Extended content clearly on every page, because the two routes sit different papers and the Supplement content is examined only on the Extended papers. The 0610 syllabus states that candidates aiming for grades A* to C should be taught the Extended content, that Extended means Core plus Supplement, and that Core-only candidates can achieve a maximum of grade C.

Take the nutrient cycles. In the 0610 subject content, the carbon cycle is Core, while the nitrogen cycle, with nitrification, nitrogen fixation and denitrification, is Supplement only. A Core student who spends an evening on the nitrogen cycle has lost an evening. An Extended student who skips it because the notes did not flag it has lost marks. Good notes make that distinction impossible to miss, which is why mine label every section as Core or Extended.

Why the Chem-Bio IGCSE Biology notes rank first

The Chem-Bio IGCSE Biology complete notes eBook ranks first because it is the one option written for 0610 alone that flags every definition, separates Core from Extended, and builds Paper 6 practice into every chapter. This is the 9th edition of the Biology complete notes and the 6th edition of the eBook. It runs to 122 pages, or 137 with the glossary, and it had a full face-lift after the June 2026 session.

If you prefer to see it before reading about it, here is my walkthrough of the IGCSE Biology complete notes.

Definitions flagged, in the words the mark scheme credits

Every definition in the book is marked with a sign that says: learn this one exactly. The wording follows the syllabus and the latest mark schemes, updated after June 2026, so the sentence you memorise is the sentence that scores. Biology has a lot of these, from the seven characteristics of living organisms to genotype, phenotype and homozygous, and the sign stops you treating them as background reading.

Flashcards, quizzes and a Paper 6 investigation at the end of every chapter

Why does each chapter end with testing rather than a summary? Because the EEF's review of cognitive science in the classroom found that testing what you have learnt is often a better strategy than restudying the same material. So every chapter closes with flashcards, quizzes and a Paper 6 investigation that uses that chapter's biology, with a QR code to a short video of the experiment. You learn osmosis, then you watch the osmosis experiment and answer the Paper 6-style questions on it, while the theory is still fresh.

An exam tip on almost every page

The notes carry close to one exam tip per page, and each tip comes from the examiner reports: what to write, what to avoid writing, and which parts of the page you must master. A revision guide tells you what is true. An exam tip tells you what gets credited, which in Biology is often a narrower thing.

Mind maps, data sheets and memory techniques

The nitrogen cycle gets a full landscape page as a mind map, one of many in the book. The data sheets gather the food-test colours and the indicator colours in one place, which matters because Paper 6 expects you to describe food tests and record their results without doing them. There are memory techniques throughout, for instance for the symptoms of diabetes. One honest note: the Dunlosky review of learning techniques rated practice testing as high utility and the keyword mnemonic as low utility, so use the memory techniques to lock in a list, then prove it with the flashcards. The EEF review adds that concept maps may work better when the teacher draws them, which is how every map in the book was made.

One eBook, two years of updates, any device

The eBook opens on a phone, tablet or laptop, online or offline, and your copy receives every update for two years from purchase. You can highlight, add your own notes and bookmark pages, which is useful for finding things again before the exam. The learning itself happens in the flashcards and quizzes, where the evidence says it should.

Who should pick something else?

If your child has not yet been taught a topic, notes come second to a teacher or a coursebook; Cambridge confirms that coursebooks endorsed for exams from 2023 remain suitable for 2026–2028 in the 0610 syllabus. If you want hundreds more exam questions than the chapter quizzes provide, pair the notes with the solved past papers bundle or with Save My Exams.

Save My Exams, PMT and free student notes: who should choose them?

Each of the other three options is the right choice for a particular student, and this section says which.

Save My Exams

Save My Exams is a subscription platform whose Cambridge IGCSE Biology course includes revision notes, flashcards, quiz and exam-style questions, mock exams and past papers, written by its team of teachers and examiners, according to its own website (checked October 2026). It suits the student whose weak spot is question practice and who revises several subjects on one platform. Parents should note that plans are monthly or annual, that it has no dedicated app, and that its help page warns that cancelling on the renewal date itself may be too late to avoid an annual charge.

PMT (Physics & Maths Tutor)

PMT lists free summary notes, exam questions by topic and videos for each module of CIE IGCSE Biology, according to its own listing (checked October 2026). It suits the student who already has good notes and wants free, topic-sorted questions to practise on. Its listing does not name the authors of the notes, so check each page for a date and a syllabus code before relying on it.

Free student-made PDFs (Reddit, ZNotes)

Free PDFs written by recent candidates rank high on Google for a reason: they are free and often well organised. ZNotes is produced by student contributors and, by its own account, checked by subject experts before publishing; a Reddit PDF carries no such check. They suit a student who needs a quick recap of a topic already learnt. Before you trust one, confirm it is written for the 2026–2028 syllabus and that it separates Core from Supplement.

How do you prepare for IGCSE Biology Paper 6 with notes?

You prepare for IGCSE Biology Paper 6 by practising its skills from the first chapter, not the last month, because the paper tests drawing, measuring, recording and evaluating rather than recall. Paper 6 is a one-hour, 40-mark paper worth 20% of the grade in which, according to the 0610 syllabus, candidates are not required to do experiments, and in March 2026 an A on it needed 31 of those 40 marks.

Most students I teach struggle with Paper 6 for one reason: they see "20%" and leave it until the end. The reality is that this paper has tricks and skills that take months to build, which is why the investigations sit at the end of every chapter in my notes rather than in a chapter of their own. Start early, and the 20% becomes the easiest fifth of your grade to secure.

The drawing question is the clearest example. The syllabus publishes the rules, and the marks follow them. Here is the checklist, taken from Cambridge's own presentation-of-data guidance:

1. Use a sharp pencil so the lines are fine, clear and unbroken.
2. Use most of the available space.
3. Show all the features you can see in the specimen.
4. Add no shading and no colour.
5. Draw label lines with a ruler, and make each one touch the feature it labels.

Then the calculation that follows the drawing: in the syllabus, magnification is image size divided by actual size, with millimetres as the unit, and Extended candidates must also convert between millimetres and micrometres. There are four or five marks in that one question, and the notes show you how to collect all of them, with the drawing guidance and the magnification method explained step by step.

Paper 6 also expects you to know the experimental contexts in advance: food tests, osmosis, the rate of enzyme-catalysed reactions including judging colour-change end-points, photosynthesis, transpiration, heart rate and breathing rate, germination, and continuous and discontinuous variation. I run through ten of the most common traps in my video on scoring 36 or more in IGCSE Biology Paper 6, and we practise them live in my IGCSE Biology course.

Is it worth paying for IGCSE Biology notes?

It is worth paying for IGCSE Biology notes when they give you what free notes rarely combine: an accountable author, definitions in mark-scheme wording, built-in testing, Paper 6 practice, and updates after each exam session. If a free PDF already does all of that for your child, keep your money.

Here is the test I would apply as a parent. Who wrote it, and when did they last update it? Does it mark Core and Extended? Is it a one-off payment or a renewing subscription? Will it open on the device my child revises on, without Wi-Fi? For the Chem-Bio notes, the answers are: me, after the June 2026 session; yes, on every section; a one-time $25, or $40 together with the IGCSE Chemistry notes, each giving two years of access and every update in that time; and yes, online or offline. Before you decide, look through the free sample of the Biology notes, flashcards and quizzes.

Frequently asked questions

Is it hard to get an A* in IGCSE Biology?

It is demanding rather than mysterious: in March 2026 the A* needed 171 out of 200 weighted marks, about 85.5%, according to Cambridge's thresholds. Most of the gap between an A and an A* is precision in definitions and a secure Paper 6, both of which can be trained.

What percentage do you need for an A* in IGCSE Biology?

There is no fixed percentage, because Cambridge sets thresholds after each series; in March 2026 the A* threshold was 171 of 200 marks, or 85.5%. Treat 85% as the working target and aim above it.

Are free IGCSE Biology notes enough?

They can be, for a disciplined student who tests themselves and marks past papers against the mark scheme. They are not enough when they paraphrase the definitions, blur Core and Extended, or ignore Paper 6, which is where most free PDFs fall short.

Which IGCSE Biology paper do students find hardest?

Paper 6, in my experience. Its content is no harder than the theory papers; the problem is that students leave it until the end, when its drawing, measuring and evaluating skills take months to build.

Not sure which notes fit your child? Send me a message on WhatsApp on +965 5137 5709 or email admin@chem-bio.info, and I'll tell you where to start. I wish you all best of luck in your exams.

About the author: Hosni Showike is the author of eight published science textbooks with more than 20,000 copies sold worldwide. He has taught IGCSE and International A Level Chemistry and Biology for over 20 years, including 16 years teaching to Cambridge and Edexcel mark schemes at A-level, and writes at chem-bio.info where he publishes grade-threshold analysis, solved past papers and live exam-preparation classes.