Exam season · 25 August 2026 · 7 min read
Predicted topics for IGCSE Physics 2027: where the paper is heading
Updated 10 September 2026
Before the relevant exam series, my students sit a practice paper I write from the syllabus, assessment objectives and recurring question skills. The aim is not to guess the real paper; it is to make the demands of the real paper feel familiar.
This page is a careful guide for 2027 — not a leak and not a guarantee. Every syllabus topic remains examinable. Use it to prioritise difficult, high-value skills after full coverage, never to narrow your revision.
How prediction actually works
Exam boards build papers against the syllabus and assessment objectives, but previous papers do not make a topic mathematically 'due'. A topic that appeared recently can appear again, and a topic absent for several sessions is not guaranteed to return.
Past papers are still useful because they reveal recurring question forms and transferable skills: multi-step calculations, practical evaluation, graph interpretation and precise explanations. A responsible prediction paper gives those demanding skills extra practice while preserving full syllabus coverage.
High-value topics I would weight for 2027
These are broad, frequently demanding areas worth extra practice after you have covered the full syllabus:
- —Electromagnetic effects — transformers and induction connect several ideas and often expose vague explanations. Learn the transformer chain (a.c. → changing field → induced e.m.f.) precisely.
- —Thermal physics — specific heat capacity calculations paired with the particle-model explanation of the flat sections on a heating curve.
- —Momentum — a collision calculation with a follow-up impulse explanation (crumple zones or airbags) fits the recent style of paired calculation-plus-explanation questions.
- —Radioactivity — half-life from data with background correction, and choosing an isotope for an application with justification.
- —Motion graphs — never absent, but recent papers have favoured interpreting a graph of a falling object with air resistance. Practise narrating terminal velocity from a curve.
What I tell my own students
A prediction changes how you spend your final week; it must never change your syllabus coverage. The plan that works: full coverage first, using the free revision notes on this site, then the final week weighted towards the topics above — with past-paper questions, done under time, marked against the real mark scheme.
And the six-mark questions: whatever the topic, they are won by structure, not inspiration. State, explain, link. Three sentences that follow the physics beat vague paragraphs every time.
A prediction should change your final week — never your coverage.
Sit the actual prediction paper
Students in my course sit a full practice paper before the relevant exam series, marked and returned with feedback. Use the feedback to plan your remaining revision. The student-results page includes individual outcomes and course feedback; contact me on WhatsApp to discuss preparation for your 2027 exam series.