Cambridge Grade Thresholds June 2026: The Zone 5 Rows for Students in Malaysia

Cambridge grade thresholds come as one PDF per syllabus, with a separate row for each combination of question paper variants, and the variant you sit depends on where you sit it. Malaysian candidates sat the variant 2 papers of IGCSE Additional Mathematics 0606 in June 2026, so their A* threshold was 138 out of 160, not the 141 printed in the first row.^[1]

Additional Mathematics is the mild case. In IGCSE Mathematics 0580, the Zone 5 Extended row, for papers 23 and 43, needed 177 out of 200 for an A*. The first Extended row needed 162, so a student who read the wrong line would have aimed 15 marks too low.

This guide gives the Zone 5 rows for eleven IGCSE and AS & A Level syllabuses that many Malaysian students take, with each threshold as a mark and as a percentage. It also shows how to find your own row and how Cambridge adds up marks, and it gives the November 2026 release dates. Afterkelas is an online tuition school, not part of Cambridge, so the official PDFs and your school's exams officer have the final word. We will add the November 2026 Zone 5 rows on results day.

What is a Cambridge grade threshold?

Cambridge defines a grade threshold as "the minimum number of marks that a candidate needs to achieve to be awarded a particular grade in a paper or in a subject".^[2] The thresholds are set after the papers have been marked, and they move from one series to the next. Cambridge's aim is that each grade is "no more difficult and no less difficult" to reach than the year before, so a harder paper gets lower thresholds and an easier paper gets higher ones.

Every threshold PDF has two tables. The first, component grade thresholds, gives each component Definition Cambridge's word for a single paper, written after the syllabus code: 0606/12 is component 12 of Additional Mathematics. its own thresholds on its raw marks, for grades A to E (down to G in some IGCSE subjects). The second, syllabus grade thresholds, gives the minimum total for each grade for every combination of components, and that is the table your result comes from. No single paper has an A*: Cambridge works out the A* threshold for each combination from its A and B thresholds and the maximum mark.

Which grade threshold row applies to Malaysian students?

Cambridge sorts its schools into six administrative zones by country and location, and "each zone has a specific timetable". Candidates in similar time zones are in the exam room, or under supervision, at the same time, which keeps the question papers secure.^[3] Cambridge's Key Times lookup places Malaysia in Zone 5, with Key Times of 9:00 am, 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm and no daylight saving. Singapore and Brunei are in Zone 5 as well, so the rows below apply there too.^[4]

The zone decides which variant of each paper you sit. A paper code has two digits after the slash: the first is the paper number and the second is the variant. So 0606/12 is Additional Mathematics Paper 1, variant 2, and 0580/43 is Mathematics Paper 4, variant 3. Each variant is a different question paper written for the same syllabus, so each one has its own thresholds, and each combination of variants has its own row in the syllabus table.

Here is how far apart the two rows were for an A*:

For the sciences, the Zone 5 figures are from the rows with Paper 5 at IGCSE and practical 33 at A Level. At other grades the gap can be wider: a B in A Level Mathematics needed 163 out of 250 in the variant 1 row but 186 in the Zone 5 row, and a C in English as a Second Language 0510 needed 119 out of 150 in the variant 1 row but 111 in the Zone 5 row.

How to read a Cambridge grade threshold table

1. 1 Note your syllabus code and paper codes, such as 0606/12 and 0606/22
2. 2 Open that syllabus's threshold PDF for the right series
3. 3 Go to the table headed syllabus grade thresholds
4. 4 Find the row that lists exactly your papers
5. 5 Compare your weighted total with that row

Your paper codes are printed on the front of each question paper and on your statement of entry, which lists your syllabuses and the dates and sessions of your papers; Cambridge asks schools to share it with every candidate, private candidates included. Your school's exams officer can also tell you, and for June and November 2026 the Zone 5 timetables linked in this guide list them. For a subject not covered here, find its code in the Zone 5 timetable, note the variant and pick the matching row in that subject's PDF.

A Level students have one more thing to check. If you sat every paper in one series, use the rows headed linear assessment. If you carried AS marks forward from an earlier series, your row sits under staged assessment and ends in a code in the 80s or 90s that stands for the AS result you carried forward; your school's component marks report shows which combination was used. Where an entry offers more than one route to a grade, Cambridge awards the best grade available from the papers you took.

Cambridge IGCSE grade thresholds, June 2026: the Zone 5 rows

The Mathematics and science rows are for the Extended tier. Extended Mathematics and Additional Mathematics award A* to E, while the sciences and English as a Second Language award A* to G. Each cell gives the minimum mark and, in brackets, that mark as a percentage of the maximum.^[5]

Mathematics 0580 (Extended): papers 23 and 43

Both papers carry 100 marks and count equally. Core candidates sat papers 13 and 33, where grade C, the highest Core grade, needed 83 out of 160 (51.9%).

Additional Mathematics 0606: papers 12 and 22

The two papers carry 80 marks each, so your total is Paper 1 plus Paper 2.

Biology 0610: papers 22, 42, and 52 or 62

Extended candidates sit Paper 2 (multiple choice), Paper 4 (theory) and either Paper 5, the practical exam, or Paper 6, Alternative to Practical, depending on the school's entry. These thresholds are on Cambridge's weighted scale out of 200, explained further down.

Core candidates, on papers 12, 32, and 52 or 62, needed 115 (57.5%) with Paper 5 or 116 (58.0%) with Paper 6, out of 200, for a C.

Chemistry 0620: papers 22, 42, and 52 or 62

On the Core papers, a C needed 107 (53.5%) with Paper 5 or 108 (54.0%) with Paper 6, out of 200.

Physics 0625: papers 22, 42, and 52 or 62

A Core C needed 114 out of 200 (57.0%) with either practical paper.

English as a Second Language 0510 and 0511: papers 12, 22 and 32

Schools enter either 0510 (Speaking Endorsement) or 0511 (Count-in Speaking). Candidates for either sit the same two-hour reading and writing paper and the same listening paper, timetabled together, but only 0511 counts the speaking test towards the grade, where it is worth 25%.

In 0510 the speaking test is reported on its own, on a scale from 1 (high) to 5, and does not count towards the letter grade.^[6] In June 2026 the Zone 5 speaking test, marked out of 40, needed 35 for a 1, 27 for a 2, 19 for a 3, 11 for a 4 and 5 for a 5.

AS & A Level grade thresholds, June 2026: the Zone 5 rows

Each subject below has an A Level table, for students who sat every paper in June 2026 (Cambridge's linear rows), and an AS table. AS grades run from a to e, with no a*. If you carried AS marks forward, find your staged row in the PDF as described above.^[7]

Mathematics 9709: papers 13 to 63

Zone 5 sat variant 3 of every 9709 paper. The A Level has two routes, with Mechanics or with a second Statistics paper, and every paper counts at face value.

Here you can see how a row is built: the A threshold for papers 13, 33, 43 and 53 is the sum of the four papers' A thresholds, 61 + 66 + 39 + 46 = 212. Paper 33, Pure Mathematics 3, needed 66 out of 75 for an A, against 56 for paper 31, and that one paper explains most of the gap between the Zone 5 and variant 1 rows.

Physics 9702: papers 12, 22, 42, 52 and practical 33 or 34

The A Level sciences have two practical papers, 33 and 34, held on different days, and which one you sit depends on your school's entry. The thresholds are weighted, out of 260 for A Level and 130 for AS.

Chemistry 9701: papers 12, 22, 42, 52 and practical 33 or 34

In Chemistry the Zone 5 rows sat well below the variant 1 row. An A needed 168 or 171 out of 260 in Zone 5, against 185 in the variant 1 row, and an AS a needed 79 or 82 out of 130, against 93.

Biology 9700: papers 12, 22, 42, 52 and practical 33 or 34

How to turn your marks into a percentage and a grade

To compare a mock or a past paper with these tables, add up your marks the way Cambridge does, then divide by the maximum and multiply by 100. In 0580, 0606 and 9709 every paper counts at face value, so your total is the sum of your raw marks. In the sciences and English as a Second Language, Cambridge first multiplies each paper by a weighting factor so that it carries its intended share of the grade.^[8]

Here is how that works for Chemistry 0620. Say you sit the June 2026 variant 2 papers as a mock and score 30 out of 40 on Paper 2, 56 out of 80 on Paper 4 and 28 out of 40 on Paper 6. Weighted, that is 45 + 70 + 28 = 143 out of 200, or 71.5%. The Zone 5 row with Paper 6 set the A at 139, so that mock is an A. Add the raw marks instead and you get 114 out of 160, and if you held 114 against the 200-mark row you would think you had a B. Percentages also let you compare papers with different maximums, but treat them as a guide: within a mark or two of a threshold, go by the mark, because our percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

Two other numbers are easy to confuse with these. Your school receives a component marks report with your raw and final marks for each paper, and Cambridge lets schools share a candidate's own marks when the candidate asks, which is the surest way to see how close you were.^[9] If your statement of results shows a percentage uniform mark, that is a separate scale on which the lowest A* is always 90 and the lowest A is 80 (at AS, the a band runs from 80 to 100). Cambridge says it cannot be used with the grade threshold tables.^[10]

Knowing how close you came also helps if you are weighing up an enquiry about results, Cambridge's name for a remark. Only the school can submit one, the deadline for the November 2026 series is 26 February 2027, and Cambridge's rule is that the syllabus grade either stays the same or goes up, even though the mark for a paper can fall.

Common mistakes when reading grade thresholds

When are the November 2026 grade thresholds released?

Cambridge publishes the threshold tables with the results. In June 2026, results came out at 6:00 am UK time (BST), 1:00 pm in Malaysia, on Tuesday 11 August for AS & A Level and Tuesday 18 August for IGCSE and O Level, and the threshold files on Cambridge's site are time-stamped 1:08 pm and 1:12 pm Malaysian time on those days.^[11] The November 2025 IGCSE tables were time-stamped 2:00 pm Malaysian time (06:00 GMT) on 15 January 2026, that series' IGCSE results day.^[12]

Cambridge's results page gives the time as "06:00 GMT/UTC+1", which some pages convert to 1:00 pm. Its help centre gives "06:00 GMT/UTC", and the UK is on GMT from 25 October 2026, so the Malaysian time is 2:00 pm.^[13] Schools can pass results on straight away, in school or through Cambridge's candidate results website, for which the school issues the login. We will add the November 2026 Zone 5 rows to this page on 7 and 14 January.

Which rows to look for in January

Variants change between series, so the row that was right in June is often wrong in November. Cambridge's November 2026 Zone 5 timetable lists these papers for Malaysian centres:^[14]

Additional Mathematics moves from variant 2 to variant 3, for example, while Physics 0625 stays on variant 2.

How to use past grade thresholds for April and May revision

Past thresholds help most in the weeks before the June exams, when you are working through past papers, as long as you remember that the rows move from year to year. Zone 5 sat the same variants in June 2025 and June 2026, so this comparison is like for like:^[15]

Some rows barely moved: Additional Mathematics and A Level Physics stayed within two marks. Others moved a long way. The A in A Level Mathematics rose 15 marks on the Mechanics route and 23 on the Statistics route, A Level Biology rose 13 marks at both A* and A, and IGCSE Biology fell 8 marks at A.

A few habits keep past thresholds honest:

• Mark a complete set of papers from one series with its mark scheme, and compare your total with the row for those exact variants in that series. A June 2026 pair of 0606/12 and 0606/22 goes against the 12, 22 row.
• If you practise on a variant Zone 5 did not sit, use that variant's row: a total from variant 1 papers belongs against the variant 1 row.
• Check thresholds from several series, not one, and set your target at the highest one for the grade you want.
• Use weighted totals for the sciences and English as a Second Language, and percentages when you compare papers with different maximums.
• Ask how your school graded its mock before comparing it with these tables, because a school may use its own boundaries for internal exams.

The method in our SPM revision plan, marking full papers under time and then fixing the topics that lose the most marks, works the same way for IGCSE and A Level papers.

Frequently asked questions

What was the IGCSE Additional Mathematics 0606 A* threshold in June 2026 in Malaysia?

138 out of 160 (86.3%). Malaysian candidates sat papers 0606/12 and 0606/22, so the Zone 5 row for components 12 and 22 applies. The first row in Cambridge's PDF, which shows 141, is for the variant 1 papers, which Malaysia did not sit.

What was the A* threshold for IGCSE Mathematics 0580 in June 2026?

For Extended candidates in Malaysia, 177 out of 200 (88.5%), from the Zone 5 row for papers 23 and 43, and an A needed 154. The variant 1 row for papers 21 and 41 shows 162 for an A*, but Zone 5 did not sit those papers.

Which zone is Malaysia in for Cambridge exams?

Zone 5. Cambridge's Key Times lookup gives Malaysia Key Times of 9:00 am, 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm, with no daylight saving. Singapore and Brunei are in Zone 5 as well.

When will the November 2026 grade thresholds be released?

With the results: Thursday 7 January 2027 for AS & A Level and Thursday 14 January 2027 for IGCSE and O Level, at 6:00 am UK time (GMT), which is 2:00 pm in Malaysia. Cambridge puts the threshold tables online within minutes of the results.

How do I know which paper variant I sat?

The paper code, such as 0606/12, is printed on the front of the question paper and listed on your statement of entry. The second digit after the slash is the variant. Your school's exams officer can also tell you.

Why do different variants have different thresholds?

Each variant is a different question paper. Cambridge sets thresholds after marking so that each grade is no harder and no easier to reach than before, which means a harder variant gets lower thresholds and an easier one higher thresholds.

How do I convert my marks into a percentage?

Add your marks, divide by the maximum and multiply by 100. In the sciences and English as a Second Language, multiply each paper by Cambridge's weighting factor first. In IGCSE sciences that means Paper 2 times 1.5, Paper 4 times 1.25 and Paper 5 or 6 times 1, for a total out of 200.

Is an A on one paper the same as an A overall?

No. Cambridge does not use paper grades to work out the subject grade, and there is no A* for a single paper. Your grade comes from your total across the papers, compared with the syllabus row for your combination.

Can my grade go down if I ask for a remark?

Cambridge says that after an enquiry about results the syllabus grade will either stay the same or go up, although the mark for a paper can go down. Only your school can apply, and for the November 2026 series the deadline is 26 February 2027.