Berlin · International and bilingual schools · Ages 13 to 19
Coding for international school students in Berlin
A computer science pupil in Berlin can be heading for four very different exams: Cambridge IGCSE, the IB Diploma, an American AP exam, or the Berlin Abitur. They test the same ideas, yet one is on paper in pseudocode, one is on a screen in Java, and one lets you use a computer for every task. This page sets out what the international schools in Berlin offer according to their association, how each exam treats programming, how we teach for all four in English, and a Python project on Berlin open data about the dullest and most useful skill in computing: checking input.
Live online since 2020 · 10,000+ students worldwide · IGCSE, IB, AP and Abitur computing in English
In short
Coding for international school students in Berlin at Modern Age Coders is live online computer science tutoring in English for pupils of 13 to 19 at English-medium and bilingual schools: IGCSE Computer Science 0478, IB Diploma Computer Science, AP Computer Science A, and Informatik for the Berlin Abitur. One regular mentor matches your pace and accent, either one to one or in a group of fifteen to twenty.
Three exam courses
Courses for the computing exams Berlin pupils sit
Pick the one that matches your school's qualification. Each follows its own board's syllabus and our own practice tasks.
Which qualifications do Berlin's international schools list?
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Internationalen Schulen in Deutschland, AGIS, keeps a directory of its schools. For Berlin it shows a mix of IB, Cambridge, American and German qualifications. We give this as context only; we have no link with any of these schools.
Qualifications listed for Berlin schools in the AGIS directory, and where computing can sit within them
Advanced Placement, American High School Diploma, Deutsches Abitur
AP Computer Science A; Abitur Informatik
Source: AGIS school directory, one page per school, read on 2 November 2026. The third column is ours: it names the computing exam a route can include, not a claim that the school teaches it. Whether a school offers Computer Science in a given year is on the school's own pages, so ask the school.
What AGIS says about its schools
AGIS describes all its member schools as authorised IB schools that offer at least one of the four IB programmes. It says they bring together children from up to 65 nations and use English as the common teaching language.
It also explains how the German side reads these routes: the IB Diploma, with prescribed subject combinations, counts as equivalent to the German Abitur, and schools that offer the MYP or the IGCSE give pupils a qualification equivalent to the Mittlere Reife.
Bilingual state schools too
Berlin also has the Staatliche Europa-Schule Berlin, SESB. The KMK's Eurydice dossier calls it a network of bilingual streams at 33 schools with about 6,000 pupils, taught in German and one of nine other languages from the first grade to the Abitur.
A pupil in an English stream there, or at a German school who simply prefers English, sits the Berlin Abitur in Informatik if they take it. That route is in the last row of the exam table below.
Four exams compared
How do IGCSE, IB, AP and the Berlin Abitur test programming?
The ideas overlap almost completely: variables, loops, arrays, searching, sorting, classes, data. What differs is the medium, the language and how much the computer is allowed to help.
Programming in four computing exams open to Berlin pupils
Exam
How it is taken
Language for answers
Published structure
IGCSE Computer Science 0478
Two written papers
Pseudocode, or Python, Visual Basic or Java
Paper 1 Computer Systems and Paper 2 Algorithms, Programming and Logic, each 1 hour 45 minutes and 75 marks
AP Computer Science A
Fully digital, in the Bluebook app
Java, with the Java Quick Reference
42 multiple-choice questions in 1 hour 30 minutes (55 percent) and 4 free-response questions in 1 hour 30 minutes (45 percent)
Abitur Informatik, Berlin
Written; the teacher submits two task proposals and one is chosen
Set by the course
Grundkurs three hours a week, Leistungskurs five; a computer may be used in all tasks
IB Diploma Computer Science
Set by the IB
Set by the IB guide
Not quoted here: ibo.org did not let us read it, so we give no figures
Sources: Cambridge International, IGCSE Computer Science 0478 syllabus for 2026 to 2028; College Board, AP Computer Science A exam page and 2027 AP exam schedule; Gesellschaft für Informatik, Informatik-Monitor 2026/27, Berlin page. Read on 2 and 3 November 2026. The IB row is left without figures on purpose.
Paper versus screen
Cambridge asks for algorithms written by hand, in pseudocode or a real language, and its syllabus says the last question of Paper 2 is a 15-mark unseen scenario. A pupil who has only ever typed code into an editor that catches errors finds this hard: there is no red underline on paper.
The College Board does the opposite for AP Computer Science A: the exam is fully digital, taken in the Bluebook app, and the Java Quick Reference is built in. The four free-response questions are fixed in type: methods and control structures, class design, data analysis with an ArrayList, and a 2D array.
The Berlin Abitur
The Informatik-Monitor says Berlin's written Abitur tasks in Informatik are developed decentrally: the teacher submits two proposals for a course and one is chosen. Working on a computer is allowed in every task, limited to the parts where it is needed for the subject.
Before the Oberstufe, pupils at Berlin's German schools meet computing in the ITG, the Informationstechnischer Grundkurs of one weekly hour, placed in grade 7 or grade 8; after that Informatik is normally an elective of two hours a week across grades 9 and 10. An international school pupil who moves into a Berlin Oberstufe may therefore meet classmates with two years of school Informatik behind them, or none.
Dates matter too. The College Board lists AP Computer Science A on Wednesday 12 May 2027 in Session 2, and its start-time table gives 1:00 p.m. local time for Session 2 at UTC+2, which is Berlin's offset in May. Check your own school's time with the College Board lookup. Cambridge and the IB publish their own timetables, and your school's exams officer has the final version.
Taught in English
Why learn computer science in English in Berlin?
For an international school pupil the answer is simple: your exam is in English. For a pupil at a German school, it is the language the subject is written in anyway.
English only
Every class is live, and every class is in English; German-language lessons are not something we run. Mentors adjust their speed and accent to the pupil, and they rephrase until an idea lands.
Exam words, exactly
Each board phrases its questions in its own command words. We practise with the words in your syllabus, so that a question means the same thing to you as it does to the person marking it.
Same mentor, every week
One mentor follows the pupil from the first class to the exam and knows which topics still wobble. Mentors are based in India and teach over live video with a shared editor.
We do not ask pupils to copy answers, from us or from an AI tool. A pupil who can explain why a loop stops, and test that claim, can answer a question they have never seen. For under-18s we never recommend adult-only AI accounts; our AI tools age guide lists what each tool's own terms allow.
A Berlin data project
What does Berlin's Christmas market data teach about validating input?
Every computing syllabus asks pupils to validate data. Real data makes the point far better than a textbook, and the Senate's list of Christmas markets is real, messy and open.
The data
The Senate department for economics publishes Berliner und Brandenburger Weihnachtsmärkte as open data under CC BY. We downloaded the JSON version on 3 November 2026: 48 markets for the 2025/26 season, each with a district, a start date (von), an end date (bis) and free-text opening hours.
The dates are written the German way, day.month.year, as text. A program has to turn that text into a date before it can compare or subtract anything, and that is where the trouble starts.
The question
How long does a typical market run? It sounds like one subtraction per market. Try it on all 48 and the program crashes, because some cells hold no date, some hold several dates on separate lines, and one says a market ends in 2012.
So Version 1 does what an examiner wants to see: before computing anything, it sorts every record into a named case. Only the clean cases go forward.
Version 1: classify every record firstPython
import json
from datetime import datetime
def parse(text):
return datetime.strptime(text.strip(), "%d.%m.%Y").date()
markets = json.load(open("weihnachtsmaerkte.json", encoding="utf-8"))["index"]
kinds = {}
for m in markets:
start, end = m["von"], m["bis"]
if start == "":
kind = "no start date"
elif "\n" in start:
kind = "several dates in one cell"
elif end == "":
kind = "one day only"
elif parse(end) < parse(start):
kind = "ends before it starts"
else:
kind = "clean range"
kinds[kind] = kinds.get(kind, 0) + 1
for kind, n in sorted(kinds.items(), key=lambda kv: -kv[1]):
print(kind, n)
It prints clean range 26, one day only 17, several dates in one cell 3, no start date 1 and ends before it starts 1.
Only 26 of 48 records are clean ranges. Seventeen are single-day markets with no end date at all, which is not an error but a different kind of record. Three put several weekend dates into one cell, separated by line breaks. One has no start date in its own field; its dates are hidden in the opening-hours text. And one ends before it starts.
Version 2: reject what cannot be true, then measurePython
import json
import statistics
from datetime import datetime
def parse(text):
return datetime.strptime(text.strip(), "%d.%m.%Y").date()
markets = json.load(open("weihnachtsmaerkte.json", encoding="utf-8"))["index"]
spans = []
for m in markets:
start, end = m["von"], m["bis"]
if start == "" or "\n" in start or end == "":
continue
days = (parse(end) - parse(start)).days + 1
if days < 1:
print("Rejected:", m["name"], start, end)
continue
spans.append(days)
spans.sort()
print("Clean ranges:", len(spans))
print("Shortest:", spans[0], "Longest:", spans[-1], "Median:", statistics.median(spans))
It prints Rejected: Weihnachtsmarkt Königs Wusterhausen 12.12.2025 14.12.2012, Clean ranges: 26 and Shortest: 1 Longest: 124 Median: 35.0.
The rejected record starts on 12 December 2025 and ends on 14 December 2012, which looks like a typing slip, but a program should not guess. It reports the record and leaves it out. The longest clean range is 124 days, a winter market in Mitte from 28 November 2025 to 31 March 2026, which is why we report the median, 35 days, rather than the mean: one long run would pull an average up.
The 48 records of the 2025/26 season by validation case (our calculation)
Case
Records
What a careful program does
Clean range
26
Parse both dates and measure
One day only
17
Treat as a one-day range, or count separately
Several dates in one cell
3
Split on line breaks, then pair the dates
No start date
1
Flag for a human; do not read free text blindly
Ends before it starts
1
Reject and report
Data: Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe, Berliner und Brandenburger Weihnachtsmärkte, via Berlin Open Data and GovData, licence CC BY; downloaded 3 November 2026. The list includes five markets in Brandenburg. Every count and duration is our own.
IGCSE. Write the classification of Version 1 as pseudocode in the Cambridge style, with a CASE statement, then trace it by hand for three records.
AP Computer Science A. Write a Java class Market with a constructor and a method durationDays() that throws an exception when the end is before the start. Test it with the 2012 record.
IB. Extend Version 2 so that the three multi-date cells are split and paired, and say how many single weekends that adds.
Abitur. Draw a state diagram for a date parser that reads characters one by one and accepts only dd.mm.yyyy.
Class times
What class times fit a Berlin school day?
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. International school days often end later, so evening slots are popular.
Example Berlin times and the mentor's time in India
Berlin time
India time to 28 March 2027
India time from 28 March 2027
17:25
21:55
20:55
18:20
22:50
21:50
Saturday 15:10
19:40
18:40
Sunday 11:15
15:45
14:45
German legal time is Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time, UTC+2, under the Einheitenzeitgesetz; summer time ended on 25 October 2026 and returns on 28 March 2027. India is on UTC+5:30 all year: 4 hours 30 minutes ahead of Berlin in winter, 3 hours 30 minutes in summer. Times shown are examples only.
International schools set their own term dates, which may not match the Berlin state school holidays. For reference, the KMK table gives Berlin's state school Christmas break as 23 December 2026 to 2 January 2027 and the Osterferien as 22 March to 2 April 2027. Tell your mentor your own school's calendar and the plan follows it.
Milestones
From first program to exam-ready
Our own stages, used to place a pupil whatever their board.
Computer science milestones for ages 13 to 19 (ours)
Stage
Typical age
The pupil can
1. Write and trace
13 to 14
Write short programs and trace them by hand, line by line
2. Structure data
14 to 15
Use lists, dictionaries and arrays, and choose between them
3. Validate and test
15 to 16
Check every input, name the cases and write tests that fail
4. Design classes
16 to 17
Model a problem with classes and explain the design
5. Exam fluency
16 to 19
Answer unseen questions in the board's own words and format
For parents
Stage 3 is the project above. Pupils who learn to classify input before using it lose far fewer marks on unseen questions.
We report progress as things your child can now do alone, with an example.
For pupils
Before you compute, ask what could be wrong with the input. Then write it down as a case.
If a record cannot be true, report it. Do not quietly fix it.
More courses
Nine more courses for Berlin pupils
All live, in English, with one regular mentor, in a group or one to one.
I
Programming depth
Ages 13 to 18
CIN / CODE / 01
Python for teens
From first script to real projects, the language most boards accept.
How live classes work for an international school pupil in Berlin
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Two live classes a week, an hour each, in a shared editor with the same mentor.
Evenings
After a long international school day, from about 17:00 in Berlin.
Weekends
Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings for longer practice.
One to one
A time agreed with the mentor, moved around mock exams.
Board by board
IGCSE, IB, AP or Abitur, never a mixture.
Code on paper too
Handwritten tracing for the boards that need it.
Our own questions
Practice tasks are written by us, not copied papers.
Explain, then type
Pupils say why the code works before they run it.
Parent updates
Short notes on progress and next steps.
Group or solo
Fifteen to twenty pupils, or you and a mentor.
Student work
Projects from our students
Teenagers who learn properly build real things. A few of their projects are below, and the student labs page shows more.
AI and ML
NutriLife
An AI nutrition coach that reads what you eat and works you toward a target.
A weather forecasting site with live conditions for any location.
by Krish
Fees
Fees for Berlin pupils
A monthly fee covers eight live classes. The page shows it in euro, worked out at the European Central Bank reference rate; the payment is processed in US dollars, so your bank converts it and the final euro figure can be slightly different.
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Berlin pupils and parents ask
Coding for international school students in Berlin: questions
Are the classes in German?
No. Every class is live and taught in English only, by mentors who match your pace and accent. That suits IGCSE, IB and AP pupils, whose exams are in English, and it works for Abitur Informatik too, because the programming languages themselves are English.
Do you teach IGCSE Computer Science 0478?
Yes. Our course follows the 2026 to 2028 syllabus: Paper 1 Computer Systems and Paper 2 Algorithms, Programming and Logic, each 1 hour 45 minutes and 75 marks. We drill pseudocode in the Cambridge style and use Python for the programming answers.
When is the AP Computer Science A exam in 2027?
The College Board lists it on Wednesday 12 May 2027, in Session 2. Its start-time table gives 1:00 p.m. local time for Session 2 at UTC+2, Berlin's offset in May, but your school confirms the exact time.
Is the AP Computer Science A exam on paper?
No. The College Board describes it as fully digital, taken in the Bluebook app, with 42 multiple-choice questions and 4 free-response questions, each part lasting 1 hour 30 minutes. The Java Quick Reference is built into the app.
Can you help with IB Diploma Computer Science?
Yes. Our course follows the new IB guide with first assessment in 2027, including the internal assessment. We do not quote IB exam figures on this page because we could not read them on ibo.org; your IB coordinator has the official details.
Which international schools in Berlin do your students attend?
We do not name schools as sources of students. The schools on this page are listed only because the AGIS directory shows their qualifications. We are not connected with AGIS or with any school.
Can I use a computer in the Berlin Abitur in Informatik?
According to the Informatik-Monitor 2026/27, working on a computer is allowed in all tasks of the written Berlin Abitur in Informatik, limited to where the subject needs it. The tasks are set decentrally: teachers submit two proposals and one is chosen.
What times can I book from Berlin?
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Evenings are popular: 18:20 in Berlin is 22:50 for the mentor in India in winter.
What does it cost?
The fee is monthly for eight live classes and appears in euro at the European Central Bank reference rate. The charge goes through in US dollars and your bank converts it, so your statement may differ a little. The first class is free.
Will you do my coursework or internal assessment for me?
No. We teach you to plan, write and test your own work, and we explain the criteria in plain English. The work you hand in has to be your own, and we keep it that way.
Tell us your board and your next deadline. In the first class the mentor sets one short programming task at your level, watches how you approach it, and suggests the course and format that fit.
Classes are live online with mentors in India, in English only. WhatsApp reaches us fastest, in English.
Want a class sooner? Book a priority demo
A priority demo is a full class of about 45 to 60 minutes. After the class the mentor sends a written skill report and a personal learning roadmap on WhatsApp. If you enrol, the demo fee is adjusted against your first month's fee. Share your demo Order ID with us on WhatsApp and we take it off.
