IGCSE Computer Science

IGCSE Computer Science (0478)

Both papers taught in full, with real programming in Python, so your child understands the subject instead of memorising it.

6 months (24 weeks), joinable any month IGCSE students taking Computer Science 0478; taught from the basics, no prior coding required 2 live classes/week + weekly programming practice Course-completion certificate from Modern Age Coders

Syllabus updated July 2026

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IGCSE Computer Science (0478): Full Syllabus and Exam Prep

Flexible course duration

Duration depends on the student's background and pace. Beginners (kids / teens): typically 6 to 9 months. Adults with prior knowledge: often shorter, with an accelerated path.

Standard pace6 to 9 months
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Program Overview

Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science is two subjects wearing one name. Half of it is how computers actually work, from binary and data transmission to hardware, networks and emerging technologies. The other half is thinking like a programmer: designing algorithms, writing and correcting real code, querying a database, and reasoning through logic circuits. Students who treat it as a memory subject stall on the second half, because you cannot memorise your way through writing a program you have never seen.

This course teaches both halves properly. It follows the current 0478 syllabus (version 5, for examination in 2026, 2027 and 2028) topic by topic, and it is built around the fact that the qualification is assessed by two written papers of equal weight, with no coursework. Paper 1 covers computer systems. Paper 2 covers algorithms, programming and logic. Neither can be neglected, because each is worth exactly half the grade.

The six-month structure moves in the syllabus's own order. Months 1 and 2 build computer systems from the ground up: data representation, data transmission and hardware. Months 3 and 4 finish the theory with software, the internet and its uses, and automated and emerging technologies, then add Boolean logic. Months 5 and 6 turn to the programming half: algorithm design, pseudocode, real Python, file handling, databases and SQL, and then full timed exam practice on both papers. Every class is live and small, and every programming concept is practised by actually writing code, because that is the only part of this subject that cannot be faked.

What Makes This Program Different

  • ✓ Both papers taught in full and to equal depth, because each is worth exactly 50 percent of the grade and most students quietly neglect one of them
  • ✓ Taught to the current syllabus (0478 version 5, for examination in 2026, 2027 and 2028), so nothing covered is out of date
  • ✓ Real programming, not just pseudocode on paper: students write and run genuine Python, which is what makes Paper 2 straightforward instead of frightening
  • ✓ The scenario question is prepared for directly: candidates may answer in pseudocode or in Python, Visual Basic or Java, and we drill the choice your child is strongest in
  • ✓ Exam technique built in from the start: trace tables, dry runs, test data, and the difference between the marks for stating, applying and evaluating
  • ✓ Live, small batches where your child writes code during class and gets it reviewed on the spot, not recorded lectures watched alone

Your Learning Journey

Phase 1
Computer systems foundations: data representation, data transmission and hardware, built from binary upward
Phase 2
Software, the internet and its uses, automated and emerging technologies, then Boolean logic and logic circuits
Phase 3
Algorithm design, programming in Python, databases and SQL, then full timed practice on both papers

Career Progression

1
Strong grades across both IGCSE Computer Science papers, not just the theory half
2
The ability to genuinely write, read and debug Python, which is the real transferable skill
3
A solid base for A Level Computer Science or IB Computer Science afterwards
4
Computational thinking that carries into maths, physics and any future technical study
5
An early, real head start in programming that compounds for years

Detailed Course Curriculum

Explore the complete week-by-week breakdown of what you'll learn in this comprehensive program.

Topics Covered
  • Why computers use binary, and what a bit and a byte actually are
  • Converting between denary, binary and hexadecimal in both directions
  • Binary addition, and what overflow means and when it happens
  • Logical binary shifts and their effect on a value
  • Where hexadecimal shows up in practice: error codes, MAC addresses, colour codes
Projects You Build
  • A conversion drill sheet worked by hand, then a short Python script that checks your answers
Practice & Assignments

20 conversion and binary-addition questions at exam difficulty, self-marked against worked solutions

Topics Covered
  • Character sets: ASCII and Unicode, and why Unicode exists
  • How an image is stored: pixels, resolution, colour depth, and the file-size calculation
  • How sound is stored: sampling rate, sample resolution, and the trade-off with quality
  • Calculating file sizes, a guaranteed source of marks
  • Measurements of storage from bit up to terabyte
Projects You Build
  • Calculate the true file size of a given image and sound clip, then verify against a real file
Practice & Assignments

12 file-size and representation calculations, shown with full working

Assessment

A short written check on number systems and data representation, marked in exam style

Topics Covered
  • Lossy and lossless compression, and when each is appropriate
  • How run-length encoding works, step by step
  • Data packets: structure, packet switching, and why packets can arrive out of order
  • Serial and parallel transmission, simplex, half-duplex and duplex
  • Universal Serial Bus and where it fits
Projects You Build
  • Compress a sample string by run-length encoding by hand, then reverse it
Practice & Assignments

10 questions on compression and transmission methods, including a packet-structure diagram

Topics Covered
  • Why errors occur in transmission, and what that means for the receiver
  • Parity checks (odd and even), checksums, echo check and check digits
  • Automatic Repeat reQuest and how acknowledgement works
  • Symmetric and asymmetric encryption explained plainly
  • Why encryption protects data but does not prevent interception
Projects You Build
  • Work a parity check and a check-digit calculation by hand, then break a deliberately corrupted example
Practice & Assignments

12 error-detection questions including trace-style parity problems

Assessment

End-of-month test on data representation and transmission, scored on the exam mark scheme

Topics Covered
  • The von Neumann model and the role of the processor
  • Registers, buses and their purpose in plain language
  • The fetch, decode, execute cycle in order
  • What actually affects CPU performance: clock speed, cores, cache
  • Embedded systems and where they are used
Projects You Build
  • Trace one full fetch-decode-execute cycle for a simple instruction and explain each step in your own words
Practice & Assignments

10 architecture questions, including performance-comparison scenarios

Topics Covered
  • Common input devices and where each is genuinely appropriate
  • Output devices, including printers and their differences
  • Sensors, what each measures, and their use in monitoring and control systems
  • Choosing the right device for a described scenario, which is how the exam asks it
  • Justifying a choice, since the marks are for the reason, not the name
Projects You Build
  • Specify the input and output devices for a described real system and justify every choice
Practice & Assignments

10 scenario questions where the marks come from justification

Topics Covered
  • RAM and ROM, and the difference that actually matters
  • Virtual memory: what it is and why it is used
  • Magnetic, optical and solid state storage, and how each physically works
  • Comparing storage types on capacity, speed, portability and durability
  • Cloud storage, with its genuine advantages and real drawbacks
Projects You Build
  • Build a comparison table of storage types and defend a recommendation for a given user
Practice & Assignments

10 memory and storage questions including comparison and justification

Topics Covered
  • Network interface card, MAC address and IP address, and how they differ
  • Routers and what they actually do
  • IPv4 and IPv6, and why IPv6 exists
  • Public and private IP addresses
  • How this connects to data transmission from Month 1
Projects You Build
  • Map how a request travels from a home device to a web server and back, labelling each component
Practice & Assignments

10 networking questions at exam difficulty

Assessment

End-of-phase test covering all of hardware, scored on the mark scheme

Topics Covered
  • System software versus application software, with clear examples
  • What an operating system actually manages
  • Interrupts: what triggers them and how they are handled
  • The role of the bootstrap on start-up
  • Utility software and what each utility is for
Projects You Build
  • Explain, in your own words, exactly what happens between pressing power and seeing the desktop
Practice & Assignments

10 software questions including interrupt scenarios

Topics Covered
  • High-level and low-level languages, and the real trade-off
  • Assembly language and why it still exists
  • Compilers and interpreters, and the difference in how each reports errors
  • What an Integrated Development Environment gives you
  • Common IDE features and how they help you debug
Projects You Build
  • Run the same short program through an interpreter and observe how errors surface
Practice & Assignments

10 questions comparing translators, with justification marks

Assessment

A timed check on software, translators and the operating system

Topics Covered
  • The internet and the World Wide Web are not the same thing, and the exam tests this
  • URLs, HTTP and HTTPS, and what the S actually secures
  • Web browsers, cookies (session and persistent) and how pages are retrieved and displayed
  • Digital currency and the idea of blockchain, at syllabus depth
  • Why any of this matters for security
Projects You Build
  • Trace what happens from typing a URL to the page rendering, naming every step
Practice & Assignments

10 questions on web technologies and cookies

Topics Covered
  • The threats named in the syllabus: brute force, data interception, DDoS, hacking, malware, phishing, pharming, social engineering
  • How each threat actually works, so the definitions stop blurring together
  • The solutions: access levels, anti-malware, authentication, firewalls, privacy settings, proxy servers, SSL
  • Matching the right solution to the right threat, which is how marks are awarded
  • Two-factor and biometric authentication
Projects You Build
  • Build a threat-and-solution table, then answer a scenario recommending and justifying protections
Practice & Assignments

12 threat-matching and justification questions

Assessment

End-of-month test on the internet and cyber security

Topics Covered
  • How sensors, microprocessors and actuators work together in an automated system
  • Worked examples across transport, agriculture, weather and lighting
  • What characterises a robot, and where robotics is genuinely used
  • The real advantages and drawbacks of automation
  • Answering these as scenario questions rather than definitions
Projects You Build
  • Design an automated system for a described situation, naming every sensor and the microprocessor logic
Practice & Assignments

8 automated-system scenarios with full explanations

Topics Covered
  • What artificial intelligence means in this syllabus, precisely
  • Narrow, general and strong AI as the syllabus frames them
  • The basic characteristics of expert systems and their components
  • Machine learning at the level the exam requires, without overreach
  • The genuine limitations, so answers stay accurate
Projects You Build
  • Explain how an expert system reaches a conclusion, using its rule base and inference engine
Practice & Assignments

8 questions on AI and expert systems

Topics Covered
  • The six gates: NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR and XOR
  • The symbol, the function and the truth table for each
  • Building a truth table correctly and completely, row by row
  • Reading a logic statement and identifying the gates involved
  • Why this topic is pure marks once the method is automatic
Projects You Build
  • Produce complete truth tables for all six gates from memory, then verify them
Practice & Assignments

12 truth-table exercises building to three-input problems

Topics Covered
  • Drawing a logic circuit from a written scenario
  • Writing the logic expression for a given circuit
  • Completing a truth table for a multi-gate circuit without losing rows
  • Working backwards from a truth table to the expression
  • The common slips that cost marks in this topic
Projects You Build
  • Take a described safety system, draw its logic circuit, write the expression and complete the truth table
Practice & Assignments

10 full logic-circuit problems at exam standard

Assessment

End-of-phase test on emerging technologies and Boolean logic

Topics Covered
  • The program development life cycle: analysis, design, coding, testing
  • Decomposition and abstraction, and structure diagrams
  • Writing pseudocode in the style the syllabus expects
  • Drawing flowcharts with the correct symbols
  • Converting freely between pseudocode and a flowchart
Projects You Build
  • Take one described problem and express its solution as a structure diagram, pseudocode and a flowchart
Practice & Assignments

10 algorithm-design tasks in both pseudocode and flowchart form

Topics Covered
  • Data types, variables and constants, and declaring them properly
  • Input and output, and basic string handling
  • Sequence, selection (IF and CASE) and iteration (FOR, WHILE, REPEAT)
  • Nested statements and keeping them readable
  • Totalling and counting, the two patterns that appear constantly
Projects You Build
  • Write a working Python program using selection and iteration to solve a real described task
Practice & Assignments

12 short programs written and run, each tested with your own test data

Topics Covered
  • One-dimensional and two-dimensional arrays, and traversing them with loops
  • Standard methods: linear search, bubble sort, finding totals, maximum, minimum and average
  • Procedures and functions, parameters, and why they matter
  • Local and global variables
  • Reading from and writing to a text file
Projects You Build
  • Build a program that reads records from a file into an array, searches and sorts it, and writes results back
Practice & Assignments

10 array and file-handling programs at exam difficulty

Topics Covered
  • Validation checks: range, length, type, presence, format, check digit
  • Verification, and how it differs from validation
  • Choosing normal, abnormal and boundary test data deliberately
  • Completing a trace table accurately, a classic source of marks
  • Finding the error in someone else's code, which the exam asks directly
Projects You Build
  • Add full validation to an earlier program, then produce a trace table proving it works
Practice & Assignments

10 trace-table and test-data questions, plus 5 find-the-error tasks

Assessment

Timed programming assessment: write, validate and trace a full solution

Topics Covered
  • Single-table databases: records, fields and the primary key
  • Choosing appropriate data types for fields
  • SQL: SELECT, FROM, WHERE, ORDER BY
  • SUM and COUNT, and when each is wanted
  • Reading a described scenario and writing the query it asks for
Projects You Build
  • Design a single-table database for a described scenario and write the queries that answer real questions about it
Practice & Assignments

12 SQL questions building from single conditions to sorted, aggregated queries

Topics Covered
  • How the theory paper is structured and how the marks are distributed
  • Reading the command word: state, describe, explain, compare, justify
  • Why a one-word answer loses marks on an explain question
  • Managing time so the longer questions are not rushed
  • The topics that recur every single year
Projects You Build
  • A full timed Paper 1 attempt, then a question-by-question review with every miss tagged by cause
Practice & Assignments

Two timed Paper 1 sets, fully reviewed

Topics Covered
  • How the programming paper is structured, including the extended scenario question
  • Choosing your answer language deliberately: pseudocode, Python, Visual Basic or Java
  • Structuring a long program answer so partial marks are never lost
  • Writing readable code by hand, under time, with comments that earn credit
  • Checking a written program for the small errors that cost marks
Projects You Build
  • A full timed Paper 2 attempt including the extended scenario question, marked on the official scheme
Practice & Assignments

Timed Paper 2 sets across algorithm, array, file and database question types

Topics Covered
  • Full-length timed mocks on both papers under real conditions
  • Turning the error log from every mock into a focused revision plan
  • Locking in the recurring high-mark topics so they are automatic
  • A calm, tested routine for both exam days
  • An honest read on the target grade and the final push to reach it
Projects You Build
  • Two complete mock examinations, both papers, each fully reviewed and converted into a revision list
Practice & Assignments

Repeated full mocks until pacing and accuracy are consistent

Assessment

Final full mock on both papers, scored and benchmarked against the target grade

Projects You'll Build

Build a professional portfolio with 50+ projects real-world projects.

Technologies & Skills You'll Master

Comprehensive coverage of the entire modern web development stack.

Career Outcomes & Opportunities

Transform your career with industry-ready skills and job placement support.

Prerequisites

Title
What Your Child Needs to Start
Items
Enrolment in IGCSE Computer Science (0478), or about to begin it; no prior coding is required, everything is taught from the basics,A computer that can run Python, which we help install and set up in the first class,Comfort with basic school mathematics; all the binary and logic work is taught step by step,A willingness to write code during class, since the programming paper cannot be passed by watching

Who Is This Course For?

Title
Who This Course Is For
Items
IGCSE students taking Computer Science 0478 who want to genuinely understand it, not memorise it,Students who are comfortable with the theory but freeze on the programming paper, or the reverse,Strong students aiming for a top grade across both papers,Students planning A Level Computer Science or IB Computer Science afterwards,Parents who want live, small-batch teaching with real feedback, not a recorded course watched alone

Career Paths After Completion

A strong IGCSE Computer Science grade across both papers
A confident move into A Level Computer Science or IB Computer Science
Genuine Python ability, the most transferable skill in the syllabus
A real foundation for a computer science degree later
Computational thinking that transfers into maths, physics and engineering

Course Guarantees

Title
Our Commitment to You
Items
Every class is live and small, taught by a real mentor, never a recorded video watched alone,Both papers are taught in full, because each is worth exactly half the grade,Taught to the current 0478 syllabus (version 5, for examination in 2026, 2027 and 2028),Your child writes and runs real code in class and gets it reviewed on the spot,A free demo class first, so you can judge the teaching before you pay anything

What Families Say

Real feedback from the parents and students who learn with us.

★★★★★ 4.9 average · 547+ Google reviews
★★★★★

"Mivaan enjoys the class. He understands the concepts and completes his tasks with excitement. He started taking interest in coding, truly amazing class."

S
Shradha Saraf
Mother of Mivaan
★★★★★

"My son struggled with maths for years. Integrating it into coding projects has transformed how he thinks. He now genuinely enjoys both."

S
Shewta Singh
Mother of Ishan
★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. My son looks forward to every single class."

S
Sonu Goyal
Father of Nikit
★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts before, and now they finally click, and I actually look forward to learning."

S
Samridho Mondal
Student · Grade 9
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