Cambridge IGCSE

In Key Stage 4 students take on the demanding two-year Cambridge IGCSE course

In Year 10, students embark on the two year IGCSE courses. Typically, students take 8 or more subjects: all students must take Mathematics and English as well as a Modern Foreign Language (or English as Second Language if more support is needed). As well as these subjects, students then opt for one scientific subject, one humanity subject and one creative arts subject and a further two subjects from humanities, science or creative arts and there is also IGCSE PE as an option. Students are also encouraged to take mother tongue language examinations. In Year 10 and 11, students also take non-examined courses in Physical Education and personal, social and health education (SEL) and participate in sporting, creative or academic activities on a Friday afternoon.

The British International School - Cambridge IGCSE Option Subjects

English 1st Language	French	Art	History	Physics
English Literature	German	Music	Geography	Chemistry
English 2ndLanguage	Spanish	Drama	Business Studies	Biology
Mathematics	Turkish		Economics	Computer Science
Additional Mathematics			Sociology	Environmental Management
				PE

Mother tongue language exams: German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Malay and many more.

The modern world makes enormous demands of our young people. At The BIS students have the opportunity to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens of the global community, by being given a breadth of learning and the range of skills they need through our curriculum, SEL and mini CAS programmes.

Information about the syllabus content of subjects for the Cambridge IGCSE programme can be found at the CIE website www.cie.org.uk and in our IGCSE Options Booklet.

IGCSE Options Booklet 2023-2024

IGCSE Parent & Student Booklet 2023-2024

IGCSE Parent & Student Booklet 2025-2026

Academic Success for students in Key Stage 4

Our students have consistently achieved excellent results in the IGCSE examinations and the achievements of The BIS students has been recognised by COBIS, the Council of British International Schools, with Student Achievement Awards for outstanding success.

Our students consistently achieve 80 to 90% A* - C grades.

High levels of Literacy are achieved in Key Stage 4 and around 80% of our students take IGCSE English as a First Language alongside First Language exams in Spanish, German, French and Turkish.

Many The BIS students achieve 5 or more A* & A grades gaining distinction in the ICE Award. In two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016, A The BIS student won the Top of the World award in Sociology.

The British International School IGCSE High Honour Roll

Ashutosh Bhadouria 12 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Chris Schmitz 12 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 201

Anne Blanken 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2013

Julia Hubo 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2013

Lieke Blanken 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Marius Mueller 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2014

Rishibh Prakash with 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2018

So Hee Park 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Sophie Schmitz 11 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Aral Denis De Moor with 10 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2018

Ji Won Min 10 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2014

Mare Blanken 10 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Vishwesh Shah 10 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2012

Muzna Shanahjanan 10 A*/A Class of 2020

Amina Karimova with 10 A*/A Class of 2020

Berke Turkay 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Carys Thomas 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2016

Eren Goknil I’Anson with 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2019

Eren Seçkin with 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2019

Gina Panaino 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2009

Hannah Watson 9 A*/ A grades IGCSE Class of 2013

Mingyu Park 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2013

Yu Jin Bang 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Zayna Khan 9 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2010

Seungjune Min with 9 A*/A grades Class of 2020

Noah Roosevelt with 9 A*/A grades Class of 2020

Margherita Cusolito with 9 A*/ A grades Class of 2020

Serra Peker 8 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Alok Herath 8 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2013

Jemma Ateş 8A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2017

Nadia Klomp 8A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2017

Serra Peker 8 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2015

Yoojin Lee 8 A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2019

Deekshita Deep with 8 A*/A grades Class of 2020

Alice Mereyde with 7 A*/A Class of 2020

Emily Holdcroft 7A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2017

Pablo Estela 7A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2019

Selin Cetin 6A*/A grades IGCSE Class of 2017

Giulia Renzi 10 A*/A grades class of 2021

Zeynep Başkaya 10 A*/A grades class of 2021

Soovin Jang 10 A*/A grades class of 2024

James Xiangping Chen 10 A*/A grades class of 2025

Eylül Kansiz Chen 10 A*/A grades class of 2025

Sihoon Yang 10 A*/A grades class of 2025

Yena Lee 10 A*/A grades class of 2025

Daniyal Alavi 11 A*/A grades class of 2025

Priyanka Gupta 11 A*/A grades class of 2025

Andriana Lymperopoulou 9 A*/A grades class of 2021

Nike Hugel 9 A*/A grades class of 2021

Rayyan Ulus 9 A*/A grades class of 2022

Emiliia Shavaleeva 9 A*/A grades class of 2024

Jaehwi Lee 9 A*/A grades class of 2025

Zeyad Chaltaf 9 A*/A grades class of 2025

Flóra Lea Grenczer with 8 A*/A grades class of 2021

Ridaa Khawar 8 A*/A grades class of 2021

Sophia Umar 8A grades class of 2024

Adil Tauseef 7A*/A class of 2021

Sam Dvorak 7A*/A class of 2021

Alvaro Balbin 7A*/A class of 2022

Benjamin Broucke 7A* class of 2022

Yusra Shahjahan 7A*/A class of 2022

Sarah Ghassemi 7A*/A class of 2023

Harry Marriott 7A*/A class of 2023

Jeongjun Jang 7A class of 2024

Isabel Sözer 7A*/A class of 2025

Emir Sharshari 7A*/A class of 2025

Noah Crook 7A*/A class of 2025

Maxence Coum 6A*/A class of 2022

Carolina Balbin 6A*/A class of 2022

Arcin Shrestha 6A*/A class of 2022

Alisa Suner 6A*/A class of 2022

Isam Khan 6A class of 2024

Azka Yasir 6A class of 2024

Natalia Gumieniczek 6A*/A class of 2025

YEAR 11 RESULTS

IGCSE Year	*Pass rate in %	Number candidates taking IGCSE	Number of students with 5 or more A*/A grades	Number of students with 5 or more A*/ C grades	Number of students with less than 5 A*/C passes	Number of A/A*	% students with 5 or more A*/ C grades	% students with 5 or more A*/ C grades including Maths & English 1st lang
2009	79	23	7	14	2	65	91	70
2010	75	20	4	11	5	41	75	70
2011	87	19	10	8	1	77	94	89
2012	88	24	11	9	4	93	83	79
2013	85	41	10	22	9	121	78	73
2014	88	25	7	16	2	80	92	72
2015	96	24	12	24	-	112	100	92
2016	84	29	6	21	8	71	84	72
2017	78.8	15	5	9	5	49	64	64
2018	80	22	5	16	6	53	73	68
2019	83.3	18	7	15	3	64	94	83
2020	94	19	8	18	1	75	94	78.9
2021	89.2	28	10	25	3	99	89.2	78.5
2022	82	28	8*	23	5	86	82	82
2023	80	20	2	16	4	46	80	75
2024	79.79	33	10	27	6	92	81.82	72.73
2025	87.8	32	12	28	4	119	87.5	65.62

* Pass rate is defined as the total number of C and above grades expressed as a percentage of the total number of examinations taken.

This year the IGCSE results were published in the morning of Tuesday 19th August. After weeks of preparation and hard work, the weeks of waiting were finally over. Students could finally find out if all their effort, revision and preparation paid off.

Yet again, students have done fantastically well, with a formidable 88% pass rate, continuing with the excellent trend and achieving well above world-average. All our IGCSE students must be congratulated on their resilience, hard-work, persistence and successes.

Congratulations to the IGCSE Class of 2024-2025 (and year 10 students who took early exams).

Our cohort achieved the following: a 88% pass rate with 5 or more A* to C including English and Maths. There were 119 A* and A grades awarded out of 278 exams (not including early entry results).

We are very proud of all of our students in the IGCSE Class of 2025. Many of our students will move on to different countries to complete the final stage of their secondary education and for those who are leaving us, they leave with our very best wishes for the future. Those who are staying will be joining our IB Diploma Programme and have two years of hard work in front of them before they finally graduate.

The achievements of our IGCSE Class of 2025 has been a collaborative effort between our students, their parents and our teachers. BISI would like to thank all of our parents whose support has been invaluable throughout the course. We would also like, especially, to thank our teachers for the excellent job they have done in preparing our students for their examinations and encouraging them at all times to achieve their full academic potential.

The progress of all students is closely monitored by the class teachers, the form teacher and the Key Stage coordinator. When you have questions or concerns about your child please email the Key Stage coordinator:

Katya Skoudy k.skoudy@bis.k12.tr

Options meeting and sessions for year 9 students

Choosing options needs careful consideration and really needs to be an informed choice. With that view, we put together a programme to help making that transition easier. An IGCSE options booklet is put together to guide parents and students step by step along the process.
A coffee morning / IGCSE options meeting is organised for parents to better understand the choices and options on offer. Heads of Departments, the IGCSE coordinator, the Senior Leadership team as well as the University counsellor are available for more in depth information about the IGCSE subjects available.

Then each year, in January/February, year 9 students have the opportunity to participate in an IGCSE taster day where students so that they can experience a lesson in subjects new to them such as Business Studies, Economics or Sociology for example. These are an opportunity to start reflecting about the subjects they would like to continue for their IGCSE examinations and/or the subjects required for a particular career or university course.

The school also has a Careers and University counsellor available for students and parents to give some advice and guidance about further education and university choices. The University Counsellor will meet with parents and Year 9 students one day in January or February to have a group talk about IGCSE choices.

IGCSE Awards Ceremony

In November, the achievements and successes of the graduating class of the previous academic year, are celebrated in an Awards Ceremony which has now become part of the school’s tradition. Family, friends, teachers and peers join in in a celebration after the ceremony when the IGCSE Certificates are presented to the students.

Follow the link below for photos:

Social and Emotional wellbeing of students in Key Stage 4

In addition to high academic achievement we encourage students to develop personal and social skills through our

SEL programme which covers the topics of:

Earthquake Safety
Target setting
Study Skills and ATL
Social networks and Safety
Addiction (videos, social networks)
Mental HealthAddiction:
Drugs and Alcohol

CAS and CAS
reflections
Habits of the mind
Motivation
Cyberbullying
Peer Pressure
Dealing with Stress
The Environment

Goals and Target
settingSexuality and
Relationships
STIsSelf-identity and
Cultural Awareness
Prejudice and Respect
Human Rights
Further Education
and CareersLife Skills:
money management

Health and Physical wellbeing of students in Key Stage 4

All Key Stage 4 students take part in our Physical Education Programme to foster health, fitness and well-being and our school sports teams compete in Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Cross-country, Badminton, Swimming and Chess tournaments around Istanbul.

We have many inter-house sporting competitions and a Secondary Sports Day is held in October to challenge the students in Athletics.

Physical Education programme

Friday afternoon activity time also gives our students the opportunity to develop their sporting skills, creativity and community spirit with clubs running in Animal Welfare, Poetry analysis, photography, Basketball, Football, Swimming, Model United Nations, International Award, Indian cookery, choir and many more.

The BIS have also introduced a community service (CAS) programme into KS4 where students work in form classes to organise charity events or service activities to help the local and school community, giving our students the opportunity to develop responsibility as world citizens

Preparing for the future in KS4

During Key Stage 4 we help our students to prepare for their educational future with SEL dedicated lessons, and also running a whole day Careers Fair every two years and providing guidance on Further Education courses. We encourage them to attend seminars from visiting universities and offer the services of our University and Careers counsellor which includes interviews, advice on university application, and personal statements amongst other services.

Visit: https://www.bis.k12.tr/university-guidance

Induction days in June for year 11 students

At the beginning of the IB programme, we run an induction programme into the IB for our year 12 students for a smooth transition into the IB diploma programme. During 3 days, they follow a different programme to give them an idea of what lies ahead, the expectations of the IB and a quick insight into some of the core components of the course to name a few of the activities. They take part in a variety of activities ranging from team building exercises to Sport and wellbeing sessions.

Challenging students competitively in Key Stage 4

When a student is naturally gifted in a subject such as Mathematics, we want to make sure we stretch and challenge them. So alongside our accelerated Mathematics classes we offer academic challenges such as the Maths Olympiad to develop and advance higher-level thinking skills.

We encourage students to extend their ability to understand, explain and contextualise any given stimulus through organised debate and discussion with participation in MUN conferences both locally and abroad. These challenging conferences offer our students the opportunity to shine, winning many best delegate awards for their debating skills.

The BIS Model United Nations 2019 Report

The BIS Model United Nations 2017 Report

The BIS Model United Nations 2016 Report

Meeting all of our student’s needs in Key Stage 4

We want to give all our students the skills they need to achieve their full potential and we have the following systems in place to enable this.

ESL support for literacy needs, with extra ESL support instead of MFL classes for students joining us with little or no English.
Accelerated Mathematics classes for gifted mathematics students; leading to students taking early entry IGCSE mathematics in Year 10 followed by the advanced level Additional mathematics IGCSE in year 11.
Support for students with learning difficulties from our qualified Learning Support staff.
Differentiated activities within classes to provide fully for each student’s needs.
Emotional and social development support and a dedicated school counsellor.
Study skills support from subject specialist teachers.
Enthusiastic, highly qualified and experienced teaching staff who appreciate the needs and requirements of international students.

Learning Support for students in Key Stage 4 and a mentoring programme

At the BISI, it is recognised that all students learn differently and that some of our students may need more support and guidance to make the most of the curriculum we offer achieve their full potential.

Our Student Support department can give short-term or long-term support, depending on the needs of the student. Progress is continually monitored and the programme adapted as necessary to ensure it develops along with the student’s need.

We also run a successful mentoring programme with member of staff being available to give advice and extra support for students who are finding the transition to and the IGCSE programme a little challenging. We also involve in this programme some of our older KS5 students .